Day 107: Inquiring minds for Couponers III

Freebies

If you have been following Inquiring Minds for couponers, here is the long anticipated freebies!

What if I told you that we never pay for the following items because they are always FREE?

Antacids
Bandaids
Cough Drops
First Aid Creams
Tylenol and other pain relievers
Hand Soap
Dish Soap
Deodorant
Lotion
Floss
Mouthwash
Tooth Paste
Razors
Shampoo
Shaving Cream
Soap & Body Wash
Toothbrushes
Air Freshners

These items are always free! It doesn't matter, they are going to be free, the manufacturers want you to take it home! As long as you don't buy them when you run out, you will always have a constant supply. Now I am not saying that in one trip I get enough to last us a year, but for a couple of months. Remember no hoarding allowed!

How?

Firstly, your B1G1 coupons aren't gold, they are flippin' platinum baby!

Once you get rid of the mindset of not shopping at a drug store because ... THEY are too expensive, you will begin to understand that YOU CAN NOT not afford to shop at them. They not only offer you additional incentives they sometimes pay you to take it off their hands! At a drug store, B1G1 coupons with a B1G1 sale mean both are free. You are buying both, one happens to have 1 Q with it and well the other one is a bonus thus equalling zero $$$. Look at it as you would think the grocer would and wouldn't. B1G1, both ring up at 1/2 off at the grocer, but at the pharmacy, one rings up regular price and one rings up $0.  Since you are "buying" both, you are going to have to pay tax, you are buying the one that rings up $0 and getting the say $5 one free. Get it? at the grocer, very different story.

Second, Shop here benefit $$$

At CVS they have Extra Care Bucks. At Walgreens, they have Register Rewards. What are they? Money back in your pocket. The catch...you have to spend it at the store, in a certain time frame. I know that last part doesn't seem to make something free...but it does. How? Well you hear of those coupon crazies getting free toilet paper and the like on TV right? Wondered how? They use benefit shopper money.

TIP: Some grocers allow you to Walgreens Register Rewards toward the purchase of groceries, calling them competitor coupons to be taken off the total amount of your groceries.

So here's how it works...I buy a tube of tooth paste $3, I have a Q for said tube for $1 off thus making it $2. The store is going to print me benefit money at $3 for buying said toothpaste. So I pay for the toothpaste. I pay $2 and get back $3. I made $3 in store money and my toothpaste then was free; plus $1 over. I then take that $3 in benefit money and buy needed laundry soap, that happened to be on sale for $3.99. I pay for my laundry detergent with the $3 benefit money thus making it .99 cents out of pocket for my detergent. I was going to buy the laundry soap and toothpaste anyway, so in all actuality, I would have spent $3 on toothpaste and $3.99 on laundry detergent for a total of $6.99. What came out of my pocket? $2.99. I saved $4 and only had a $1 off Q.

Here is the break down.
Transaction 1:
Toothpaste @ $3 -$1Q=$2 out of pocket, $3 benefit bucks back
Transaction 2:
Laundry Detergent @ $3.99-$3 benefit bucks = .99 out of pocket

Total value purchased: $6.99
Total Out of pocket Spent: $2.99
What was free: Toothpaste
What was close to free: Laundry detergent if I would have used a coupon!

Pharmacies are no longer places to avoid unless you are sick! Those Q crazies just happen to buy toilet paper instead of laundry detergent!

Tip: When shopping at CVS, scan your CVS shopper card twice, it will only allow you to do it 2 times in the given sale week, but hey you might pull a Q for something you are buying that day, or better yet, X $'s off your purchase!

Thirdly, Stacking

Many stores allow you to "stack" coupons. Now this doesn't mean show up with a pile of the same coupon you pulled from multiple outlets to use for one item. What it does mean is...I have a store Q, either picked up out of their circular or printed off their website plus a manufacturer's Q.

Where can you do this?
Pharma's, Grocer's...Target...anywhere that has their own Q's!

Morale of the story is buy your hygiene necessities and paper products at a pharmacy!

Day 87: Lions, Tigers, Boobs and Hey I know you, you are the Rain Check lady.

So this past weekend was jammed packed with family fun. We returned the no-fitters of Christmas gifts,  took Monk to see his first official "movie", at the $2 theater of course, followed by going out to the Tiger Rescue and walking, watching and talking 3 feet away from lions, tigers, binturongs and other carnivores. A really big weekend for the 4 of us.

Of course, the recent boob-age headlines of nursing your baby in public have been all over the mom blogs I read, nursing sit-ins and new federal mandates requiring employers and nursing employees are changing, so it's a hot topic in case you didn't get the memo. How does this relate to our wonderful weekend?

Well, while sitting waiting for Mr. Bacon Bringer Homer to find a pair of properly fitted jeans at Gap, the Gator began to wail. He was hungry and Monk and I were sitting where the return lady had told us to go take a load off. So naturally, I picked the Gator up out of our side-by-side double stroller and began to discreetly nurse him. Rather than let him scream his head off and piss everyone around us off.

Disclosure: Yes, I am a mom of 2 and have my faults, like running out of the house after getting 3 human beings together and dressed and forgot my nursing cover, but I did not just have my boob hanging out, all you could see from the Gator was his little nose poking up from the corner of my shirt and maybe 2 inches of skin on my back from having my shirt adjusted. I wasn't going out for a Playboy or Hustler interview.

We were all doing fine, Mr. BBH was running around, and then an employee with black stiletto's and cankles wearing red hot pants that were not becoming on her oh so size 22 booty came up and said...

"Ma'am we do have a nursing room that you would probably be more comfortable".

Nursing a baby or not, who in the right mind likes being asked when they are completing a task at hand, to possibly stop, pack up their S**T, walk 3 stores down, squeeze into a room that is a fitting room with equipment that wouldn't even fit through the door, only to unpack and get back to what you were doing in the first place of minding your own business? Ok. Well I guess I let her get to me, but just said "thanks we are fine" and un-typically left it alone.

Disclosure: I feed my baby, I get bothered by those that get bothered that he nurses but I am not out there to lead the next boob revolution.

After the mall, we made reservations at the movie theater. Puss n' Boots, the Antonio Banderas version, not that William Shatner fooling grandma thing. Yes, I got fooled at the Red Box. Monk had a wonderful time and did fabulous at his first movie. We made a big deal of it, ya know, we stopped at Walgreens and loaded up on candy and drinks, picked up our tickets and headed in...20 lb diaper bag and all. Yes, redneck I know of course since we only paid $2 per person for the show, but I just can't justify $5 for a $1 box of candy.

On Sunday, we had reservations for the Carnivore Preserve and we thought Monk would love being 3 feet away from those critters that he is a good 1/4 mile away from at the zoo. Plus watching them all get fed...Hello Bonus. But being the only mini-human on the tour, the tour lady really didn't engage his growing mind at all, so he got disinterested really fast. We will do this again, and we know that he is ready for it, but next time we will have to book a private tour rather than being on a tour with people playing on their iPhones rather than being in-tune with the animals.

On our way back we stopped by the grocery. I had promised to make "MY" potato salad for a friend. Well happens that we had super double coupons at the grocer this past week and I think I left my discount shopper card in an envelope at that store earlier in the week. So up to the service desk we went. I politely talked with the woman who hadn't heard of anything being turned in but she turned to the other associate working the counter too, and asked him to check the lost and found box. Now, this is one of the 3 grocers that we shop at, pretty much on a rotating basis. He turns around and says, "Nope, no envelope...Hey this is my RAIN CHECK LADY." Now I know that having a good relationship with your service associates is a good idea, but I don't know whether to be mortified or glorified. It was as if he announced to everyone around us..."Hey there's that cheap lady that makes me write her a book of rain checks every time she comes into the store." But I chose not to look at it that way. This new year I am trying to leave B***H in the closet for as long as possible, but hey it's only January. I chose to look at it as..."Hey, she helps keep me in a job, but she doesn't want to pay full price for something that it only costs a fraction to supply, How thrifty and with 2 kids! She sure does love her family and wants to be able to pay for college for them one day!" Ok, so life is not all those sunshine and roses but one can only dream.

So for now, I am just going to have to live with being the nursing mom, the once fooled but not twice bitten movie lady, the hey stop picking at the tree and talk to that Lion in your face mom, and the Crazy Rain Check Lady.  

Day 28: Inquiring minds for Couponers Part 1

I have received many questions on how we save money using coupons, so I am going to try to let you in on a few of my secrets, but let me just say this...stay away from MY Teeter! Lol!

I am going to break this up into a few segments, as I do have children and I could so talk about this forever!

Firstly, you HAVE to retrain your brain. If you are a brand Wh*re, guess what? To save money, you won't be. But in retrospect, by trying other brands, you might find something that is sooo much better. This is how I fell in love with some of my new fav's!

Then, whist you are retraining your consumerist brain, you must understand that if you do not have a coupon for something that is in the "inside" aisles not the perimeter of the grocery aisles, you will not buy it. What we consider to be items of acceptance for buying without a Q is produce and meat. I might add in that sometimes, we will have run out of our milk Q's. Yes, there are Q's for "ANY BRAND" milk.

Disclosure: For those of you who think that you can't eat nutritiously while using coupons, let me just say NOT! It's ok to let coupons expire. Don't let yourself fall into the pattern that many shopaholics do...you don't have to buy it just because you have a Q for it. If it's not good for you and you typically wouldn't eat it or you just don't like it...DON'T BUY IT!

Secondly, to succeed in the reducing your grocery bill world, you will have to take a notepad and a pen with you every time you go to the grocery, so keep one in you car. You will want to walk up and down all the aisles spot checking for the little flags that grocers put out telling you "hey it's on sale". If they are out of that product, write it down, continue on your merry way. At the end of your shopping, take your heiny up to the customer service desk, hand them your list of products and price, get RAIN CHECKS! They never expire and are awesome to pair up with Q's at another time, especially during mega events like super doubles and triples, so start your collection now!

Thirdly, start thinking about what you are willing to pay for something. The majority of people can tell you that they "know" that something is cheaper here vs. there so use those known price points to your advantage. Now understand, I am not saying run your gas tank all over town. What I am saying is know your low prices and then you will come to know the rock bottom price deals when you can pair stuff up with a Q.

When you figure out what you are willing to spend $$$ on and what you are willing to wait til' it goes on sale, then you will see your grocery bill decrease.

Next, you have to understand that grocers operate on cycles. Typically every deal that you typically see in the grocery store each week comes around again 6-8 weeks later. You will notice that the price for something that is on sale this week is ok, then 2 weeks later there is no sale to be found, then 2 weeks later it is even lower than it was 6 weeks ago! Though there are things that grocers do put on a great sale just once or twice a year, and these are known as seasonal sales. For example, a seasonal sale at my grocer is B2G3 (buy 2 get 3 free) on boneless skinless chicken. This sale is bi-annually and you should stock up.

Disclosure: When it comes to food, for those of you who like to eat the freshest of things like we do, you might want to invest in a stand up freezer and a vacuumn sealer. There are many places online that you can read about preserving the freshness of freezable things!

Now to start you off with "collecting" your Q's...
There are a few places that you can "get" them
1. The Sunday paper
2. Gas Stations
3. Magazines
4. The internet
5. Blinkies: those coupon shooting things at the grocer
6. Catalinas: those print outs with your receipts

More on Collecting Q's in Part 2

Day 27: Q Crazy

Hello again! I feel like I have risen from the dead again, just like the old Shelley Long 80's movie! In one of my last Consumerism posts, I had mentioned the fact that our local grocer was doing super double coupons and well that is just how I have spent my last week. So I figured I would clue y'all in as to how it went.

What is super doubles? Once every few, very few months our local grocer offers to double manufacture coupons up to $1.98 in value. This means that they will double those high dollar Q's that say save X amount of $ as long as they do not exceed $1.98. So a $2 off Q will not double but a $1.98 one will. So can we say HELLO! You are coming home with me today! Most of what we got was free or pretty darn close!

We had to break super d's up into 2 grocery weeks so that we wouldn't bust our weekly grocery allowance. This allowance is $50 and I had more than enough Q's to make this happen and restock some of our out of supplies and low-on-hand- supplies from our October Challenge. Armed with my list in hand, I headed to the store, knowing what I knew I wanted to buy, knowing exactly how much I was going to spend.

FYI: If your grocer allows you to "shop online" for pick up in store, you are privy to their prices, so those crazies walking the aisles of grocery stores for their extreme couponing flat out have way too much time on their hands!

Disclosure: We are not extreme couponers, though we believe in a good deal, there is no reason why you have to hoard in your home, and hoard so that no one else gets to get a great deal!

Here is how it went: We made 3 trips total over the course of Wednesday through Tuesday Night

Trip 1:
Amount of Groceries Bought: $65 and some change
Amount spent Out of Pocket: $13 and some change
Savings: $42

Trip 2:
Amount of Groceries Bought: $118 and some Change
Amount spent Out of Pocket: $41 and some Change
Savings: $77

Trip 3:
Amount of Groceries Bought: $117
Amount spent Out of Pocket: $36.99

Grand Totals:
Amount of Groceries Bought: $300
Out of Pocket: $90.99
Over 70% savings!

For those inquiring minds that want to know what we bought:
2 bottles of Olive oil
2 (3)pks of sponges
18 cans of soup
4 loaves of bread
2 pkgs of butter
2 pkgs of cookie dough
6 boxes of pudding
1 pkg of Sweet sausage
4 gallons of Milk
1 pkg of cheese
2 pkgs of tupperware
1 bunch of celery
1lb of carrots
1 pkg of dried fruit
4 bottles of coffee creamer
6 frozen pizzas
2 jars of spaghetti sauce
2 boxes of teddy grahams
2 boxes of crackers
2 boxes of pasta
1 box of rice
2 pkgs of Chai tea
1 deoderant
10 jars of baby food
10 cans of cream soups
2 boxes of cereal
2 bottles of dish soap
16 rolls of paper towels
5 5lbs of Sugar
2 pkgs of Turkey
and so much more that I can remember!

We really have so much fun couponing! Our wallet won't allow us not to, but the hunt and the challenge is the best. Plus we collect rainchecks like crazy during these events so that we can get the uber good sale prices all year long!

Day 25: Adventures in Cloth

Since our consumerism challenge has come to an end, Adventures in Cloth Diapering has begun.

Lesson One: Some of these need covers and some do not

When Monk was a baby, I had seen many of my SAHM friends using cloth diapers on their babies and we had briefly talked about the advantages of using them; less irritation, less diaper rashes, money savings, environmentally conscious...and the lists they gave me went on. They weren't using what looked like your mom's white dish cloths with pins and stuff. They were using one that looked like a disposable diaper with velcro tabs, they just happened to look a tad bulkier on the hieny. Apparently, there are considerable differences in this growing going cloth world. Well since we have had our own tribulations with baby Gator, plus our consumerism challenge, we knew that we had to make the switch to cloth.

There are CD's (Cloth Diapers) that need covers and some that do not, we learned this on day 1 of changing to CD's. After putting one on that didn't need a cover, then changing the Gator into one that apparently did, and again and again...having to clean up the mess, I pretty much psychologically broke down and almost said screw it. It just wasn't for me. All I knew of CD's were that they were "new age" and easy piezy, well yes, if you know what you are using!

Both types of CD's that we were given have velcro tabs on the outside and looked very similar. We were not given any "covers". We were given ones that had prints on them and when I found out that they needed a cover, I thought well "why put a design on them if you are just going to cover it up?". I apparently had so much to learn and I had to do it quickly. The CD's that did not need covers soon became my favorites to use. They had a pocket inside that you just "stuff" a cloth retangular pad into and you are off and running. They also have velcro or snaps, so it makes them easy on easy off. Voila, diaper change in 2 minutes, same as with a disposable! Soon these became my favorites to use. Ya know in the first 48 hours!

We had 4 no-covers on hand and 4 need covers and well I knew that Mr. Bacon Bringer Homer wouldn't be that into changing the Gator if it took him more than the usual 3 step process of remove, wipe, put one on. So 4 just wouldn't cut it. I found myself washing one as soon as it was used. I began losing my mind. My friend Mrs. P, who had used CD's on both of her babes, came over with 6 dipes from her stash that she could share! WaHoo, we now had 10 and I could possibly make it from morning to night and then wash! Life was so much easier in tushy land! The Gator, took well to CDing and we have had no reactions since!

I began looking into getting my own stash of our CD's. We knew that we wanted ones that had the built in no cover. To my surprise, I found a whole marketing mecca of CD's. So many options, so many different varieties, each with their own must-have tweaks to make your CD life easier. I feel like I have learned a whole new language with all the terminology that comes along with learning about this. Terms and Abbreviations amuck! It was mind blowing. More on this later in another blog.

Lesson 2: $$$$
Then came the cost of these suckers! Some of them range from $9-$29 each! WTF? Could there be that much of a difference in these pee and poop catchers? Our new found favorites, Bumgenius, as we have come to learn are some what of the cadillac of CD's, they are about $18 each, luckily they are not the coveted Shelby Mustangs or Ferrari!

At the tail end of our challenge, after scouring the internet for the best prices to buy some Bumgenius to build our stash and give Mrs. P back hers, I came across a giant sale. Buy 5 get one free! Cha Ching! My discount shopper beacon went off! Apparently, this type of sale is rare in the CDing world! So, I began navigating around, and another new vocabulary lesson into colors and prints of CD's began. I thought that ya know, staying away from colors and prints, and staying with white ones would be cheaper, but nope the ones without prints cost the same as white. I filled a shopping cart with 12 of these suckers. Mr. Bacon Bringer Homer began to think I was nuts. He would come home and find an open window on the computer tuned into dipes. I would ask him about what colors he liked, I wasn't going to leave him out of this new found bargain! But guess what, I got another odd look, because frankly he didn't give a flying. "Why should I give a flying about what color the poop catchers are?".

The night before our consumerism challenge was coming to an end, he checked the total in the shopping cart, his mouth dropped. "Are you kidding me" I heard him shout from the other room. "You can't possibly think that we are going to fork out almost $200 for 12 Diapers! We're coming off a saving money sprint!" So as quick as those words left his mouth, I reminded him that we would not have to buy diapers again, even if we had another baby! Quickly this lifestyle, when put to dollars and cents, and considering the fact that the Gator would be in dipes for another 2 years at minimum. That's a pretty good deal compared to the $60 a month we were spending on dipes, then throw in the money we were spending on rash and redness cream for Gator's allergic reactions, at $20 a month...all this even with coupons!

So here's the math:

2.5 years or 30 months x $60= $1800 on dipes

                                30 x $20= $600 on cream

                           _________________

                                     $2400

vs. $180 

Since we were already running our washing machine with 4 people in the house, it really wouldn't change our bill there, by throwing in some dipes.

So...Hello...Buy now!

Day 22: Anti-Consumerism comes to a Close

So how did we do on our first 365 Changing the Way we do month-long Challenge? Personally we did great. Here are a few things that we learned to appreciate along the way.    

Saving $$$ and Spending less afforded us more time as a family, more volunteer work, ability to eat what we had on hand, retrain our brains on the way we think about stuff we spend $$$ on!

Gas:

-Without the usual outings to the multiple grocers & pharmacies, you know, some of us can't just shop at one to get everything we need. One trip to the farmer's market every 2 weeks and one to the grocer for milk.
-No unnecessary gas guzzling trips for fast food for lunches or quick suppers
-No driving around the block or leaving the car run in the driveway when our children wouldn't sleep or fell asleep in the car

Time:

-We gained more time as a family
   - We gained 12 more hours with Mr. Bacon Bringer Homer. I know it doesn't seem like much, but  
     really it was. That time not spend running around town, afforded us the luxury of lounging at home.
   - We learned to really utilize family movie night. Blockbuster gives out free codes each week on sites
     such as southernsavers.com and coupondad.net. We would blow up the air mattress and pop a bag
     of popcorn and Voila!
   -We worked on projects around the house together. Monk enjoyed setting up the playroom and
    putting decorations up for Halloween.
 
-We re-learned the joys of cooking together
   - Having missed this past-time, we had to get creative on some of the meals that needed preparing.
     So, it took some thought and opened up more communication for us as a family as to what and how
     we were going to make our meals and we did it together!
   - We actually ate more and more nutritiously. We were more apt to try new things. Oldies and
     goodies from the farmers market were bought, but if something looked interesting we tried it out.
     Last night we had purple sweet potatoes! They sounded interesting, looked very interesting and
     tasted Grrreatt! But we came up with more combinations for food and new recipes were born!

-We volunteered more hours for our favorite cat rescue Alley Cats & Angels alleycatsandangels.org
   -We got re-involved with cleaning the petsmart adoption centers. Yes. We did this with 2 kids in tow.
    So it can be done! Monk has learned the art of caring for animals that are not ours, and that they too
    need time, attention and maintenance.
   - We did this between once and twice a week, and that little hour and a half went along way in the
    lives of these kitties!

Clearing out:

-We cleared out most of the stand-up freezer
   -Those dreadful potatoes are down to 2 bags from 10!
   -Wow, you really can put together a dinner straight from the freezer in 20 minutes!
   - It is primed and ready for the winter soup, stew and veggie collections!

-We cleared out most of the pantry
  - We traded in quick take-out for can be made quick in home!

  - The depths of those avoidance foods are gone. Now we just know not to buy them again. Good 

     deal or not!

  - Nothing was wasted. No having to bring out the trash can and dump expired foods in the next few 

    weeks!

- Our garage stock pile 

  - Has plenty of empty shelves 

  - Plenty of empty bags of toiletry items

All in all this was a nice life lesson for our family. 

* We gained an appreciation for our couponing lifestyle that though we may do it out of necessity to save money in the long run, it affords us the capability to be able to take a month off of spending and utilize what we have on hand. Even when you have company!

* We gained an appreciation for trying new things and adapting our eating styles

* We gained an appreciation for repairing what was on hand with what was on hand instead of taking the easy way out and just buying new.

* We learned that the best things in life are actually free and are accessible, you just have to seek and find them. 

* We spent more time as a family. We are teaching our children the value of time together, creativeness and the value of a dollar. We are becoming better parents. 

Day 8: Consumerism Challenge: The Grocer vs. The Supercenter

Since I can't shop right now, I thought that I would make today's consumerism blog about shopping the grocery store.

Today, I read a great quip about the grocery store vs. the supercenter. Many of us have been trained that buying food supplies at the supercenter is way less expensive than buying them at the grocery. News flash! These supercenters with their everyday low prices seem very attractive, but the only way they outbeat a grocery store is when you are not buying what's on sale.

If you are like me, shop the sales and use coupons, we save an average of 60-75% at the grocery store than the 25-30% we would at a supercenter. Our average grocery bill is about $40 a week. If we bought the same stuff at a supercenter it would, well believe it or not, it double that. Don't forget this is for a family of 4, $120 a month, organics included! Most people spend that much in a single trip to the grocer or the supercenter!

The week prior to our Anti-Consumerism Challenge, our grocery receipt was for a grand total of $18 and we got meat! So no, we are not depriving ourselves from eating nutritiously. We here at Chez Stoneford live by the philosophy, if God didn't want us to eat animals, he wouldn't have made them out of meat! Sorry, if I offended any vegetarians.

A good portion of our grocery bill goes to milk. You'd think being so close to cow country it would be a lot or at least reasonably priced. No matter where we shop for milk, it's always the same here in cost. Well, I consider around $4 a gallon a little um up there. But, we like milk, and since "it does a body good" there has been no way around paying for it. Do we pay the inflated milk price? Nope. We use a coupon for it. Yes, they even make coupons for milk! And, not just for the stuffy yippie brand milk, they issue coupons for regular people milk! It's called save .75 off ANY BRAND of milk! Woo Hoo!

So, why don't we shop at a supercenter? Our grocery store doubles coupons, super centers don't. Taking into account our $4 gallon of milk, our .75 coupon, we pay $2.50! Back to being reasonable!

I know many people think that shopping with coupons is a tedious process and I must be nuts to do it with kids. News flash...again...we spend probably the same amount of time if not shorter than most people do, at the grocer buying the same things. List in hand, I know what we are going to buy, which coupons we are going to use and how much my total is going to be. Very few modifications are made in store. No, I am not one of those extreme coupon crazies. I understand the fact that this good deal is going to cycle around again in 6-8 weeks, so no hoarding allowed!

Disclosure: The only grocery hoarding allowed in our house or freezer is when buy 2 get 3 free deals come, and sometimes those are on an annual cycle. I know that this is going to sound crazy but I love November in the grocery store! Veggies & Skinless boneless chicken breast go on sale at rock bottom prices and well, we rack up! So, we get enough to last us at least 3/4 of the year. As for the veggies, a whole shelf is devoted in the garage to holding oh about 150 cans of veggies as well as the big basket at the bottom of the stand alone freezer. It being mid October, our veggie & chicken rations are getting low, but November is acomin'!

So, why not use coupons? These manufacturers are putting these little pieces of paper out there for you in a convenient carry size, saying hey here is XX cents or dollar/s off our product. The grocer is saying hey, carry that little paper in and we will double the money. Not using coupons to me is like buying a winning lottery ticket and never cashing it in! I mean seriously, if someone offers to sell you something at $500 and the person next to them says 'I'll let you have it for $250' are you really going to shell out the extra $250? Nope, what sane person would? God, I hope that my grocer doesn't decide to do Super Doubles or Triples while we are on our Cash-cation!

I have never really understood why people today think so frivolously. The value of a dollar is in it's earning. Personally and for our family we like the money Mr. Bacon Bringer Homer makes. We use it for you know paying the bills, and well if we can save money on groceries and the like by using coupons, why let someone else's pocket get fatter for laziness? Over the course of the last 20-25 years the dispensability mentality started being incorporated into the American household. Paper plates are one thing, but throwing away your hard earned $$$, when you don't have to...stupidity. The mindset of everything can be replaced should only be thought upon in times of disaster.

(I know I got off topic here towards the end, but passion I tell you...passion)