The Thrill of the Coupon

For those new to the blog let me explain what we do here. I(Angela) share crafting, sewing and decorating projects. Whitney shares recipes and couponing tips. Lauren is the expert on all things nutrition and exercise related. Like I mentioned yesterday we are going to switch that up this week. Today I am going to be sharing my experience with couponing and a few things that I learned from Whitney(the extreme couponer) last week.

Let me explain how this all got started. I had to run into Target to return something. Whitney came with me. On our way out of the store, I remembered that I was out of dishwasher detergent. I turned around and headed for the soap isle. I picked up my usual. Brand: Cascade Color: Green Price: ? That is when Whitney intervened. “Do you have a coupon for that?” “No, why would I happen to have a coupon on this random trip to Target?” I thought.

-Now let me explain here that in the numerous times Whitney has tried to explain her couponing tactics they have completely escaped me. I know that I am about to make myself seem ridiculous here, but couponing is like a foreign language to me. I do not get. I mean sure, if I have a dollar off bread coupon. I hand it to the check-out clerk and she takes a dollar off my bread. But when you start getting into stacking coupons and using multiple coupons, that is just too much to me-

Whitney kindly put back the soap on the shelf and the proceeded to pull out a giant binder from what must be a Mary Poppins purse, because I had no idea she was packing such a mass amount of coupons!


“I’m sure that I have something in here.” Whitney said. And she did. Next thing I know she is cutting a coupon right there in the middle of the isle.



Then I was handed a $1.75 off of Finish Quantum, not my usual brand, but a brand that I am sure works just fine.


I had to try this again. “So Whitney, I also need some Clorox wipes.” It was like magic! All of the sudden I was handed not one, not two, but three $1.50 off coupons for any Lysol product. I was able to get 3 cans of 35 wipes for $0.50 a piece. Which was cheaper than getting 1 container of 100 wipes- which I believe was close to $5 or $6. It wasn’t my usual Clorox brand, but it still got me wipes for cheap.

Whitney had all of the sudden became my money saving fairy. If I wanted to save money on something, my wish was her command.


I tried my luck on a third item. I also needed some dish soap. My usual- Brand: Dawn Color: Blue Price: ? But Whitney didn’t have any coupons for that. But lucky for us, Palmolive was on clearance. A 10 oz bottle was $0.70. Buying three 10 oz bottles was cheaper than buying one 30 oz. bottle for $3.



What I learned (I’m sorry if these lessons are so obvious to you, but they are new to this coupon novice):

1. You cannot be brand loyal when couponing. This is something that will take a little while for me to get used to.
2. Sometimes buying more of a smaller item can be cheaper than buying one of a larger item.
3. Get organized! Whitney explained a little about coupon organization systems in this post here. Really couponing isn’t as scary as I think it is. I think if I got myself organized I could do it.
3. Get a hold of as many coupons as possible. I learned this week that she actually purchases coupon inserts online. In fact she almost postponed her trip to Denver, by a day because her coupon inserts were supposed to arrive the day after she was scheduled to come to Denver.

Now this is where I can put Whitney in the extreme couponing category. I went with Whitney on a coupon scavenger hunt. See Monday morning is recycling pick-up. Sunday night everyone puts out their recycling bins. So can you guess what Whitney did Sunday night and then again Monday morning? She went around the neighborhood looking through neighbors recycling bins collecting coupon inserts that others had thrown out.

 

My husband and I drove her around the neighborhood. As we were doing this, we were cracking up- not because we were making fun, but because Whitney found so much joy in riffling through others recycling. We had almost never seen Whitney as happy as she was that night collecting coupons. I never knew couponing could be such a thrill!

Any other advice you can give this coupon novice?