How did you get your husband (or wife) on board?

[SashaBear]

My DH thinks its a good thing that I coupon but he wants little to do with it. He says it takes too much time.

But I might start asking him to gather coupons for me on Monday mornings and to go dumpster diving for me!

[tawetal1817]

The first day, I put everything out on the table and said, I bought all this ($76 worth of things, most of which we used) and I only paid $4.26. I know from reading the boards that it's not all that great a deal but I was so excited. It was the visual aid that sold me on the importance of doing this. And the receipt from CVS.

Plus, he's a really good man who pretty much encourages me in whatever I'm interested in.

And I got the Planters nuts he really likes for free.
Taw

PS I would never send him to the store with coupons. He would try but the first time the register beeped he would freak.

[nanshaw2001]

Same with me!!! My husband brags on my savings....but I would never send him couponing!!!

[imhzgrlnotu]

my DH complained when i first started couponing. "11 papers a week is a waste of money, i dont care if they only cost you $1 and you get 1 free"

got 52 bottles of shampoo (from the target $5 gc wyb 3 pantene/h&s) plus other stuff for $4.xx OOP and got $75 in gcs back..."we dont need all that stuff, its a waste of money"....

bought ~50 packs of diapers and kandoo wipe refill packs, paid maybe $20oop (probably not even that much), plus ~150 jars of baby food..."we dont need that many diapers and wipes, and the baby isnt even eating baby food yet, thats a waste of money"

got 40+ boxes of name brand cereal for about $15 oop..."we dont have room for all that cereal, we only go through about 3 boxes a week"

and countless other "we dont have room/thats a waste of money" comments. it really bothered me that he didnt care that it made me HAPPY to save money, even if i have a bunch of stuff that we dont need, someone else will need it, and i got it for free.

then i went to cvs and bought him 9 speed stick deodorant, 9 cvs vaseline, 4 24pk cvs razors, 2 glad cling wrap, 2 cvs sandwich bags, 4pk scotch tape and a bunch of stuff i needed/wanted...for $1.xx oop, plus got back ~$40 ecb. all that stuff he uses for work, and has to buy himself. its not really expensive stuff, but it adds up fast. THEN he finally came around and stopped complaining about it. i dont ask him to go though because he wouldnt use the coupons, but he watches our 4 kids so i can go by myself, which is even better for me. im a SAHM so i dont get much free time, so those couple of hours a week that im shopping and saving are a godsend to me!

[gypsiemom]

Wow, reading everyone's posts here is very interesting. So many different experiences, etc.

I think that in a healthy marriage/relationship that each partner would support the other in whatever interested them. All of us here at HCW are interested in couponing and saving money (for many different reasons), and most of us would like our partners to jump on the bandwagon with us.

But please consider this: couponing, to many people, is a hobby (a vasting thrilling one!!!), and there are many hobbies that we enjoy that our spouses DON'T enjoy. Just because our hobby saves us $$ and is fun for us doesn't mean that we have to get our DH's on board and encourage them to start carrying and using coupons. I don't enjoy all my husband's hobbies, even the ones that save lots of $$ (car repair, small engine repair, etc.), and he doesn't enjoy couponing. He DOES, however, support whatever interests me and doesn't make rude or belittling comments about what I choose to do with my free time. He supports me in my money-saving hobbies as I support him in his money-saving hobbies.

Replacing the alternator in our van would bore me to tears, even though my DH loved doing it himself today, and saved us a couple hundred $ in the process. Likewise, rolling cats from Walgreens is boring to him, but he supports my moneysaving efforts and we get along great.

I think that having different interests is wonderful for a relationship, but if someone's spouse continues to sabotage the other's work, and/or belittles or minimizes their interests and efforts, then the relationship itself is in crisis.

Just my 2 cents.

[Jskell911]

DH is on board here! Lucky me. For my Birthday last week he bought me 2 steel shelves for the stockpile and a subscription to the Sunday Paper (this way, if it's a lousy coupon week, I don't have to go to the store)!
He is also shopping at the commissary this week, using my (very confusing) list and a HUGE pile of coupons. All he asked is if I could include an empty envelope so he can put the "used" coupons in there once he finds the product.

[cup21]

Before I started using coupons we bought alot of store brand items because they were cheaper. One of my DH favorite thing is cereal. He always wanted special cereal but because of our budget he usually ended up with the store brand. But now with coupons and watching for sales he can get the cereal and other items that he prefers. He usually goes shopping with me. He is so cute running around with HIS coupons in hand. He actually has his own stockpile of cereal now....lol.

[JessicaCoen]

Well i still don't have DH completly on board...lol. I'm still getting that "we don't need that...etc.." . Except for the other day when i got him 4 boxes of the cereal he WANTED for $4. Then he was excited. He said "ok, well i'm not building/ buying you any shelves until you stockpile some more cereal"

[par_kit]

I've just started couponing, and DH thinks it's crazy and "cute." He likes to tease. I would never be able to send him to the store though, because (A) grocery stores scare him *L* and (B) he'd never use the coupon. He gets too easily frustrated.

I'm just having trouble figuring out how to get more inserts! My Sunday paper is $2.50...that's a bit high to grab a bunch of papers! I need to call my dollar store and see if they carry the Sunday papers...

[slynng]

I have just started couponing myself but so far hubby has went with me. He thought it was real cool to save more than we spent.

~sherry~