Couponing used to be a fun hobby

[foggierbard9]

I've completely changed how I coupon as well, it isn't the "exciting, rush" it used to be. I think several things lead to me changing how I coupon.

1. I changed how we eat, and what is important to us in regards to how our food is grown, fed, processed, etc.
2. The Show™, I've seen a few episodes and every one of them has me screaming at the TV because of what they do.
3. The mad dash. So many more people are couponing and having to be at the store when it opens with my 2 kids just to get the deals is not in my planning.

I can't even tell you the last time I was in a CVS, Rite Aid, or Walgreens to coupon shop. I still do coupon for some stuff, and watch the sales at the regular stores, but we have gone to getting a majority of our food from Aldi and the Farmer's Market. I am looking forward to next year and my garden so I can can/freeze for the winter and not have to fight people for deals so that we can put food on the table.

[Smee]

I've completely changed how I coupon as well, it isn't the "exciting, rush" it used to be. I think several things lead to me changing how I coupon.

1. I changed how we eat, and what is important to us in regards to how our food is grown, fed, processed, etc.
2. The Show™, I've seen a few episodes and every one of them has me screaming at the TV because of what they do.
3. The mad dash. So many more people are couponing and having to be at the store when it opens with my 2 kids just to get the deals is not in my planning.

I can't even tell you the last time I was in a CVS, Rite Aid, or Walgreens to coupon shop. I still do coupon for some stuff, and watch the sales at the regular stores, but we have gone to getting a majority of our food from Aldi and the Farmer's Market. I am looking forward to next year and my garden so I can can/freeze for the winter and not have to fight people for deals so that we can put food on the table.

This is pretty much me (except I don't watch that show). I'm not up for playing coupon ninja just to get a deal. I can't remember the last time I was in one of the drug stores, and our rural area has only a couple of major(ish) supermarkets, so they aren't especially competitive with regard to couponers. They have pretty tight limits and aren't eager to to out of their way to get couponer business. The good deals that are to be had are on things we wouldn't really buy otherwise, and it got to be not really worth my time to buy papers, trade, organize, plan trips and only hope that there would be stock when I got to the store or get rainchecks for four deals. I'm a couponer lite now-- I get Sunday papers at the first of the month for the P&G stuff because I do save more money with those than the papers cost, and a friend and I pick up and swap a few coupons here and there for things we know we'll use. Other than that, it's just not worth it to get into nearly fist fights for the few deals on things I wouldn't be consuming otherwise. Sometimes I'll catch someone on the HCW classifieds with good deals on stuff I can use and buy it from them, still at a savings and without the headache of the contact sport that is known as couponing in my town.

Despite all that, though, I still manage to keep plenty of stuff like toothpaste, shampoo, dish soap, that kind of thing on hand, so I don't seem to be missing much by not being at the store the minute it opens and being nearly knocked down in the rush to get inside. It only took one time at a CVS for that to happen-- I'm not kidding, people were shoving and even looting each others' carts-- for me to decide no way. It's a shame, though, because when I was couponing more heavily (though nowhere near extreme), I enjoyed trying new products that I would not have otherwise tried.

[rebate_queen]

I, too, do not coupon like I used to. I still try to get good deals at the grocery store, but CVS is the only drug store I do anymore and I only keep about $30 or less in ECBs so I don't feel an urgency to have to roll them like I used to. I just get a raincheck if they're out of something. I basically go there once a week. The other drug stores would probably be out of stuff if I didn't get there right when they opened and I am not up for that anymore. Plus I hate the RR's at Walgreens anyways. Also, I haven't seen an insert q to get excited over in a long time.

I still have plenty of stuff here though, despite having several yard sales this year. Next year, I probably won't have as much for a yard sale though, so I may only do one.

[angeliainwonderland]

I'm a couponer lite now--