Coupons: worth it?
Feb. 2nd, 2012 11:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
holyschist posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
actyourwageI'm currently in the situation of not quite making enough to live on with my regular paycheck, but I have some padding from seasonal temp work/freelancing/annual trust minimum distribution, so I'm doing okay--and in a couple months will be refinancing my debt and hence able to actually (I hope) sock some money away for emergencies.
Right now I have Y amount of time at work and X amount of time left over. Into X I am trying to fit (in some order): applying for better-paid jobs, freelancing, having a social life/maintaining my relationship, exercising periodically, and decluttering my apartment/life. I'm thinking about potentially trying to do some volunteering to build up skills to make me more marketable, but I'm not sure about the time investment.
Presently X does not really permit me to get all those things done all the time.
I'm thinking about attempting to save more money via coupons: I don't want to go buying stuff we won't use with coupons, but making more of an effort to use coupons for things we do regularly buy. Right now we're pretty good about using coupons for a) craft supplies, b) one local Japanese fast food restaurant, and c) PetCo, and d) more pricey gift things (e.g. I made some photobooks with Snapfish as gifts, and waited for a 3-for-1 coupon).
What we are not good about using coupons for is day-to-day grocery and cleaning supplies--manufacturer's coupons more than store coupons.
Have any of you found coupons to be worth the time investment? If so, do you have any recommendations for a system to encourage actual coupon use with minimal time spent clipping-and-wrangling?
Have any of you found coupons to be totally NOT worth the time investment? I mean yes, the amount we can save with coupons is minimal next to what I'd make with one small freelance assignment, but coupons are reliable and assignments are not.
Right now I have Y amount of time at work and X amount of time left over. Into X I am trying to fit (in some order): applying for better-paid jobs, freelancing, having a social life/maintaining my relationship, exercising periodically, and decluttering my apartment/life. I'm thinking about potentially trying to do some volunteering to build up skills to make me more marketable, but I'm not sure about the time investment.
Presently X does not really permit me to get all those things done all the time.
I'm thinking about attempting to save more money via coupons: I don't want to go buying stuff we won't use with coupons, but making more of an effort to use coupons for things we do regularly buy. Right now we're pretty good about using coupons for a) craft supplies, b) one local Japanese fast food restaurant, and c) PetCo, and d) more pricey gift things (e.g. I made some photobooks with Snapfish as gifts, and waited for a 3-for-1 coupon).
What we are not good about using coupons for is day-to-day grocery and cleaning supplies--manufacturer's coupons more than store coupons.
Have any of you found coupons to be worth the time investment? If so, do you have any recommendations for a system to encourage actual coupon use with minimal time spent clipping-and-wrangling?
Have any of you found coupons to be totally NOT worth the time investment? I mean yes, the amount we can save with coupons is minimal next to what I'd make with one small freelance assignment, but coupons are reliable and assignments are not.
(no subject)
Date: 2012-02-03 08:17 pm (UTC)I was thinking I would probably need to do a baseline price comparison for my local stores and then focus any coupon efforts on meat/fish/eggs/produce. Most of the hardcore couponers seem to buy a) cereal, b) dairy, and c) processed foods a lot more than we do, and do not consider things like fish sauce, ghee, and basmati rice to be staples. And they go through a lot more shampoo and razorblades than we do. I'm sort of suspecting that I ought to be buying meat and seafood and more produce at the local Asian market anyway, and see if I can find a good Indian grocery that's not the next town over....
I don't know. I think the way we like to eat and the foods we cook, serious couponing is probably not an option. I'm not going to change my entire cooking style to foods I like less just to save money. But maybe targeting a couple areas of ingredients would help. I'll have to do some research.