I have a friend who is our ward's resident Coupon Queen. She has given presentations at
Enrichment Night about how to save money and build food storage using coupons.
She is the ward food storage specialist and takes time regularly in Relief Society to share the latest and greatest deals and where to find them.
The other day she was lamenting to me her frustrations that she does all this work, basically tells people how to get practically free food--and they don't do it.
I smiled and listened and kept to myself the fact that most of the time I don't either.
I tried coupons. I tried for several months. And they did save me money--lots of money. But they're so time consuming. I'm one of those people who has a hard enough time keeping up with the menu-planning/grocery shopping/cooking without throwing coupons into the mix. I have stacks of Sunday circulars in my cupboard begging for me to go through and clip all that great savings. But I haven't done it in months.
I turned instead to online menu services and people that I can pay money to tell me what's on sale and whether it's a good deal. It's so easy! I print out the menu and shopping list every week and go shopping. But there are no coupons involved. When I told this to my friend, she was dismayed. How could I possibly be getting the best deal ever with no coupons involved?
Well, I'm sure I'm not getting the best deal ever. But I'm still getting pretty good deals, and hey, my food storage has quadrupled in the last nine months, so I think this is working for me.
I wanted to tell my friend, nicely, that we all just have to do it our own way and not to take it personally. But I didn't.
This morning I went to Albertsons to pick up a few things. On my list was grated cheese, block cheese, bread (since we were out), and candy to entice my daughter to use the potty. We were just on our way to the cheese aisle when up ahead, I saw my friend. Oh no, hide, I thought! Don't let her see me! Don't let her see that I have a $2.89 loaf of bread in my cart! Don't let her see that I'm on my way to the cheese aisle and won't be able to take advantage of the really great deal on cheese because I don't have any coupons! I ran to the cheese aisle and grabbed the bags of grated cheese I needed for Enrichment Night tonight. I thought, at least if she sees me, I can explain that this if for Enrichment (and yes I am too lazy to grate my own cheese).
We got the grated cheese and then I did the daring-est thing of all: I saw that my friend was on the candy aisle, right where I needed to go for potty training help. I decided to skip out on Albertsons and do the rest of my shopping at Macey's so I didn't have to risk running into my her and explaining why I wasn't getting the Best Deal Ever. And that's what we did. We ran through the self-checkout, bought was was already in our cart as fast as possible, and went down the street to Macey's where I could finish my shopping in relative obscurity.
Aren't we funny? Why do we do things like this? Why can't I just look my friend in the eye and say, "You know, I'm happy to pay full price for cheese once in awhile. It's not a big deal."
Enrichment Night about how to save money and build food storage using coupons.
She is the ward food storage specialist and takes time regularly in Relief Society to share the latest and greatest deals and where to find them.
The other day she was lamenting to me her frustrations that she does all this work, basically tells people how to get practically free food--and they don't do it.
I smiled and listened and kept to myself the fact that most of the time I don't either.
I tried coupons. I tried for several months. And they did save me money--lots of money. But they're so time consuming. I'm one of those people who has a hard enough time keeping up with the menu-planning/grocery shopping/cooking without throwing coupons into the mix. I have stacks of Sunday circulars in my cupboard begging for me to go through and clip all that great savings. But I haven't done it in months.
I turned instead to online menu services and people that I can pay money to tell me what's on sale and whether it's a good deal. It's so easy! I print out the menu and shopping list every week and go shopping. But there are no coupons involved. When I told this to my friend, she was dismayed. How could I possibly be getting the best deal ever with no coupons involved?
Well, I'm sure I'm not getting the best deal ever. But I'm still getting pretty good deals, and hey, my food storage has quadrupled in the last nine months, so I think this is working for me.
I wanted to tell my friend, nicely, that we all just have to do it our own way and not to take it personally. But I didn't.
This morning I went to Albertsons to pick up a few things. On my list was grated cheese, block cheese, bread (since we were out), and candy to entice my daughter to use the potty. We were just on our way to the cheese aisle when up ahead, I saw my friend. Oh no, hide, I thought! Don't let her see me! Don't let her see that I have a $2.89 loaf of bread in my cart! Don't let her see that I'm on my way to the cheese aisle and won't be able to take advantage of the really great deal on cheese because I don't have any coupons! I ran to the cheese aisle and grabbed the bags of grated cheese I needed for Enrichment Night tonight. I thought, at least if she sees me, I can explain that this if for Enrichment (and yes I am too lazy to grate my own cheese).
We got the grated cheese and then I did the daring-est thing of all: I saw that my friend was on the candy aisle, right where I needed to go for potty training help. I decided to skip out on Albertsons and do the rest of my shopping at Macey's so I didn't have to risk running into my her and explaining why I wasn't getting the Best Deal Ever. And that's what we did. We ran through the self-checkout, bought was was already in our cart as fast as possible, and went down the street to Macey's where I could finish my shopping in relative obscurity.
Aren't we funny? Why do we do things like this? Why can't I just look my friend in the eye and say, "You know, I'm happy to pay full price for cheese once in awhile. It's not a big deal."
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