My mom is a very casual coupon clipper. I’ll be the first to say she’s great at ferreting out the best clothing buys around ($10 winter coats, anyone?)… but when it comes to the grocery store, it pains me to shop with her. She rarely uses coupons, only haphazardly watches the sales, and refuses to give up brand loyalty to save money. I can’t relate to her in the supermarket.
One time my dad asked me if I thought I saved much money using coupons. So for the month of April, I did what I normally do for couponing, and kept track of it.
Between using coupons and mail-in-rebate offers, I saved a grand total of $122.09. That is NOT chump change my friends!
Using those coupons, rebates, and sending for freebie offers allowed me to score free or nearly free items like Tylenol, Excedrin, Johnson’s Buddies bath soap, Huggies Clean Team wipes, Aquafresh toothpaste, photo prints from Walgreens, Colgate toothpaste, Hallmark greeting cards, a Glade Scented Oil Warmer, a 2 liter Diet 7Up, Pledge Multi-surface Cleaner, Schick Quattro Titanium razors, Post Honey Bunches of Oats Chocolate Clusters, and Lady Mitchum deodorant.
I estimate that I spend about an hour a week clipping coupons and finding printable coupons and other deals online. So that works out to a little more than $30 an hour. That’s more than I made when I was working full-time!
I think it’s well worth the time to clip coupons. My toddler, who likes helping me sort through coupons, saw a coupon on the counter and said, “like cash.”
He’s right. And I can’t afford to just throw cash away.
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