Long Live the Coupon!

I've been a coupon user off and on my entire adult life. Long before grocery store loyalty cards were popular, using coupons and studying the weekly store inserts were the only ways to really get that thrill of saving during your shopping excursions! I guess I've always had a thick enough skin to not be embarrassed to be seen using coupons even in good economic times. There was a recent tidbit in the Post about coupons even being "cool" during these not-so-good economic times.

There are entire websites and blogs devoted to using coupons, some with very elaborate instructions on tracking sales and coupons via spreadsheets. Sample claim: "Hey look, CVS actually GAVE me money today!" While I'm not willing to devote that much time and energy to the process, I don't mind spending a few minutes perusing the sale papers and clipping a few coupons here and there for products I already use.

My thoughts are on coupons today because I actually won the door prize at the monthly NAPO (National Association of Professional Organizers) meeting I attended this week. The door prize was "The Couponizer" which is simply a coupon "system" (including a purse-friendly, wirebound book with pockets for sorting coupons by category) that helps you keep track of your coupons. It even came with a cute, blue-handled pair of scissors. You can see exactly what it is here:

Long live the Coupon!

John asked me what I was doing Tuesday night as I was spreading all the "Couponizer" materials out on our kitchen table. After my usual lengthy answer (I answer his questions in paragraphs, he listens in sentence fragments!), his response was, "I didn't know you clipped coupons." (Somewhat related sidenote: I lay the blame of his occasional inattentiveness squarely at the power cord of his omnipresent Blackberry! As Mimi and I finished our breakfast this morning, I said, "I wonder where Daddy is?" Her matter-of-fact response, "Mommy, he's probably on his Blackberry.")

Anyhoo, I'm going to give the Couponizer a whirl. I see its main benefit as helping you organize your coupons and then actually using them before they expire.

Oh, before I forget -- my update to the Kitchen Utensil Upload project:

Last night we had chicken fajitas, quesadillas and pinto beans for dinner. I used one of my two pizza cutters to cut Mimi's quesadilla and the manual can opener for the beans. My intention earlier in the day was to cook dry beans in my recently Freecycle-acquired pressure cooker but time ran out on me. Note to self: post blog about most interesting Freecycle giveaways and acquistions.