8 reasons why we never use coupons.




I like to save money like every other person. But one thing I never really use or worry about, is
coupons.

I know people, that swear by the power of coupons and I also have seen one single episode of Extreme Couponing. It saved people tons of money. But in our household, we almost never use them.

Don't take me wrong. We are not extremely rich people that don't care about money nor we are big spenders. On the contrary, I am very interested in our household's financials and am not scared of talking about money. Saving money makes me happy. What I have been noticing is that the coupons simply don't serve us with our lifestyle.

Here is why.

1. We eat fresh. It is almost impossible to find coupons for fresh produce. They are usually just on sale and don't need coupons. We mostly buy our fresh produce at Farmers market and they don't need coupons. When we miss the market and have to go to stores, we just buy mostly organic fresh produce. They also almost never have coupons.

2. We eat local and seasonal. We focus on eating local. I never understand why we have to buy food that have been traveling around the world. We are fortunate enough to have enough of everything produced here in our own country and state. I feel that my family will be just fine if they don't eat the Tilapia fish produced in, let's say Taiwan. We can just eat the fish that has been caught wild in Pacific Ocean. Nobody ever died or deeply suffered from the lack of Tilapia.

3. We don't eat processed food. This one is a big one as far as coupons go. I would say possibly 99% of the coupons are from the big corporations and are almost always for processed, wrapped and boxed food. We make almost everything from scratch and don't need all those boxed, processed and old food.

4. We (almost) don't produce waste. Everything with coupons is packed and wrapped. We buy in bulk and always bring our own produce bags. Again, there is no coupon for bulk and produce food.

5. We don't buy anything we don't need. That means we don't buy bottled water, paper towels, juices, sodas, candies, snacks and junk food,.... these are usually the items which the coupons are used for. I make home made regular or sweet potato fries instead of  packaged chips. We make strawberry and banana smoothies and i freeze them for home-made Popsicles. We make home made cookies with my kids instead of watching TV on weekends. It is a fun and healthy activity. We love the quality time and the cookies are delicious made with organic sugar.

6. We almost only eat organic meat. They are from local farms and don't belong to the big meat factories with big names and brands. Again, no coupons.  We eat tons of vegetable and eat meat maybe two to three times a week. We eat lots of organic eggs and fish during the week.

7. We don't buy frozen food. Since we eat local and seasonal, we don't need to buy anything frozen. I do freeze our leftovers. But living in a country that stores are in every corner and even some are open 24/7, I don't feel the need to pack our refrigerator and freezer with tons of food. (We don't own a second "garage refrigerator" like most suburban families do).

8. We shop once a week and buy only for that week. We don't buy something, unless it is finished. On the other words, we don't buy anything that we still have more of. We don't have forgotten food and expired goods. In fact, what we buy doesn't have expiration dates since they are not packaged. Since we buy only for one week or so, we never worry about expiration dates and freshness of our produces. It is always fresh.

Looking at our grocery habits, you will know why we never really need coupons. Eating almost all organic meat and healthy food with lots of bulk nuts and fresh fruit and vegetable, you might think we must spend a fortune on food.

I track our spending closely on Mint.com and our spending on grocery shopping is not out of ordinary. We like to eat out sometimes and do eat out around ten times a month.We also enjoy having friends over.

How much in average are we spending on grocery shopping and food in a month? Around $600-$700 for a family of four. That includes our eating out and our coffee treats in coffee shop. This is our family's base grocery spending. It could vary depending on circumstances.

This also does not include the extra spending on gatherings with friends which i consider it to be by far our best investment. The spending on inviting friends is a great investment in a better life enriched with wonderful friends and family. That is when we spend with pleasure.

But still one thing I never have to worry and think about is clipping coupons.


14 comments:

  1. Do you make all of your own cleaning supplies? I don't use food coupons for pretty much the same reasons as you, but I save a fortune on hygiene products, cleaning supplies, and such because I simply can't jump on the "make your own" bandwagon for those things.

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    1. Great question. I mostly use Vinegar and Baking soda.I make my own tooth paste, Use wooden tooth brushes, Use Deodorants very rearely since i am still searching for an alternative. I will have more coming in my future posts regarding our cleaning and hygiene supplies. Stay tuned :)

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  2. Thanks for this great post. I linked over to your site from a mnn.com post. You have some really great ideas. I will definitely be trying some of your tips. I have found that as I become healthier and less wasteful, there are less coupons available to me. I am looking forward to trying out some of your great ideas, and reading more of your posts.

    Thank you.
    Abe Froman

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    1. Thank you so much Abe for your kind comment. I love reading my readers comments and appreciate your feedback.
      You are right. Isn't it odd that the healthier we live,the less coupons we use?
      Stay tuned for my new posts that i am working on.
      Thank you again
      Paris.

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  3. Great post. I use coupons for specific things like medication (the meds that I have to take have a coupon on the manufacturers website that saves me $30 a month), tampons, and rare instances like that. Whole Foods also has coupons sometimes for fresh veggies and fruits so I look for those. But you are right and we seem to eat the same things. Those items are more "in store specials", which is why I have multiple grocery store savings cards. Plus, who uses coupons at a farmer's market. :)

    If you are looking for a healthy deodorant, have you tried Tom's?

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    1. Hi Thia, I was just reading your comment on coupons. We're not used to coupons in Germany as you are in US. But referring your note about tampons I was wondering if you know "Mentrual cups" ?? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Menstrual_cup
      I was looking for something to save waste and money for tampons since with the years I needed more and more of that stuff. I tried it and was completly amazed. It takes a bit of time to get used to the cup but what a difference it made! No more tampons, no more stains in your undies, no more dry feeling! The only thing I was sorry about is that I hadn't found it some years back, because my menopause started *grins*
      Please excuse my english, I'm not a native speaker!
      @ Paris - by the way... I love your blog! Thank you for all the great tips!!
      Leveana

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    2. Thank you Leavana for your comment. Great tip !!!
      Paris

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  4. Thia, $30 per months is a very big number and i am glad they have coupons for your meds.

    I used Tom's and it didn't work as good. I just made my own yesterday ( tried :) and am testing it. Will be trying different options to find the one. I will have a post about it once i can be happy with the result.
    One of my main reasons for trying to make my own is the problem of the waste it creates if i buy it and i am hoping to reduce that waste.

    I enjoy reading your comments. Please keep writing and keep up the good work.

    Thank you.
    Paris.

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  5. Thank you for this post, I am in agreement! I have tried couponing and found that they mostly convinced me to buy stuff I didn't really need. Unprocessed foods simply do not have coupons! I.e. oatmeal from a local mill, a small produce store, jugs of vinegar, etc. We are becoming less and less of a consumerist family, trying to deprogram from the advertising-brainwashing mindset.

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    1. " reprogramming from the advertising-brainwashing mindset" !!!
      Couldn't have said it better. Thank you for your comment and glad you are becoming less of a consumerism family.
      Paris

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  6. I understand where you're coming from! The less processed food that I eat, the less coupons that I've used. The main thing that I use coupons on now, is produce. I get coupons regularly from Driscoll's and Earthbound Farms and am fortunate that my store coupon program gives out lots of produce coupons. They also give out rewards like $8 coupon for a future purchase, for buying $50 worth of produce. I can easily buy $50 worth of produce in one shot, so that seemed like a pretty good deal!

    I would love to live in an area where locally grown produce was available year around. I remember when we vacationed to Florida in February and were able to go picking at a local farm.

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    1. Great point Ruth. It is easier to eat local if you live in a place where you can access local food more due to longer warm season. I wish more stores would provide produce coupons :)

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  7. The coupons that I use are for some processed foods, as the children like them.... However, the money I have saved with the coupons goes towards purchase of meats and produce. I can buy more with less money....also, I have chickens for fresh eggs and a garden for the produce we eat lots of. Just saying................

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    1. Great idea. Saving money is awesome. I have been trying to stay away from processed food. But sometimes, kids demand it and I go easy on them :) I even crave them sometimes too. Would love to have chickens. Nothing is better than sunny side up with fesh eggs in the mornings.
      Paris.

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