You must be tired...you've been working hard at couponing! You've gotten your coupon folder, clipped/printed tons of coupons, used them and kept them maintained! That is very hard work. You may be beginning to ask yourself, "Self, is it really worth all of this time and effort to save a few pennies here are there?" There is an easy self-test to see if couponing is worth your time.
I have a confession to make on behalf of myself and my Frugal Fort Wayne sister. We are NOT extreme couponers. Those women on that TV show put us to shame. We love couponing, but it is a part-time job for us as opposed to the full-time commitment that is required of the women on TV. Aside from being unable to devote 25 hours a week to clipping coupons, the Fort Wayne area does not always receive the amazing coupons that are given to larger areas such as Indy.
That being said, I do devote about 2 hours total each week to couponing. These two hours includes going through the store circulars, searching online for coupons, maintaining my coupons, assessing my grocery needs, planning my weekly meals, making my grocery list and determining what stores I will be going to this week. Rarely do I have a solid two-hour block to accomplish this all at once. That only happens after the gremlins are in bed. Instead, I just keep my ads, coupon folder, and planner in a handy place where I can grab it when I find a few minutes to work on it. I find my opportune times are when I can sit on the floor by the baby, when the big gremlins (2 and 4 yrs old) are doing puzzles or while having a light conversation (as in I can multitask without fear of not paying attention) with my husband.
To decide whether couponing is worth your time you should consider your dollar amount saved using sales and coupons as well as your % saved. When I run home from a store after getting some great deals, I will quiz my husband, "Guess how much I saved today?!?" He promptly deflates my ballooned coupon-ego by saying, "I don't care how much you saved, tell me how much you spent." Although I hate to admit it, he has a point. Who cares if I saved $20 with coupons if I had to spend $500 to do it. On the other hand, if you are consistently redeeming only a couple bucks worth of coupons for larger grocery orders and it is taking you a few hours to get a few coupons together, then maybe it is not worth your time.
In the past couple weeks, I went to a few stores with coupons in hand to take advantage of some sales. I went to Walgreens where my original bill would have been approx $12.40. After $9.80 in coupons, my out of pocket total was around $2.40. It probably took me 10 minutes to get the coupons together for this trip. Therefore, I am willing to 'be compensated' almost $10 for 10 minutes worth of work. I went to Target where my pre-coupon total was approx $16.50, but I only paid about $6 after redeeming about $10.50 in coupons. That $10.50 was also worthy of 10 minutes of my time. At Meijer, I spent about $72, after saving $55 by using coupons, ad-matching, purchasing sale items and taking advantage of Meijer promotions. I consider that savings worth my time. You need to decide how much savings is and is not worth your time.
One thing that is very important to remember is that there is a learning curve that must be taken into consideration when diving into couponing. In the beginning, you will not save 50% of your total bill or redeem $50 of coupons for a couple hours of work. It may take you 4 hours instead. Let me assure you practice will lead to improvement! The more you do it, the more efficient you will become. Then, you can sit back and enjoy your new money-saving part-time job!
Indeed, there is a learning curve, but it's one worth learning! I think it's better to coupon as we do - rather than the extreme sense. Like you ladies, my time with my husband is more important than devoting the hours to impersonal coupons just to score a deal. Great job on these series!
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