The High Cost of Couponing

Frugality is not a word that has ever, I repeat ever, been linked to my name. But recently, I have had to change my wanton ways. The constant price increases in gas, food, and other luxury items has driven me to extremes. I have begun couponing.

I noticed a friend on Facebook suddenly adding a multitude of product pages to her areas of interest and decided to take a peek at what was going on. They were giving away FREE STUFF! Not just a sample here and there, but in many cases, full size packages with free shipping. Free: it was all I needed to go into an addict mode. The giveaways are like a gateway drug that leads you down the path of no return. The brain clicks into "I want it" mode with no off switch to gear back into normalcy.

I spent the next 27 minutes waiting for one page to load so that I and 19,999 of my closest friends could receive a free can of Gliddon paint. Followed by signing on for Tide samples, soap samples, a coupon for a free can of cat food from Fancy Feast (at least I have a cat), ordering a free flag shaped Jello mold  (I have never even made Jello), printing coupons for a new frozen drink from McDonald's (where I last ate in 1984), free Scotch tape, free Caress lotion, uploading and ordering 50 free prints from Snapfish, and on and on until the wee hours of the morning. 

I became "friends" with 50 or so coupon-crazed strangers overnight, exchanging tips and sharing giveaway websites. Game on. Day 2 of the frugality frenzy brought blogs, fan pages, how-to videos, and spam. In fact a spamorama! Serious coupon/giveaway users already knew what I did not: use a separate email for all your sign ups. A few hundred more emails a day can make a girl feel so popular.

So now I sit surrounded by the booty of just a few hundred hours -- oops, I mean a few hours spent on Facebook and must face the harsh reality: This free stuff is going to cost me a fortune. My free paint and free stain, for example, equal a new project. An end table for the living room perhaps. Since I didn't receive any free timber, saws, or patterns, that means I'll be buying one to custom finish.

The snapshots lead to scrapbooking. That is where I draw the line. A ready-made photo album, newly purchased, will do just fine. The flag shaped Jello mold must be used, so a party for the 4th of July is in the works.  

I downloaded directions for sewing a coupon organizer tote, but it didn't come with free yardage or time. The free razors are for slitting my wrists when I see how much this all costs. I think you get the picture.

The biggest component to successful couponing seems to be stockpiling. Using the manufacturer's coupon combined with a sale price at the retailer makes the cost so low you are compelled to buy 20 rather than just a couple. There could be a shortage of laundry detergent after all. Thus for a beginner couponer, stockpiling is an investment. It's a little like commodity trading. You buy up and hope it retains its future value to your home.

An entire industry has sprung up around saving money at the market. Only in the good old USA do we turn that into a television show, Extreme Couponing. There is no denying the positive marketing value for a company doing a giveaway. 20,000 happy campers received a quart of paint (enough for one wall if you are a good painter) so may buy enough for the other 3 walls. They will most certainly brag about the generosity of Glidden to all their family and friends. And they, in turn, may buy more paint. Of course because it was free, that one wall will look better than any other wall since the building of the Parthenon. 

I could list hundreds of links for fun and useful couponing tips and information, but here are just a few to get you started. See you at the check-out line...

The Krazy Coupon Lady

Free Sample Frenzy

The Dealyo