Spending money to save money - Coupons!
I need to do this. I need to just suck it up and start getting the Sunday paper. I don’t know why I don’t. I don’t know why I haven’t.
I guess I just feel like I don’t want to spend the money to get the Sunday paper just to get coupons I might not use. But seriously…. people save so much money using those grocery sites that match coupons with sales at the grocery store. I can do that. I can use the internet. One of the stores on those websites is practically across the street from me. But it seems like I’ll end up spending even more money trying to take advantage of sales and my grocery budget will implode on me. But that’s mostly me making excuses… because doing this spending money to save money thing takes me totally out of my comfort zone.
I have this serious mental block against spending money to save money. It is illustrated in my analysis of The Dough Roller’s series this week about parallels between finances and chess. I was never a very good chess player, passable but not brilliant by any means, mostly because I cannot sacrifice my queen. I just… can’t. Giving up the queen makes me shudder inside, even if through that I can gain a serious advantage. It is illustrated in the comments when I try to play his chess challenges. 
I just can’t see past giving up the queen and ahead to what I might gain. I’m like that about spending money to save money. I can’t see past the spending money part to get to the saving money part.
I need to get past this mental lapse, this brain roadblock…. if only I knew how. I guess how is going to a store this Sunday and buying a Sunday paper….
We’ll see.
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September 19th, 2007 at 7:51 pm
I understand. I’m currently battling a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. Why? Because I bought a $12 box of powdered milk. Mr. Micah and I are planning to disperse our gallon of skim milk into two containers and “cut” them with mixed up powdered milk. Makes sense, right? Powdered is cheaper and we won’t lose much on flavor. We’ll be saving a lot of money.
But seeing the $12 go at once just makes me feel sick.
Seeing this post made me a bit happier, though, because I know someone else is going through it too!
September 19th, 2007 at 9:27 pm
I would be all cranky too!
Change is hard. Spending to save is hard. bah.
September 20th, 2007 at 10:38 am
Mrs. Micah, see how much a gallon of milk costs in your area, then figure how many gallons you can make with that box of powdered milk…not to mention the Hillbilly Housewife’s Magic Milkshakes which are the next best thing to Heaven LOL. Anyway, that’s what I did when I started to cut our milk and it ended up being a savings of what 2-3 gallons of milk would cost.
IE: coupons: Don’t you like reading the Sunday paper? I think of the coupons as a bonus. I love reading the sunday paper over coffee with dh cooking breakfast. We actually got a 1 month free of the paper because I bought an ad for my garage sale. Now I don’t know if I want to give it up.
You really gotta watch those coupons though. A lot of times, the generic brand will be cheaper than the brand even with the coupon. And don’t buy stuff just because you have a coupon. That’s my biggest downfall. I rarely buy junkfood, but if I’ve got that coupon, I just might!
September 20th, 2007 at 12:36 pm
Yea, I agree with Paula. A lot of the coupons in our paper are for name brand, new products. So I clip them and take them along but don’t always use them. Depends on what else is there. One of the best values I have found is frozen foods and freezing fresh veggies. Like Bananas… I can never eat the whole bunch before they go brown. I unpeel them, cut in half and put in the freezer. Then just take one out and put in my morning smoothie. You could cover with chocolate before freezing too.
September 20th, 2007 at 9:12 pm
@Paula - I don’t like newspapers. The kid likes to roll on them and cover himself in newsprint. lol
I thought that about coupons too but people keep talking about CouponMom and The Grocery Game and how you can save SO much money matching couons to sales and so… I don’t know. I think I am being persuaded.
@Jen - ewww bananas. I like chocolate though. I am still up in the air about the coupons.
September 22nd, 2007 at 6:46 am
Here is a nifty little site so you can see what the coupons are for any given Sunday. http://www.taylortownpreview.com/ This way you can decide if you will save enough to make it worth buying the paper.
Also, ask where you get your paper what they do with any leftovers. Usually they only have to give back the front page of the newspaper to get credit. See if they will let you have any extra inserts. A great way to sometimes get 10 to 25 extra sets of coupon inserts. Hope this helps
September 23rd, 2007 at 5:40 pm
@ Pamm - that is cool, thanks! sadly I forgot to get a Sunday paper today. Must buckle down…