I’ve been out of the couponing world since April or so and we are just noticing our supplies starting to dwindle. With our stockpiles going down and a few things we want to save for coming up (toying with the idea of a different car and a few other things) I’m thinking its time to start again. However couponing in general isn’t very ‘green.’
- You have to buy a few newspapers every Sunday to get multiple coupons, I don’t read the paper so it all just goes straight into recycling. I wish there was a way to only get the coupons.
- Typically to get the best deals your buying things in smaller packages, while this might be better for our family of 2, it is not better for the environment.
- You can easily drive to 3 or more stores to get the best deals in each one, wasting more gas. Luckily for me all the stores I go to are with in 1.5 miles of my house and I can make them on my way home.
I’m sure I could come up with a few more but I don’t want to bore anyone 😉 So the be honest this area in my life is a compromise. I’m trying to find balance between saving money and living the green life I want to.
- I will not buy travel sized anything just because its free.
- I do the math, just because I can get the small tube of toothpaste for 25 cents doesn’t make it the best deal per oz. Sometimes I can get a size up and still get a great deal with the coupon.
- I make sure to use my cloth shopping bags and produce bags.
So what do you think is it worth the trade off?
I also loved couponing a lot when we lived in the US. It’s definitely something I really missed when we moved here since couponing in Japan doesn’t exist the same way as it does in the US. BUT I’ve discovered in the past two years or so that there is a form of couponing that is quite popular here and that is electronic coupons. The way that works is that certain websites collect coupon informations from various restaurants and stores and you can just download or email the coupon codes to your phone. When you go shopping, you show them the coupon on your phone and get the discount just like that. Supermarkets are a different story since they usually already discount the items on sale. It would be awesome if they could do something similar too though.
I’ve toyed with the idea of couponing for a bit, but what I found was generally, there weren’t coupons out there for the stuff I really needed. I’m not interested in stocking up on name-brand super-processed junk like single-serving spaghetti-Os. I do need flour, sugar, butter, eggs, etc.–the basics– and in my experience, coupons for that kind of thing just aren’t out there where I live. Also, it’s often the case that the off-brand store name is still cheaper than the name brand with the coupon. I’m not saying this will be everyone’s experience, it’s just been mine, and it’s something else to keep in mind. I’ve found that since I quit couponing, I have more time and a more stress-free shopping experience. Now, I’ve just started planning meals around what’s on sale at the grocery store without needing a coupon. I’m not saying this approach is for everyone, just something else to consider. Is it really saving you money on the things you’d buy anyway and need, or is it just one more thing you have to do before going to the store?