Grocery Shopping

One of the things I sometimes enjoy doing is grocery shopping, although I always find things at the store that I want and can't afford to buy (or know I shouldn't because it's not good for me or my husband). But one thing I'm trying to do more of is use coupons when I shop. I can actually save about 1/3 on my final bill at the register by doing so, and maybe even more with practice.

My main purpose in asking about who or how many of you use coupons was because I don't usually see too many people using them, and I wanted to know how much in the minority I am.

Here is what I found out from the 11 votes I got (even though it's not really all that representative a poll):

Four votes were from those who said there is nothing wrong with using coupons to be thrifty. That's where I would most likely fall had I voted, myself.

One person said they use coupons sometimes when they're really thinking about it.

Three people each said they either shop at off-brand stores or that they're men and real men don't use coupons. (HA!)

Really. How does using coupons make you less of a man? It shows that you care about where your money goes and you don't want to waste anymore than you have to. I think that's an admirable quality.

However, if those men out there who voted are married, it's likely that they don't do the grocery shopping anyway, which would make this poll irrelevant to them. Oh well. Such is life.

I know I can't send my husband to the grocery store without him bringing home a lot of stuff that wasn't on the list to begin with. I, on the other hand, seem to have a better grasp of how to stick to a list.

Is it discipline? I don't know. My husband lived on his own for 12 years before we got married, whereas I (who am several years younger) never did. I sometimes regret that, but it wasn't really something I could help very well. We got married at a time when a lot of people were losing their jobs, and I couldn't find anyone to hire me because the economy was so depressed.

When my husband lost his job due to a lay-off, I had to learn rather quickly how to stick to a budget, try to use coupons, etc. That wasn't easy because most of my life, I never had to worry about where my next meal was going to come from, how much money I was spending on this or that... I was like a grown-up kid who had to do a lot of self-teaching and learning from my much more experienced husband.

Now, I appreciate the hard work that goes into planning a budget, making grocery lists, and finding coupons to use with those items on my list, or bypassing the coupons because I found a better deal without them.

Anyway, I'm just rambling now. It's 11:15 p.m. and I need to wind down and get some sleep. I'll be back later in the week to post something less dull. I promise.