Saving Face (Crèam)

This week my twelve year old exposed me to extreme couponing. That’s true. Perhaps she thought that if she could affect lasting change and crack the weekly grocery nut in half we might redirect the funds to the betterment of her wardrobe. And really, where else would the money rightfully go - savings, home repair, education funds? Clearly not. This week’s bill, as of Tuesday, had already topped $300.00.

I used to be better at clipping coupons, but surely the upside to working full time and holding down all Mom duties has to be the absence of the need to clip coupons or at least a solid rationalization for not wanting to do so. I admit that watching these ardent shoppers made me feel like a slacker particularly when I am low on laundry detergent and they have a fifty bottle surplus.

I do respect these committed consumers for taking what is rightfully theirs. Coupons are available for our use and the money they leach out of the system is accounted for and made up by those of us who pay full price. You’re welcome. But there is no shame in working the system in this manner. I will likely never dump an entire display rack of 150 bottles of generic pain reliever into my cart solely because I have amassed 150 coupons for it, but I am impressed with the effort made by those who do. I also sincerely hope that whatever catastrophic pain they are evidently in is remedied by their haul.

By their example I will make more of an effort to clip coupons for those items which my family uses; and, I am grateful for the inspiration. I do have one observation however. I never see fresh fruits and vegetables in their carts alongside the pallets of Ramen noodles and cough drops. When they start making coupons for spinach maybe I will take the whole thing more seriously.