The last several days, I have been on and off my Facebook page – I find it hard sometimes to keep up with what you all have going on honestly. You are some busy folks.
But one thing I noticed was a few folks stuck in a “Rut”. Just a few months ago, I myself was stuck in the same place = total mess of coupons, messy desk……. and had no idea how to get un-messified. There are times in my life that I don’t want to even so much look at a coupon – after all, we talk about these papers with barcodes from the moment we wake up, to the moment we sleep. And if you are like me, you think about them WHILE sleeping.
It’s the coupon rut – have you found yourself in one? I have – more than I can tell you. It happens fairly frequently…… when I first started couponing, the feeling of free was empowering – exciting, just made me want to run out and grab what I could, when I could.
As time progressed, and when the newest child came along, it became harder for me to just drop what I was doing & go buy my freebies – after all, last thing my kids need is someone dragging them store to store. Leaving my house requires that they are all freshly changed, baby breast fed, my 5 year old’s hair combed, and lastly – FULL tummies & a cup of water to quench their thirst.
How did I get out of the rut? I just took a break… I simplified my life for a few days. I stepped back from Facebook, I stuck to ONE store, and I just took a few days to let the “rut” slide by.
I’m sure some of you have feedback in this area – have you been in the coupon rut? And if so, what did YOU do to help recreate your adventure & step back into shopping again?
My issue has always been having a lack of coupons. I recently bought a printer, thanks to this site actually (the hp one at staples last month), so i’ve been able to print coupons out, that’s helped. I’ve been in a rut for a long time, but this past month, February.., has been great! and gives me hope! Lol.
I have been in the “rut” more than once… I have taken a break and used up items in my stockpile. Using the last of one certain item has re-energized me. I still collect my inserts and when I’m ready, I go back and start clipping again.
I’m on the “I’m on a break” bandwagon thanks to long work weeks coupled with wedding planning and being in the middle of buying a house. We are currently living off our stockpile and only picking up a few things from Fry’s and CVS along with bare essentials. I’m glad we were able to get all those deals thanks to you Sheryl. Instead of clipping coupons..tonight I printing envelopes and corner rounding invitations…LOL…the pile of coupons can wait for another day. :-D
Some months I just have no time or energy for coupons. I come home from work and all I want to do is order pizza and sleep. Of course those are the times our food and grocery budget goes completely off track. Sooner or later I just find the motivation and sit down for a few hours and get organized, then get as many good deals as I can in the next week or so afterward, because I just know eventually I’ll slack off again.
lol i cant seem to get out of my rut!!!
It always helps me when the sale cycles change. I started last summer when mens hygiene products were all free. That was great for awhile but then I wanted more. Now I seem to be getting more food items for free or cheap. I have scaled back since I have such a great stock pile and I don’t shop Wags, CVS or Target very often anymore either.
Yes I have been here for about two months now! I have not couponed for two months, just cause I am burnt out. I keep telling myself I will start next week but “next week” never comes… in a way I feel bad cause I know I am loosing out on a bunch of FREE stuff and not saving money, but it is nice to take a break…. gonna start back couponing this week, for real!!
I found myself there back in October, and turned to teaching classes free at the library as motivation. There is nothing like helping others learn to get you motivated to coupon, especially when you set yourself a goal of giving them a list of “deals of the week” to pursue!
Also, committing to get freap products to donate to the Gospel Rescue Mission every other month gets me out of the house searching for bargains even when I wish I was just home relaxing.
Finally, I am working on upping my game by following some advice I found on the Hillbilly Housewife blog on menu planning. She has such practical advice on how to plan menus around recipes your family loves, and how to get organized. This alone is exciting to me as I have always been a cook on the fly or MAYBE decide the night before kind of gal.
I love couponing. Finding the deals, clipping and gathering it all up, store game plan and then BAM let the Freapin’ begin. Then I get to the store and see empty shelves or a different price at my store than listed (since a lot is YMMV). Then i come home all upset cause it was exhausting going from the HIGH of excitement to the LOW of frustration. Wish i could actually get in on the deals and then it leads to my “coupon rut”
I go through coupon ruts sometimes. Usually I take a break, I stop cruising the online sites, stop looking for deals, spend the time cleaning and organizing and re-doing things around the house, sipping tea, enjoying my time and my life. Then I end up going on Facebook and I see a deal I need, and I go to just do that one (the catalyst this time was the paper towels at Target), then I find some new site or new venue to find deals, and start noticing really good ones, and then I jump in full force for a bit. Sometimes I go for a long time that way, other times a deal comes up that is so amazing that I have my heart set on stocking up, and it doesn’t happen (Wags is usually a great place for this (Belvita!!)!!). I get greeted by empty shelves, I feel like I am competing with the nationwide blogosphere, or the serious Extreme couponers, and I realize the stress is outweighing the benefit, so I stop again. Usually I do enough during my up phases that we never notice the financial difference when I am in my non-couponing phases. I also have food allergies that preclude purchasing things like Totinos pizza rolls, or a million boxes of twinkies, so grocery deals really don’t have much appeal for our household. We tend to buy fresh veggies and chop them up for the freezer, we pick our own veggies at a local organic farm, we buy meats from AJs at the beginning of the month and have them packaged in freezer paper in small serving portions, we get bulk beans and things from Sprouts, and so the deals I am looking for are for things like razors, higher end soaps, usually things that have a very long shelf life (paper towels)… Finding just one good stock up deal on items like that during my up phases totally make up for some of our other expenditures and make it so our overall cost of living is drastically reduced but the quality of what we actually use and eat is also kept extremely high. It is a delicate balance, and one that every couponer needs to work to find for themselves. There are days when the wrong manager makes me want to rip up every coupon I have, and then there are days when the deals come so easily that I wonder why I ever stopped!
I am totally in a rut. I just threw away a $10 register reward from Walgreen’s because I let it expire and forgot about it and honestly didn’t really feel like going there. I’m just getting tired of finding empty shelves, having coupons refused, constantly changing policies, the increase in prices and gas, etc. I am focusing on getting the good deals that don’t require coupons and buying things that I actually need instead of buying my 40th tube of toothpaste. I’m sure it’s a phase and I’ll get back into the fun parts of couponing again.
I am so glad you posted this. You have said it well. I have been seriously couponing for about two years (started really getting into it in January of 2011) and quickly got burnt out. So I stopped, from March 2010 until January of 2011, I did not coupon. Then, I realized how truly beneficial the whole idea of couponing is. I decided to shift my focus from over-doing it (buying 20 papers every Sunday; I had 8 people under my roof at that time) to managing it according to the coupons in the paper and my necessity for what was contained in each insert. By doing this I am able to control myself and have noticed that I do not get burnt out anymore. For example, at the beginning of the month when there are 4 inserts (SS, RP, P&G) I usually purchase 21 papers. During the month when there are 2-3 inserts I usually purchase 9 papers. Towards the end of the month or when there is only 1 insert, I usually only purchase 3 newspapers. This often has a way of working itself out so that I am only having to cut out 21 newspapers once a month and 9 papers twice a month and 3 papers once a month. This is how I remain in the game. I have a box that I put all of the inserts in and spend a day or two a week sorting, cutting and filing my coupons. I generally do one large shopping trip a month and small runs daily (for the freebies; or next to free items). In addition, I have noticed that I have been printing more coupons and using them more often then the ones in the paper. There is no way I will ever stop couponing. My average monthly grocery bill prior to couponing was $500-$600 a month. My average monthly grocery bill now averages between $150-$300 a month (my family now consists of 7 people, 3 dogs and 1 cat). To me this is worth it and I have my family involved in the process and the children really enjoy helping mommy save money. I have taught them a beneficial lesson that one day they will be able to pass onto their families. This is my goal……………….so hang in there…………and focus on the bigger picture………………Thank you for all that you do and continue to do for this blog………………………..
Great advice. Thank you so much for simplifying the whole process for us newbies:)