I’ve considering dropping my Sunday subscription to the Washington Post for over a year. I always thought that I would be the kind of girl to clip coupons no matter how much money I had in the bank. A million dollars, two million dollars, it doesn’t matter, I thought it just made sense to save money any way possible.
But over the past two years I’ve found my passion for coupons dwindling greatly. I don’t hit the drug stores on Sunday mornings anymore and I have little to no interest in clipping, organizing and remembering to drag those pesky little pieces of paper to the store with me. I’ve considered kicking coupons to the curb a hundred times, but every Sunday morning that paper is back on my doorstep.
As I bent down to pick up the paper today I decided I’d had enough. I walked back inside the house and called the Washington Post to cancel my weekend subscription. I was all ready to kiss that coupon binder goodbye.
I was asked all sorts of questions about why I wanted to stop my service, why I didn’t love receiving the paper anymore, blah, blah, blah. I kindly answered the questions I was asked and then reiterated the fact that I wanted to end my subscription.
“How about if we reduce the price,” the customer service representative asked. “No thanks,” I answered. “Okay, how about if we reduce the price a bit more,” he asked. “No thanks,” I answered, “I’m really no longer interested in clipping coupons and I read Washington Post content online.” “Oh I see,” he said, “but how about if I reduce the price to less than 80 cents per week?”
I hesitated. I wanted to say “no thanks,” but I couldn’t resist the idea. If I use just one coupon from the paper each week I’ll break even. But what about clipping, and organizing and dragging them to the store? Ugh, I probably should’ve said no thank you, but I let him convince me to keep the paper for another 8 weeks.
I realized after hanging up the phone that it’s not really about the money. It just doesn’t seem worth the hassle. I only use coupons on non-food items and I don’t buy household items much anymore.
Do I feel this way because we’ve built up our savings and are paying down our debts? When we had less in the bank I was much more careful about saving those pennies. These days I’m just not sure it’s worth the inconvenience and hassle. It seems my image may be all wrong. I won’t be clipping coupons as a millionaire, but I do have at least another 8 weeks of Sunday circulars coming to my door.
I didn’t clip coupons before becoming a SAHM, but I started doing so a few years ago, mostly for toiletries and diapers/pullups. I use the 3-ring binder/baseball card holder system of organization. Maybe I use 10%, max, of the coupons I do clip. But couponing, like a lot of money-saving tactics, is not an especially small child-friendly activity. It takes time and especially concentration. I try to shop alone whenever possible, leaving the children with my husband or a sitter. I have twins, so that meant four very small hands reaching for the binder, having to drop a child’s hand while thumbing through the binder, etc. Now the kids (nearly 5) are old enough to help organize or even cut out coupons, and I don’t have to hold their hands or keep them in the cart at the store — but still, shopping with them is not very pleasant, and “in and out” is the best strategy. Also, store brands are almost always a better deal!