What Couponing Means To Me…
June 12, 2012
I was sitting here getting the Ask I Heart Publix post ready for tomorrow and one of the questions got me thinking about what couponing means to me today. I am not sure I have ever really shared my story fully …so I thought it might be time to give you guys a little more on what couponing means to me!
I started using coupons many years ago – before it was “cool” to coupon 
I always used coupons here and there but did not start really saving big until about 6 years ago.
I started getting serious with coupons after seeing a special on the news about a woman out in California who got a ton of groceries for next to nothing. I just so happened to be putting up our weekly $250+ grocery purchases when I watched the story. I looked at what the woman purchased for $25 and what I purchased for over $250 and about fell over! It’s funny because I can remember almost everything I bought that day and the feeling of disappointment when I looked at my receipt!
That was the day that I completely changed my life and financial future!
After college and graduate school I had accumulated a huge amount of debt including student loans and other credit card debt. When I met my husband I was making good money and also spending lots of money. I would buy whatever I wanted while over $50,000 in debt! Fast forward a few years – we are now married and expecting our first child!
I had always wanted to stay home with my children – at least while they were young. We decided that it was going to be doable for me to be a stay at home mom. My husband’s salary would allow us to live comfortably without my income. We really did not consider our debt to be anything other than another bill you pay. Mortgage, insurance, utilities and credit card bills were just something you pay every month – right?
WRONG…while we were able to make our payments each month, at the rate we were going we would never be out of debt. Not to mention, it is hard to save money when you are putting most of your incoming funds to living expenses and bills!
Couponing made me realize that if I could save money on my groceries I could save money elsewhere. Why on earth would I want to work so hard to reduce my grocery budget to just throw that savings away on excessive spending at the mall or restaurants? I decided that I needed to come up with a budget so that my efforts were actually making a difference.
I made big changes. At first it was hard to change our way of life – really hard!! But…once that first bill was paid in full I started to see that our efforts were actually paying off. It didn’t seem so hard to live on a budget any more!
After a couple of years I had managed to pay off every single credit card bill that my husband and I had accumulated! A few years later and here we are with our only bills being the monthly utilities, insurances and our mortgage. Now I can’t get rid of the utilities or insurances but I am hoping that very soon I will have the mortgage paid off in full!
For me, couponing has completely changed my life. It has made me recognize that a little effort can lead to big results. I feel like I have more control over my family’s future. Believe it or not the constraints of a budget have offered up more freedom than I would have ever imagined! I am now in control of my finances and that sense of relief is like none other.
Now, be aware that it has taken me years to get to this point. I still splurge on occasion and I still make mistakes. Couponing and saving is truly a way of life for me and for my family. I realize that this may not be the way some folks choose to live but for us it works. It’s funny to think that I got here thanks to a few little pieces of paper and a pair of scissors.
You can read more couponing stories from other’s in my Reader Spotlight series. Everyone has a different story as to why they coupon and what it means to them. If you have a story, share it here or email it to me. If you just want to share a comment on what couponing has done for you please feel free to leave it in the comments. I love to read why people coupon and what got them started…it’s fun to peek into other likeminded folk’s lives!
What a great story! It makes anyone feel they can acheive what you have! I am just starting out with budgeting and couponing,but this gives me hope that I can suceed even if I make mistakes!
Couponing has changed my perspective on all of my spending. I am now working on paying off some debts to be able to work part-time to be home with my kids in the afternoons. That is my goal that I am working towards. Thanks to couponing, I feel like that I can really make it happen & I can’t wait to start saying “I just paid *** off”
so true, that working hard to save money on groceries only to throw it away elsewhere is just silly.thats our biggest problem.i have finally talked my DH into taking a lunch to work,told him we would save 200.00 a month.yesterday he grabbed his lunch on his way out the door and asked kinda BTW “where is that extra 200.00 we’re suppose to have” well dear heart do you remember that new GPS you had to have (155.00) because you couldnt use my mothers downloaded update to update your old one for free,and remember that 150.00 we spent at Dave and Busters because you said we had to take the girls seeing hows they have never been(our meals and tip 70.00 so 80.00 on games! i didnt speak to him for the rest of the day.) .i didn’t think it possible to spend that much at Dave and Busters.
can you get a divorce on the grounds of uncommon financial stupidity .lol
FWIW, anyone can save thousands in Interest & years of payments by just paying a little extra ($50-$100) on your mortgage payment each month!!
I purchased my townhouse as an all cash transaction (I did get some of the cash from what my parents left to me) and while I still have other debts, I am paying them down and I will never pay full price again unless it’s a dire emergency. I am no longer brand sensitive for most items unless its certain foods or shampoo (and Pantene works just fine and has great deals at Publix!!). I watch my friends spend $40 on shampoo, lipstick, etc just because it’s the newest product.. I would rather be behind the times than broke. These are the same folks that have no food in the fridge or gas in their cars the closer we get to payday.. I just can’t live that way.
Michelle.. Thank you for sharing!
I love your story! Its nice to hear about all those people who had to coupon to feed their children. I am always glad to hear they were able to find some way to help their families. But sometimes I wonder if there are any other nutjobs out there like me: people who make good money but coupon anyway because they’ve learned that throwing your money away is a dead end. I have met many people in my life who thought they were on top of the world with the salaries they had. And then one day that salary goes away and they have nothing to show for all the years they were earning it. Nothing but a pile of debt (which usually grows proportionately to the salary!). I got a huge promotion last year and a fat raise to go with it. After 6 months, we owed MORE on our credit card. I thought that was nuts. So I started couponing, among other things. I am having many of the same realizations you did and I am so happy to read about a possible future I’d like to achieve! Thanks.
It was great to hear your story Michelle. Thank you for sharing with us, and thanks for all you do. You truly are an inspiration!
Thank you for your story, for your leadership and for everything else you do to help your readers spend less and save more. You are awesome!
Thanks for sharing your story with us Michelle, I really enjoy hearing everyone’s stories about couponing!
Thanks for sharing, your story is really encouraging!
Great story!
One of my Ebay customer bought me to this site and I love it!! Even tho I am still learning about couponing and realize how much you can save money with coupons. And Great Story Michelle and Thank you so much for your hard work! Now I shop @ publix a lot more
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Anyone who doesn’t use coupons whether they have to due to necessity or not is missing out. It is alot of work, but so is anything that is meaningful. I have been couponing for about a year and WISH I would have started years ago when my kids were little. When I think of how we struggled all those years…well lets just say, it would have been great if I had known about the benefits then. However, living for today, I cannot imagine spending full price on personal items and groceries. Thanks to people like Michelle, I don’t have to!!!!
Great story michelle. I have a 4yr old who.loves printing out coupons with me. I had to go to the store yesterday to buy me something to cheer me up, she said to me, aw mom we are here bc you have a coupon for that eyeshadow? And I didnt it was just a lil something to splurge.
yeah $3.99 on a nail polish 
. I dont buy anything w/o a coupon to go with it. Now ive bern able to pay those.little debts in the past 6 months and now getting excited to see my bigger ones go down 
Thank you Michelle for sharing your story. I have been feeling a little coupon burnout lately and it helped revive me.
This is such an inspiration. I can’t wait until I am student loan free!
Michelle, I wanted to let you and all your readers know that they should be checking at their Doctor’s office for coupons. I work at a medical office and we get coupons for Activia, Advil, and Ensure all the time.
Thank you for sharing! My husband just finished grad school, and while he has a good job, we have a lot of debt and I’m staying at home with our baby. Couponing saves us hundreds of dollars each month and gives us peace of mind about our finances. Plus, we are able to get more than enough groceries to eat well. Couponing definitely has changed our lives!