Having and Giving

You know, I think there are three real pleasures inherent in couponing. The first and probably the most superficial is the fun of the game. Couponing make me feel quite clever, and if I get a really good deal, I feel like I've won something. This is nice because I am a competitive person, but M doesn't like to play board games with me. Competing in a battle of wits against the store, to abide by all the rules and yet come away with a better deal than anticipated, that's quite a rush, and I have been known to brag about it all day. That's part of what this blog is about, of course, telling everyone who'll listen about all the cool stuff I got for so little money.

The second pleasure of couponing is the having. I love having things. This is not necessarily an ideal love in an 850 square foot apartment, but I do anyways. I come from a reasonably affluent background, as does M, and we are both used to having things that we want. These days, having what we want must compete with having what we need and paying for what we can't afford to lose. If you have read the very earliest articles in my blog, before the reboot, I'm sure you can probably see my gritty desperation about how on earth we would ever get by on the money M made. It was a deprivation lifestyle, and it was very difficult! Couponing doesn't let me have everything I want, of course, but it lets me have things. Oftentimes the things I can get for free are brand new items on the market, and they are cool, and I love that! Having new cool things helps make up for not always being able to afford things I would like. And I can afford more things that I like because I'm not spending as much money on the things that we need.

Today Robert and I went out in the morning. We went to the library first for baby readalong, but found that it is done for the summer. So sad! We can go back in September, though. So we went off to Staples instead, where I had crazy coupons. I got a 2GB flash drive, two big reams of multicolored printer paper, 100 sheets of 8x10 photo paper, two boxes of pens, five bottles of glue, six notebooks, four scrubbie sponges, and a bottle of glass cleaner, all for 20 dollars. We are always looking for new flash drives around here, and getting one for a dollar after rebate is irresistible. And while right now I cannot afford to buy origami paper, I now have a ton of colored printer paper that will work almost as well, and is making my fingers itch to play with it.

The third great pleasure of couponing, one I've been exploring a lot lately, is the giving. Once you have, I've found, you start wanting to share more. Especially if you live in a place where space is restricted. =) In my first few months of couponing, I found it hard to part with things like toothbrushes and deodorant, things I use and need. Now I've realized that those things always go on sale, and there's no reason for me to stockpile in our limited space. Now when I get them for free, I make sure I have a couple months' worth socked away for my own family, and I can give the rest away. I've totally lost count of how much I have given to the food bank and other places since I started, but it makes me feel good when I can fill one of the baskets at church with the fruits of my shopping labors. More than that, when I give, it makes me feel less poor. Concentrating on others' needs lets me remember my own blessings. When I give away a stick of deodorant or a bottle of body wash, I remember that I am blessed to always have enough of those things, even if I don't have the latest gadget or book or whatever. Filling a bag of school supplies reminds me of how I always went to school with new things, and how I want someone else to have that experience too.

After Staples, Robert and I went over to the New Hope Center, where M and I did our prenatal classes and where I went to clinic. I know I've spoken about them before here. They hold a special place in my heart for all they did for us. Our counselor, Joan, was not in today, but we saw Denise instead, who remembered us right away and was happy to see us. Robert is having some stranger anxiety this week, but he let her hold him for a minute or two, while I brought in the diapers from the car. I decided that the best thing to do with the Size 2 diapers I couldn't return to the store would be to give them to someone who can distribute them where they are needed. There were quite a few diapers, too! Five full jumbo packs of Huggies, one partial jumbo pack of Huggies, and one partial store brand pack. I hope they will help someone out who needs diapers. I still remember that article about women who can't afford to change their babies when they are wet, and it makes me so sad. I have always had enough diapers for Robert, thanks to couponing and to the kindness of people like the ones at New Hope. That's a big blessing!

When we got home, Robert took a two hour nap, and spent the rest of the afternoon on a hyperactive baby tear. I'm not sure what got into him, but he was in quite a mood. Luckily, M was around to help deal with him as well! I spent some time in the kitchen, freezing more blueberries and baby food. Today the green bananas were yellow, so I took two of those and pureed them with blueberries into a lovely mush that I froze in an ice cube tray. When Robert is ready for blueberries, he'll have such a treat! I couldn't resist eating one myself, after they were frozen. This freezer is definitely a blessing. I love it so much! It is going to help me save so much money!

Super Double Coupon Day!

Today was a very busy day. We had to get up early early and get out of the house by 7:30 for my appointment at the health department. Not being insured definitely sucks. I had to wait a month for this appointment, where I filled out a questionnaire and gave a urine sample and made another appointment, again for a month from now, though I can pray for cancellations. If that appointment in a month goes well, I will get another appointment to actually see a health care provider, woo-hoo! I can hardly wait.


There was no time to go home after the clinic, because M had to go straight to class. Robert and I dropped him off, then noodled around in Cincinnati for a couple of hours, so as not to drive all the way home and back again. I have a bag packed up for the food bank, so I went to church to drop it off, but it was closed and locked. I even tried the parsonage, but the pastor was not in. Oh well, I can always drop it off on Sunday. Filling the bag made room in my storage boxes, and it makes me feel good, too. Part of me thinks it might feel kind of odd to be in a shelter and getting this fancy shampoo and conditioner, but maybe it'll make someone happy. I have decided that in the future I will definitely buy less conditioner and more shampoo. I use conditioner all the time, but shampoo is totally more useful. After the church, we went to McDonalds and I used my last free frappe coupon while Robert allowed people to coo at him for awhile. I nursed him in the car in the parking garage, and we were ready to face the rest of our day.

When M was done going to class it was time for him to teach a class. We headed back into Kentucky to his other school, where he showed Robert off to his faculty friends and to his class. I sat in his office with Robert while he was actually teaching, and ended up turning off the top light so the baby could catch a nap. He was fussy. When that was all done, we headed home, Robert ate again, and then it was time for SUPER DOUBLE COUPON DAY!!!

I have been very excited about Super Double Coupon Day at Remke. This weekend, Remke is having an event where they double coupons up to 2.00, rather than just 1.00 as is the norm at doubling stores. So if you have a coupon worth one dollar, it's suddenly worth 2, which is huge. Remke is a small local chain, so nobody does price matching online and I was on my own, so I printed off many one dollar coupons that I thought might net free or cheap product, and Robert and I did some serious shopping legwork. And we did well for ourselves! One thing to remember is that Remke is not a cheap store, not at all. You don't see stores with competitive prices doing super doublers. The only stores I've ever seen do it at all are Remke and K-Mart, which is a store that combines the dirty hopelessness of an off-brand dollar store with the upscale prices of an affluent department store and the surly customer service of the Soviet Union. Remke is a far more pleasant place than that, but its prices are super-high for groceries in this area.

Even with effectively two dollars off coupons, quite a few things remained out of the price range I was willing to pay, but I got some great deals. I wound up spending fifteen dollars on what would've been a 45 dollar purchase after Remke's sales, before my coupons. Tack on another 20 for shopping the sales, and I paid fifteen for what would've been closer to 70 if I'd gone in there with no sales and no coupons, so I'm pretty happy. The best part, I think, about the super doubler is that it let me indulge in a few premium items I normally couldn't get even with coupons. I got a box of Peppridge Farm cookies, which I love, some Buitoni tortellini, and two packs of King's Hawaiian rolls, which I also love, but which are normally so expensive I can only buy them for parties. We used the rolls tonight on the slow cooker barbecue chicken I made of the cheap chicken quarters from Kroger, and it was amazing. Love it! Robert was a very good shopping buddy. I usually let him "hold" the coupons by setting them in the carrier while I push the cart, but today he surprised me by actually grabbing them and waving them around. I almost couldn't get them back. =) He's getting really good at this whole "having hands" thing!



Oh, and as promised, pictures of my coupon binder! As you can see, I really haven't done any wholesale clipping, I've just put the whole insert into the page protector and secured the top with a paper clip. My coupon-matching websites tell me which insert to look in for the coupons I need, and if I see a sale and want to coupon-match myself, I can always use the Taylortown Preview, a website that lists all the coupons in every insert. I would like to think of something clever to do for a cover, as right now I just have the generic "This is a binder" cover on it, and that's boring. I know a few people read this regularly now, so if anyone has any ideas, let me know!