Coupon Confession

WARNING:  If you are under the impression that I am an ideal keeper of my home and a frugal manager of our family's finances and would like to stay under this illusion impression, please stop reading now.  You might find the text below outrageously shocking.

I quit clipping coupons, and I threw away my homemade organization system.

Too much clutter.  Too much time. 

The savings were great when I was vigilant, as I was for about a year.  It is still hard to buy things like razor cartridges, snack foods, etc. without coupons because I know how cheap they can get.  But I started measuring the cost of those "cheap" items by more than currency around the time I started planning for this school year.  The time and attention it took to get those deals was costly for me, especially when I was faced with the time-consuming and higher-priority homeschool.

I was relieved to finally make a conscious decision to stop trying to get back into it, but I still had a guilty feeling sometimes, especially when I went shopping and when I read blogs of good wives who seem to do it all.

Ironically enough, the encouragement that I needed to finally let go came from Money Saving Mom, a coupon queen!  Her article, Lower Your Grocery Bills Without Clipping Coupons, was great.  I shop at Aldi's.  I use a menu plan.  I'm okay.  I need reminders like this to help keep perfectionism (which, for me, equals guilt) from rearing its ugly head.

Maybe I will be able to clip coupons again someday.  In the meantime, I'll just keep on doing my best with what I've got to work with at this moment.  I will also assign that nifty Sterilite container (the old coupon box) a more meaningful purpose.



Shared with WLWW.