To Deal or Not to Deal

Free items purchased with coupons.

Picture this:

Young parents walk into a grocery store on a Saturday evening dressed nicely from a church function to get the early edition of the Sunday paper, baby in tow. The mom gets the papers(she's a couponer) and is making sure the coupon inserts are inside(some crazies steal them and I don't want to buy a paper if they aren't there). The dad asks the mom what she's doing, and so does the cashier. The mom responds politely, then proceeds to buy the papers. The young mother attempts to explain why she does this to the cashier who responds with something like:

"I guess if you buy that kind of stuff."(cashier)
"What do you mean?"(mom)
"Well, we don't really eat all those prepared foods."(cashier)
"Well, we didn't used to."(says the shocked mother who really doesn't know what to say)

This was the jist of my conversation with the very presumptuous cashier the other night. I was totally flabergasted. I almost laughed out loud with the picture she must have of me at home making a frozen dinner with a side of canned soup for me and my husband while my baby watched on from a bouncer. Little does she know...

• My baby wears cloth diapers.
• I have chickens in my backyard that feed us their eggs.
• I have 2 other healthy, veggie eating children at home.
• I grind my own wheat.
• I make my own bread.
• I grow a garden and can every summer.
• We had whole wheat, chicken & veggie stuffed pizza pockets for dinner made from scratch.

And then I thought about how I used to think that was what couponing was about. Some things I have found out though, are there is more to coupons than prepared food and cereal(although my kids love eating the free cereal I get). I now can buy Gold Medal flour and C&H sugar for cheaper than the off brands. I can get Campbell's cream soups for cheaper than the off brands. I can get nicer dish soap and laundry soap and deodorant and toilet paper for way cheaper now. I got lightbulbs and pads and cleaning wipes and air fresheners for free. I even got a gallon of organic milk one time for around $1.29. I was very skeptical about couponing for a long time, but now I know that it really does work and it's not just about getting free Bagel Bites(which I now know don't even taste that good anyway).

For more info on couponing, here are the sites I use.

• www.frugallivingnw.com - matches coupons with sales for good deals
• www.hotcouponworld.com/forums/coupon.php - look up coupons for things you are planning on buying anyways
• http://athriftymom.com/ - another site to match coupons with sales