Blog.EmealsForYou

Watch Out Coupon Queen! – A Warning Rant

June 18, 2009 at 8:01 am 1 comment

Caution!

As the economy continues to struggle the use of coupons grows.  People who never or seldom used coupons are now clipping and saving at a furious rate.  My concern here is that coupon usage is, as Martha Stewart would say, “a good thing” on the other hand overuse quickly becomes an obsession.  Saving money  on those items you need for daily life is a good thing; making coupon usage a competitive sport is not so good.

I believe somewhere in the middle is the right touch.  We should plan our needs (read meals), then pick those coupons that assist us in feeding our families good and balanced meals.  Just because the manufacturer of peanut butter puts out a coupon doesn’t necessarily mean that it is the right time to purchase a case.  This is not say that buying a few extra isn’t a good idea it is just that most of us will get into a buying frenzy and spend more than we should on peanut butter and not have money left for more important items like meat, fish and vegetables.  I see way too many shopping carts in the checkout line with large quantities of coupon items, mac and cheese boxes, taco “kits” but no meat to go with them.  My fear is that their families are getting the same meals over and over and not more balanced meals that would come from a more planned approach.  There is absolutely everything right with saving money where you can, but one should balance the savings with a smidgen of common sense.  Sorry, no coupon available for that.

For added insight see our posts Grocery Shopping – Inattention Can Cost You Big and Are You Tough Enough to Win the Coupon Wars?.

Entry filed under: Rants, Semi-Rants and Non-Rants. Tags: coupons, Meal Planning, saving on food, shopping common sense, using coupons.