These boards ever make you feel like a slacker?

[Waseller77]

I think when it comes to getting a decent variety of coupons for healthy food, it depends on the area in which you live.

Here in metro NJ, I find and use coupons for greek yogurt, string cheese, Sabra hummus, free milk when you buy Eggland's Best eggs, Ocean Spray cranberry juice (cause you know we grow most of the country's cranberries right here in the ol' Garden State! So technically that's buying local produce... ), Arnold's whole grain breads, frozen veggies (if there's nothing in the bag but veggies to me that's just as good as buying fresh, they're just colder... ), bagged salad (ok, I have my lazy moments and go for the convenience), olive oil, butter, Irish oatmeal, raisins, etc.

So it is possible to find a middle ground of healthy eating and home-cooked meals from scratch with using coupons. It doesn't have to be one or the other.

But I don't stress about what other people are spending or not spending. We do what works for us and while I may be impressed by others doing what appears to be a better job, I'm happy with the results I get from the minimal amount of time I put into it.

We also use coupons for household and beauty products, but otherwise, this sounds just like my family! Like everything in life, you have to do what's best for YOU!

 

[eliza61]

Honestly? Sometimes yes.

But then I snap out of it & realize that I'm doing whats right for me. It may not be ideal for someone else, but it works for ME.

And I take things here with a grain of salt. I have a hard time believing that 12 out of 10 Dis'sers have NO cc debt, have 4.3 million in a retirement fund, and *only* take a vacation because the house & car are paid for & their kids college fund to Yale is maxed out. (the above is my attempt at humor and to poke a little fun. I am flamable, so please keep sparks & flame away from my person)

Bottom line? I do what works for me. I live in a way that makes *me* comfortable. Do I spend hours clipping coupons? No. Do I use a coupon if i come across it? Heck yes.
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It is very interesting isn't it.

On any internet forum you have to "sift" through the information. Some times you hit upon some real nuggets of gold that you can use other times the information will leave you scratching your head.

 

[Virgderon]

Honestly? Sometimes yes.

But then I snap out of it & realize that I'm doing whats right for me. It may not be ideal for someone else, but it works for ME.

And I take things here with a grain of salt. I have a hard time believing that 12 out of 10 Dis'sers have NO cc debt, have 4.3 million in a retirement fund, and *only* take a vacation because the house & car are paid for & their kids college fund to Yale is maxed out.

(the above is my attempt at humor and to poke a little fun. I am flamable, so please keep sparks & flame away from my person)

I find that comparisions to others rarely leads to you (the collective you) feeling better about yourself.

I had stockpiled about 10 boxes of cereal when DH decided he did not want to eat cereal anymore for breakfast because it gave him gas.

And I have about 4.3 dollars in my retirement fund. Ok, not really, but it seems like that sometimes.

 

[Anne34]

I think when it comes to getting a decent variety of coupons for healthy food, it depends on the area in which you live.

Here in metro NJ, I find and use coupons for greek yogurt, string cheese, Sabra hummus, free milk when you buy Eggland's Best eggs, Ocean Spray cranberry juice (cause you know we grow most of the country's cranberries right here in the ol' Garden State! So technically that's buying local produce... ), Arnold's whole grain breads, frozen veggies (if there's nothing in the bag but veggies to me that's just as good as buying fresh, they're just colder... ), bagged salad (ok, I have my lazy moments and go for the convenience), olive oil, butter, Irish oatmeal, raisins, etc.

So it is possible to find a middle ground of healthy eating and home-cooked meals from scratch with using coupons. It doesn't have to be one or the other.

But I don't stress about what other people are spending or not spending. We do what works for us and while I may be impressed by others doing what appears to be a better job, I'm happy with the results I get from the minimal amount of time I put into it.

Actually Wisconsin grows 57% of the cranberries in the US (my in-laws grown them also). Mass is 2nd and NJ is a bit lower. BUT we all love cranberry juice & fresh cranberries at our house.

 

[Colleen27]

Oh yeah. The grocery budget threads especially! I don't shop a bunch of stores, we don't have places that do coupons on the good stuff, and I freely admit a willingness to spend more to support local farmers/producers, so my grocery bills will never be that "$50 to feed a family of 5" level that I see here on the board. I shop smart for our circumstances - small town, only one real grocery, few processed foods, buying in builk and canning/freezing/preserving - but I can't seem to get the budget down below $700/mo (on average). And I'm good with that. I like getting my eggs from the farmer's wife that has a little flock of free range chickens and I like getting pruning tips from the guy who owns the orchard where the bushels of apples in my pantry waiting to be made into applesauce and apple butter came from; that's worth spending a little more in my book, and it is a big part of the appeal of small town/country living.

On clothes and toiletries and such, though, I've learned a lot from my time on this board and I can run with the best of them. Free toothpaste and soap and $1 t-shirts from end-of-season clearance I can do. I've started making all my own cleaning products to both save money and reduce the number of harsh chemicals we use around the house, and recipes from BBers have been a big part of that.

And forget budget vacations - the whole reason I budget at home is so that we can splurge on traveling!

 

[rumrunnergirl]

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[Arielle22]

I coupon and the items I don't like but are at a good price I give to the food pantry.

I am at a point in my life where I can buy nicer things but I still want to get the best price. So I watch the sales and try to buy only on sale or with a coupon.

I am amazed at how many posters won't vacation without debt. If my family didn't vacation we could pay off our debt within 2 years. However we want to vacation and am comfortable doing so with our current debt.

I don't want to be one of those people who live miserly their whole lives just to leave a legacy behind to relatives or a school. I want to enjoy my life, with my DH and DDs while growing old with just enough funds to support myself until my last breath.

 

[bjscheel]

I don't want to be one of those people who live miserly their whole lives just to leave a legacy behind to relatives or a school. I want to enjoy my life, with my DH and DDs while growing old with just enough funds to support myself until my last breath.

Through my work at a nursing home I knew an old couple where the husband wouldn't buy new stockings for the wife because "she wouldn't live long enough to wear them out". So she continued with her holey ones. Later I got a job at a law office and we probated their estates. They left well over $1 million to 4 nieces and nephews who were barely more than acquaintances. Of course, that frugal living is partly what enabled them to have that much money (even after paying for 2 private nursing home rooms for 10 years- that alone would wipe most out).

However, you have to find that happy medium. I'm trying! I rarely use coupons, I forget I have them. Our small town Iowa grocery store is pretty economical anyway. I am great at finding clothing bargains between secondhand, online codes, and clearance. We have taken several vacations in the last 5 years so we are enjoying that part of life! We are doing pretty good but I still wonder how much is "just enough funds to support myself until my last breath" as you say. DH is more of the "enjoy life" camp and I tell him I can't enjoy it if I don't have any money!

 

[cm8]

Somebody takes an 8 day trip for $650 or feeds their family of 5 on $150/month.

I had a great trip to the grocery store, saved $11, and then I read someone who bought the same stuff PLUS will be getting a mail in rebate.

Usually these boards inspire and entertain me. But, do they ever make you feel like a slacker?

Nope, no one has the power over you to make you feel that way.. Plus have you ever heard of the saying "believe none of what you've heard and half of what you see"

 

[JamesMom]

Through my work at a nursing home I knew an old couple where the husband wouldn't buy new stockings for the wife because "she wouldn't live long enough to wear them out". So she continued with her holey ones. Later I got a job at a law office and we probated their estates. They left well over $1 million to 4 nieces and nephews who were barely more than acquaintances. Of course, that frugal living is partly what enabled them to have that much money (even after paying for 2 private nursing home rooms for 10 years- that alone would wipe most out).

However, you have to find that happy medium. I'm trying! I rarely use coupons, I forget I have them. Our small town Iowa grocery store is pretty economical anyway. I am great at finding clothing bargains between secondhand, online codes, and clearance. We have taken several vacations in the last 5 years so we are enjoying that part of life! We are doing pretty good but I still wonder how much is "just enough funds to support myself until my last breath" as you say. DH is more of the "enjoy life" camp and I tell him I can't enjoy it if I don't have any money!

And chances are those nieces and nephews burned through that million in record time.

I, too, follow of 'live for today with an eye towards tomorrow". We have an emergency fund that could carry us for 6 months, kids college fund complete (thanks to an inheritence) and just refinanced our house. However, our 401k could use a boost and we have minimal credit balances (ie., we could pay them off in about 6-9 months if we focused) but we are carrying the balances and keeping our kids in the activites they enjoy, watch cable & netflix, plan on a great Christmas and go on our paid for cruise in May. I rarely coupon and can't get over my mental block on used clothing. But I shop Kohls with my % coupons and outfit us quite well and buy the sale items at the grocery store and have been known to get the gold box deal of the day on Amazon. Life is good. I find the uber-savers to be amusing rather than inspirational.

 

[DisneyWorldbuff]

We have a small home with very limited storage, if I were to go crazy with coupons or bulk sales, I would literally have nowhere to store the items. I know I try my best and don't spend if we can't afford it. I try to be thrifty. My Disney obsession on the other hand... that's a different story

 

[Justsyd2]

Some of the posts make me feel very sad. As PP's have mentioned, much of the "sale" food is processed pre-packaged stuff that we don't eat, or about spending time in the resort eating every meal in the room.

We do what works for us. We buy local, fresh produce, organic meats, and we cook at home. We don't buy something unless we need it. We don't just spend because we have a coupon, or it's on sale. We don't stockpile and end up having to throw things out. We pay cash for vacations, and we don't budget for them - we enjoy them. That's what works for us.

 

[worm761]

I am just learning to coupon. So shopping trips are better than others. We don't eat much processed foods so there aren't a ton of coupons for me to use. I do go to multiple grocery stores though. Publix and Winn Dixie are, literally, across the street from each other. Publix is way to expensive to shop at but has great deals especially when pared with coupons. I did two shops at Publix last week and spent a whole $3.16. I got 16 boxes of whole wheat pasta (super sale plus super coupons!), 6 deodorant (sale plus coupons), 6 Hungry Man dinners (rare treat but sale plus coupons meant free with overage!), two boxes of fruit roll up things (also free and a super rare treat that he has already forgotten about), some frozen pizzas for lunches when I am being lazy. I think that is everything. That is a rare trip though and I just happened to have the coupons needed. I was VERY happy.
We have three adults, a teen boy, and a baby girl and average around $125 a week in groceries. They don't double coupons here, I use frozen veggies and buy in bulk when on sale. I keep a notebook in my purse of prices by store so I know what to get where.
I refuse to spend $650 on a weeks vacation at Disney. I save my pennies on groceries, cooking from scratch, not eating out, no movies so I can go to Disney and splurge!

 

[JCMHutch]

We have a small home with very limited storage, if I were to go crazy with coupons or bulk sales, I would literally have nowhere to store the items. I know I try my best and don't spend if we can't afford it. I try to be thrifty. My Disney obsession on the other hand... that's a different story

Same here. We are selective in what we buy in bulk - almost totally non-perishables (cat litter, paper towels, laundry detergent). Unfortunately, our grocery stores around here don't do double/triple coupons but our store's prices are always lower than everyone else. I only clip coupons for what I use. We even use coupons if we eat out. You gotta love those e-mail clubs for Unos, Texas Roadhouse, Moe's etc - you get free food!

For most of our Disney trips we have stayed at the values but have "upgraded" for a few trips thanks to conference pricing or a special deal. Next trip we want to stay a POR and will do the upgrade if we have enough Disney points to make up the difference in cost. Thank god we're getting triple points right now w/our Disney Visa!

 

[shellyfive]

I do totally understand where the original poster is coming from.....
Depends on the day of the week and how well the week is going to be honest with you, but I do honestly believe the person we are always hardest on is ourselves!!

I probably could feed a family of 5 for 50$ a week, but would have to get mighty crafty about who got to eat each day......maybe a nasty game of musical chairs for a dinner seat??????

Ask the kids, I tell them all the time
"You have to play the hand that you are dealt, do your best, and kiss the rest to the heavens!!!"

 

[DawnM]

Well, I am a saver and a Dave Ramsey type who calculates our spending, etc....so I am probably one of the ones people are balking at......

BUT!,

I am currently NOT working outside the home either. When I worked I DID NOT spend so much time cooking from scratch, bargain hunting, yard sale-ing, coupon clipping, etc.....I just did not have the time.

Now I consider my "job" to see how much I can save by bargain hunting.

I am well aware that many do not want to spend the time to extreme bargain hunt like I do.

But we are currently at Disney so we still do vacations (on a budget) and enjoy life.

BTW: We do not do Disney for $650 or spend $150 a month for groceries. But, we can do Disney for $1500 and get by on $500/mo for groceries including paper goods and cleaning products IF I need to. I don't always get that low, but I am able.

Thank God DH just got a raise, but most of that is going strait into a savings account for college funds.

Dawn

 

[QVCshopper]

I don't know. I'm truly impressed by the ladies on the no-buy thread. They are amazing and work hard at it. I did a few months myself and it's tough. I have found you win some and lose some; what's important is coming out ahead in the long-term.

That said, I'm happy with how I do usually. I probably should spend more, but I have everything I want and need. And a lot of that is b/c of a poorer childhood. As an adult, I like to have money saved for security reasons. My parents were always fighting over money and I don't want to be like that.

I don't have an iPod, we're just getting a Wii, I don't have a fancy phone. We do like to take trips, but we save where we can. For example, we make a decent salary, but I still shop at Goodwill and clearances almost always and try to max out our 401Ks to get into the 15% tax bracket. To me, saving money is kind of an adrenaline boost if that makes sense. Or a game I like to play with myself... I also pick up spare change everywhere. I think it embarrasses people around me, but my son and I do it for fun.

 

[TnTWalter]

Let's not turn this into a bashing others thread.

I'm sure that at least some of the couponers still eat healthy just like some of the non-couponers don't eat healthy. Let's be real.

I just couldn't figure out how to do it. I am jealous of those that do it well. The CVS thing when I was doing it was fun...it's just HARD. It's a lot of work.

And just because some people don't do debt doesn't mean they don't ever vacation or do nice things. Geez. I don't do debt and we vacation every year, kids are in TOO many activities [I'm a taxi after 3pm], etc. It's just while you get out of debt that you 'suffer'. LOL. Being on the other side of it ROCKS though.

I am frugal but not cheap. I will not buy say Uggs for my kids but I would buy Bearpaws. I have bearpaws... You know? But if you want to buy Uggs for your kids, your biz. And if you are comfortable with your debt and are making your payments, more power to you. Peace. But if you post asking for advice or complaining about too much debt, I'll always chime in.


And I agree that when you are in charge of the household [SAHM] being a frugalista is a fab way to give back. DH is always telling me when I pout and wish I had an income that my income is the money I save every year by being such a wise consumer. He's so sweet. But I have slacked and the threads make me feel lazy. They always say when things really get under your skin it's because there's some truth to it...hate that!

Just because it's not my way, doesn't make it wrong....hard to remember.

 

[Marionnette]

Let's not turn this into a bashing others thread.

I'm sure that at least some of the couponers still eat healthy just like some of the non-couponers don't eat healthy. Let's be real.

I just couldn't figure out how to do it. I am jealous of those that do it well. The CVS thing when I was doing it was fun...it's just HARD. It's a lot of work.

And just because some people don't do debt doesn't mean they don't ever vacation or do nice things. Geez. I don't do debt and we vacation every year, kids are in TOO many activities [I'm a taxi after 3pm], etc. It's just while you get out of debt that you 'suffer'. LOL. Being on the other side of it ROCKS though.

I am frugal but not cheap. I will not buy say Uggs for my kids but I would buy Bearpaws. I have bearpaws... You know? But if you want to buy Uggs for your kids, your biz. And if you are comfortable with your debt and are making your payments, more power to you. Peace. But if you post asking for advice or complaining about too much debt, I'll always chime in.


And I agree that when you are in charge of the household [SAHM] being a frugalista is a fab way to give back. DH is always telling me when I pout and wish I had an income that my income is the money I save every year by being such a wise consumer. He's so sweet. But I have slacked and the threads make me feel lazy. They always say when things really get under your skin it's because there's some truth to it...hate that!

Just because it's not my way, doesn't make it wrong....hard to remember.

Totally see where your coming from. Its just that often there is so much below the surface on those posts. The "free from debt people" like me are often blessed to have great incomes and a good start in life. The cheap vacationers arent really staying as cheaply as they say b/c it cost them something to get those rewards points or there vacation club membership. The low budget grocery bill is usually b/c the family is young and eats less or gets suppliments or they dont include paper and cleaning products in there tally. Its not a criticism of them. Just shining a light on why there numbers as so low in comparison to the average consumer. You may feel like a slacker if you only look at the total number but when you look at the whole picture you realize that its not something that is within your own reach. Either b/c you dont have the means to do it or you lack the desire to duplicate there efforts.

 

[angierae]

I'm just starting to get into couponing, and I am definitely saving a ton of money, but I also wouldn't buy things we aren't going to eat just because it's on sale or I have a coupon.

And we do eat a fair share of processed foods, but one of the goals of the saving money thing is to have a bit more money/time freed up to start working on other recipes. However, I don't get home from work until 6pm and there are just going to be nights that a box of au gratin potatoes is going to win out over making them from scratch because I'm -tired- and I have to help with homework, get housework done, and then maybe try to squeeze in a little time for myself before I go to bed and get up and start it all over again.

We're a two income family but we still make less than a lot of one income families. We're stuck in the middle of having to bargain shop and coupon but we also both work full-time. Sometimes, that means my mac and cheese is going to come from a box, and I'm not going to feel bad about it.