by Beks
I always flip through the coupons in my weekly stack of junk mail. This week, the mailman accidentally delivered 5 stacks of the same coupon pile. I was about to toss them when I discovered a killer coupon for Degree deodorant. Our grocery store was running a sale on the same item so my final purchase price was a whopping 25 cents each. Taking it as a ‘sign from God’ and not as a ‘sign the mailman was tired or lazy’, I clipped all 5 copies and purchased 5 sticks of deodorant. While there, I grabbed two tubes of toothpaste ($3 off coupon) and two bottles of store brand mouthwash ($1.50 off coupon). I went home with $30 worth of goods for just over $3.
Proud of my savings, I opened my linen closet doors to store my stash and…
discovered there were already 4 sticks of deodorant, 5 tubes of toothpaste, and 2 bottles of store brand mouthwash.
That’s what I get for chastising the TLC Extreme Couponing show. Stupid Karma.
My husband gets slightly annoyed when he discovers that I have 8 bottles of shampoo but can’t seem to stock a decent bottle of aspirin – it’s not my fault they don’t offer aspirin at 90% off and I have no motivation to pay full price for anything. I know some women who hide their shopping discretions from their husbands… sadly, I include myself in that group. But it’s no Coach bag or Hermes sweater stuffed in the back of my closet, it’s 4 bottles of discounted body wash. I cringed when I caught my hoarding, *cough*, ‘savings’ mistake and quickly shoved the deodorant behind some sheets. Regardless of the savings, I’d have to have one heck of a sweaty summer to burn through 9 sticks of deodorant.
I learned my lesson. All coupons are going straight to the trash until I run out of deodorant… which should be sometime in 2015.
Beks is a full-time government employee who enjoys blogging late into the night after her four kids have gone to sleep. She’s been married to Chris, her college sweetheart, for 15 years. In 2017, after 3 long years working the Dave Ramsey Baby Steps, they paid off more than $70K and became debt free. When she’s not working or blogging, she’s exploring the great outdoors.
Hah! I know how you feel, sort of. I don’t have to hide my stockpile of anything but I’ve got a list of coupons that I am NOT clipping or printing no matter how FREE something is because my stock is huge. (Unless of course I can donate that item to a food pantry or women’s shelter, which I do for health & beauty aids and non-perishable food.)
🙂
I’m sure there is a womens shelter in your area which would be happy to take the extras off your hands, both now and in the future.
We can never give too much and if we can do so without delaying getting out of debt, so much the better.
Since toothpaste expires, you might consider donating a few of those bargains to the local women’s shelter or food bank. Your donation didn’t cost you much but will mean the world to someone else.
I have to laugh because I posted a similar post tonight. I swear I didnt mean to extreme coupon…it just happen
Judy
I do extreme coupon. A month or so ago, I bought 26 bottles of detergent for $0.99 each. I know that I’ll never use them all, but I always know family and friends that can use a break. And I was able donate most of them to an organization helping with the Joplin relief efforts. I’ve also gotten 21 bars of soap for free. I don’t use bar soap, but I donated that to Joplin as well. If you can get it for free you might as well because I’m sure that you know someone that could use it. Even non “needy” families could use some grocery budget help if you can give them things you’ve gotten for free. I think that it is pretty presumptuous of you to think that all people that extreme coupon are hoarders. I extreme coupon to help my family and to help others.
I do always try to keep at least one extra of each item so if I jump in the shower to wash my hair and realize I’m out of shampoo, I only have to go to the closet, but yeah, not into the big time hoarding.
In addition to donating your extras, you can also send coupons (even expired ones), to military families, who can use them up to 6 months past expiration. More details here: http://www.ocpnet.org/
It’s so hard to not use an awesome coupon. I HATE throwing them away, but I’m pretty well stockpiled on things. I just have to say each time that the coupon will be available again in a few months 🙂
Well, I’m almost out of deodorant and toothpaste, save some for me! 🙂
As long as you have room, it’s not a terrible idea to have a stockpile. The point is to buy something you know you will eventually need at a fantastic price. You won’t NEED to buy any of these items for a while, but it doesn’t hurt to keep your eye out for great sales and only buy when you can get things for next to nothing.
No! Don’t get rid of the Coupons GEt rid of the Husband – Just Kidding. No coupons are great especially in these hard times and with gasoline prices so high Yikes.