Why I'm Considering Giving Up Couponing

This time last year I was all gung-ho about saving money with coupons!  I had begun a money-saving blog and was getting ready to teach a big group of ladies at church what I had learned on the subject (which lead to a couple more "coupon seminars").  My coupon binder was full of coupons and I was saving, saving, saving!

These days, however, while I'm still acquiring coupons, most of them are never used, and the savings have gone down, down, down . . . waaaaay down!

I'm not sure what's happening!  I have some guesses, though.

I don't know this for a fact, but it wouldn't surprise me at all if things started going downhill for myself and other coupon users after that TLC show, Extreme Couponing, began to air.  I haven't seen much of the show, but have heard it often shows greedy couponers who misuse coupons and cheat the system.  As I said, I haven't seen enough of the show to know if that's what the show contains, but I've seen enough on money-saving blogs to know this kind of behavior does exist.  And if that's what they show on the TV program, then many people's eyes were opened, probably including those who make the couponing rules for the various corporations and the manufacturers who create coupons.

Whatever the reason behind it, coupons in general are not nearly as valuable as they once were, and some stores are tightening the rules on how they can be used.

Couple the coupon catastrophe with rising grocery prices, and it can become quite discouraging!

Yesterday, after much planning for my grocery shopping trip, I ended up taking exactly 2 coupons with me, neither of which did I end up using.  The products they were for were not on sale as I thought, and their regular prices were extremely high.  I was able to get the Aldi brand for much less, even had I used the coupons!

Couponing, done the most effective way, takes time, and lately I feel like I've been often wasting that time in the end!  Who wants to waste time?  Who has time to waste? 

Yet, I haven't felt totally convinced to give it up.  I feel like if I give up now I'll miss something that might happen after this slump.  After all, I did pay only 25 cents each for a couple of tubes of toothpaste a couple weeks ago and got a couple of other great deals.  That does count for something.

I'm just trying to decide how much it counts!

I may just scale back for the time being, and stop buying the Sunday papers for coupons.  I can still print coupons off the internet.  That won't give me as much of a variety, but will help me feel *less* like I'm wasting time and money.  Even this I haven't decided for sure.

Any of you other couponers want to share your thoughts on this?

Homemade Fabric Softener

If you're going to take the plunge and try homemade laundry detergent, why not go all-out and try the fabric softener as well?  It's even easier to make than the detergent, and it stretches a bottle of Downy a l-o-n-g way! :)

Homemade Fabric Softener

Combine:
1/4 c. Baking Soda
1 1/2 c. Distilled White Vinegar
2 c. Water
1/2 c. Downy Liquid (opt.) or 3-4 drops essential oil

You need to shake it each time before you use it (but please wait until the baking soda and vinegar have stopped reacting, otherwise you'll have an explosion--unfortunately I made this mistake in an unthinking moment!  The mess was unbelievable! lol). Use the amount you would use of any liquid fabric softener.

I bought a Rubbermaid container just for this. It has a wider screw-on lid that I remove when I'm putting in the ingredients and a small flip-off lid (as part of the bigger lid) for pouring. Works great!

I was a little afraid to try this since I'm not fond of the smell of vinegar. But you literally can not detect the vinegar once it's mixed with the Downy. It makes your laundry smell clean, with just a hint of fragrance, rather than strongly perfumey.

Make Your Own Laundry Soap!

 It's sooooo easy and saves you "loads" of money! :)

I'm not sure if I had even heard of making one's own laundry detergent until a couple years ago, or, if I had, I probably thought it was little bit "eccentric" for me. ;)  But then I started finding out that very "normal" people I know were making their own and enjoying much success, both in the cleanliness of their clothes and in saving oodles of money!

Just today I made another batch (with the help of a sweet little neighbor girl with the most beautiful glasses ever!) and realized I've never posted this recipe.  It's way too good to keep--the word must be spread! :)

So, to buy the ingredients will probably cost you $6 or $7, BUT two of the ingredients will last you for many batches of detergent.  And each "batch" of detergent will likely last you several months.  Each time I make a bucket of detergent, it lasts probably a good 7 or 8 months, but I only have 3 people in my family.  You make the detergent in a 5-gallon bucket, but then, in a smaller container, you mix that concentrate with an equal amount of water.  That means for under $5, you have 10 gallons of laundry detergent!  You can save about 95% per year making your own over buying ready-made detergent!

Does it work?  Oh, yes!  It works wonderfully, getting your clothes nice and clean. It smells strong when you make it, and even when you put it in the washer, but your clothes just come out smelling clean!  I've heard you can add essential oils of your choice to have a different fragrance, but have never tried that.

Have I convinced you to try it yet?  Did I mention how easy it is? :) Here's the recipe:

Homemade Laundry Soap

1 Fels Naptha soap bar, grated (Zote works, too)
1 Cup Washing Soda (baking soda is NOT a suitable substitute)
1/2 Cup Borax
 You will also need a 5-gallon bucket with lid.  You can find these at Lowe's.

Grate the soap bar into a small saucepan.  Cover with hot water. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring continually, until the soap completely dissolves.

Put washing soda and borax in a 5-hallon bucket.  Pour in the hot melted soap mixture.  Stir well, until all the powder is dissolved (I use a sturdy yardstick for stirring).  Fill the bucket to the top with more hot tap water.  Stir, cover securely, and let set overnight.  The next morning, stir the mixture. It's fairly watery, not extremely thick. Mix equal amounts of soap concentrate and water in a smaller detergent dispenser or container.  Shake before using (each use).

Use 1 cup of detergent for a regular-size load.

Make sure you stir what's in the bucket each time you take some out to dilute it in the smaller bottle.

While you're at it, try making your own fabric softener as well! :)

It Boils Down To . . .

So, it's been almost a week since my last post and I've had time here and there to reflect more on my own previous thoughts, read what others had to say and even talk with a few more people in more depth.  One thing I want to make sure everyone knows is this:  That post was ME sorting through MY thoughts about how I want to handle things for MYself and MY family.  And I was welcoming input.  I'm neither confident nor arrogant enough to feel that everyone has to think or do as I think and do in those gray areas of life.  I'm just making my way a step at a time like everyone else, and this happens to be the topic at hand these days! :)

One thing I clarified in my own mind is that when I used the word "organic" in my last post, I was including too much in that category.  When I used that term, I was also, in my mind, including food made with real, natural ingredients.  Those foods are not always "organic," though.

I like the idea of having a majority of our food be organically-grown, just to be as free as possible of yucky chemicals.  But it's not always affordable.  Sometimes it is, though.  Like, today at Meijer, organic food was plentiful and much of it was reasonably-priced for our family of three.  Now, all the meat and poultry I purchased was hormone-free, chemical-free and so on, but it was not labeled "organic."  I think there are many stipulations that must be adhered to for food to be considered organic, but I was happy to get these hormone-free items for decent prices, whether or not they were all the way organic.

I'm not an expert, but I've done a lot of research on nutrition as I've sought to find balance in that area for our family.  I'm convinced enough that companies use cheap chemicals, labeling them "ingredients," and charge a lot of money for what they try to pass as food.  Those are the kinds of "food" items I was referring to in my last post--the ones you can find coupons galore for.  High Fructose Corn Syrup is one of the worst culprits.  It seems, though, that some companies are aware of consumers' outcry against this stuff (that sounded really dramatic, but you know what I mean) and have taken it out of their products.  More and more companies are going back to real ingredients, but only in some of their products.

I guess what my post last week boils down to is that I wish there were more coupons and good deals on food that actually provides good nutrition.  I mean, people can't spend what they don't have (or, I should say, are better off not spending what they don't have!) and we're all trying to do what's best for our families based on what we have to spend.  Common sense and moderation go a long way, but it would be nice, too, to have access to "awesome deals" on real food made with real ingredients.

Take ice cream for instance, since so many people LOVE ice cream. :)  They market some kinds of ice cream as being more "healthy," because they take out the fat and replace it with chemicals.  Wouldn't it be more healthy to eat a brand like Breyers, that, as far as I know, uses real ingredients, but then just eat less of it?  Have a serving and leave it at that?  Sometimes Breyers is on sale but I've never seen a coupon for it.  That's probably a dumb example anyway, 'cuz ice cream isn't exactly health-promoting food, but maybe you get the idea of what I'm talking about? :)  On the other hand, maybe it is a good example of how something that's supposed to be bad for us can actually be quite fine for many people, when eaten in moderation.

Oh, there's that word again:  Moderation.  Does anyone know what that means?  It's a wonderful word, but the true meaning escapes many of us.  What do you think it means?  Is there a formula that equals moderation? :)  Hmmm  . . .

My New Thoughts about Saving Money

Life is so interesting, isn't it?  Things about us change a lot, it seems:  Change of circumstances, change of heart, change in what we think about things.  I've had some surprising thoughts run through my mind lately regarding the saving of money.

If you know me at all, you know I've been on a quest to save money since January of this year.  As I state on my money-saving blog, every dollar NOT spent on ordinary things like food and household products is a dollar that can be saved or spent on something more interesting!  I still believe that.

Before I go on, I want to make sure anyone reading this doesn't think I'm anti-coupons or anti-saving money.  That's not the case at all.  Nor do I seek to persuade anyone to think the same thoughts I've been thinking.  I'm simply sharing them.  I'm open to feedback, too!

Anyway, since January, I've been *almost* obsessed with finding new ways to save money.  It was fun, a challenge, and a rewarding endeavor.  Much of the money-saving process involves using coupons to one's greatest advantage, and it works wonderfully.  It takes a lot of time to figure everything out, but the savings are amazing!

Then, in July, we were on vacation in California for 2 weeks.  Two weeks without grocery shopping, clipping coupons or scouring ads.  I kind of missed it, but also felt rather, well, FREE!  Before that time, my mind was always working, always planning, always looking for the best deal.  Nothing wrong with that, but I needed a rest! lol

So, as I rested my weary mind (ha ha), there was room for other thoughts to start growing in there. :)  I'm not even sure what started it, but it began to dawn on me just what those coupons are buying/selling.  This is not true of ALL coupons, but I think it's safe to say it applies to a majority.  Many of the available coupons are for food products that contain harmful chemicals or no nutrition, or for cleaning/household products that also contain harmful chemicals.  Is that really what I want to be spending my money on, even if it is inexpensive?  Is that what I want to bring home to my family, even if I get it free?

But then that leads me to the question of whom to trust.  I mean, the government of my country deems those chemicals to be perfectly fine to ingest.  But, at this point, I don't trust the choices/decisions/declarations of almost everything pertaining to the government, so why stand back and just assume they're telling the truth about nutrition?  On the other hand, how do I know all the talk about harmful chemicals and the need for organics is true either, or just something that has been blown out of proportion?  I'm not an expert on any of it, so I have to rely on reputable resources, but how do I know who is truly knowledgeable? 

If I'm left to my own devices, my "intuition" tells me that it's probably not the worst thing on earth to eat "junk" once in awhile, but that many of the chemicals we find on or in our food were not put there by God and, therefore, may truly be harmful. I've been careful about reading labels for awhile, but I'm fairly convinced we need to weed out even more of the unnatural stuff.  I don't even like to buy "low-fat" or "non-fat" versions of products because, in many cases, they take out the natural fat and put weird stuff in.  I've come to the conclusion, at least for my family, that these things should be enjoyed in moderation the way God made them, or not at all. And cleaning products--some of them smell really good, but what exactly are we inhaling into our lungs when we enjoy the "fresh" fragrance?  I don't know--it's a little scary.

I guess it boils down to this:  I don't want to buy junk--food that has little or no nutrition or has a list of ingredients I know nothing about--just because I can get a good deal on it.

Let me tell you what this doesn't mean:

• It doesn't mean I won't be using coupons anymore--just fewer.
• It doesn't mean I don't ever buy food with weird stuff in it--just less.
• It doesn't mean I think you have to do the same.  You might not feel the same "conviction" about this subject that I do.  No problem.  I don't make judgments about people based on what's in their grocery cart.  In fact, come to think of it, when I run into people at the store, I'm focused on the people themselves and I don't really even think to look in their carts.  Who cares?
• It doesn't mean everything I buy will be organic.  It is often SO much more expensive.  I'm just doing my best.

Comments?