Is Couponing Worth It?

One of the topics we’ll explore here on SheBudgets.com is couponing. With the advent of “Extreme Couponing” the TV show, the media attention couponing is receiving and the multitude of coupon blogs that have popped up, many people are curious or experimenting. But, like me, many are still on the fence, weighing out the time vs money ROI.

Personally, I’ve always been a middle of the road couponer. I study the weekly ad, create my meal plan based on sale items, clip a handful of coupons and am satisfied when I save a few bucks. But I wonder if I can do better.

Just the other day a girlfriend and I were discussing grocery shopping and I mentioned coupons. Her immediate reaction was, “Ugh, coupons only come for things you don’t need. Junk food, household cleaners and not the brands I use. It’s really a lot more hassle than it’s worth.”

I can sympathize with that statement as the limited amount of “extreme couponing” I’ve attempted has seemed to take quite a bit of time in clipping, planning the trip and then running store to store to gobble up the savings.

In a recent blog post entitled Kicking the Coupon Habit, Laura Vanderkam, explained her take on coupons. She has chosen to largely ignore coupons and sales for a few reasons, the most important of which is the choice to “sweat the big stuff.” She has chosen to focus her energies on big wins with a minimal time investment. This makes sense to me and I can get behind it. But, it’s hard not to be lured and intrigued by the possibility of slashing my families $700/month grocery, household and pet supply budget down to next to nothing.

While a wrestle with coupon living I would be interested in hearing how you feel? Are coupons useful to you? Are you an extreme couponer who is organized and ready to conquer the stores? Are you anti-coupons? Or is there a happy medium where couponing makes sense for the average household?