I have mentioned before my quest to be even more frugal. I know that I’ve done a few things right over the years since we had 2 of our 3 boys during my husband’s medical school years and had #3 during residency. However, I have always felt I have room for improvement!
At any rate, I have been working hard getting into couponing/sales matching/etc. However, it is an overwhelming task…especially when you are not the most organized person in the world (ahem) despite your best efforts, and when things change in your day to day life like preschool starting and having to commit to being somewhere 3 days a week.
So, I started to get a little stressed about finding time to hit all the stores to get all the great deals, and getting REALLY upset when I couldn’t get out to take advantage of that deal. When this became so stressful for me, I knew I needed to take a break. Not a break from trying to budget and watch our spending, but a break from trying to get the most and the best deals! It’s not worth it if you and everyone else is going C-R-A-Z-Y!!!!
Remember, there will always be another deal, another coupon, another day. Yeah, maybe you will spend 3 cents more than if you had gotten to the store yesterday during the double coupon-dollar days-first annual-monthly sales day. But, staying sane is probably more important. I am getting back in the saddle again after a 3 week hiatus from my deal seeking, and hopefully will maintain a little more perspective. For more Works For Me Wednesday, go here.
Three Boys and Counting 
It can be hard for me to let go of a deal, but you are absolutely right! Bravo to you for taking a break!
it was definitely hard to take a break, but I feel pretty refreshed and ready to hunt for those deals again! 🙂
You can always find the good sales at the grocery stores and pharmacies are having and price match them at Walmart or Target (yes, Target has started price matching). Neither can give you deals with doubled coupons, but you can at least get the best price on each item before coupons.
great tip!
How timely a post for me! I just took 3-4 weeks off too. We went through as much of our stockpile as possible and I just let the coupon inserts pile up for me to cut later. I also took that time to do an inventory of the stuff in our small deep freeze so that I could better utilize the stuff we already had. Tomorrow I’m back at it, but the break was much needed and it doesn’t even bother me the freebies I missed.
I’m back at it this week too. Although next time I am not going to let the coupon inserts pile up…I am kicking myself now with these piles and piles of coupons to cut and file! 🙂
i completely understand! I have PILES of coupons that never get used because of my failure to execute a good plan. I then found myself buying stuff just because I had a coupon, not because I really needed it—so I decided that couponing was costing me more money! 🙂
i’ve hung up my scissors for now. Maybe when my kids are older and I can concentrate on something for more than 1 millisecond, lol!
hi! so sorry i never saw this comment…it got sent to the spam folder somehow. I am about ready to hang up my scissors too. with 3 kids 4 and under it is really hard to do all the running around to catch all the great deals. i am trying to hang in there until my youngest is down to only 1 nap a day and see if that helps any. sometimes i would so much rather just be playing with my kids and clipping a pile of coupons and filing them! 🙂