Coupon Crazy!

(image found on the internet)

I must start off by saying I have not jumped on the coupon clipping bandwagon. Sure, I like to save a buck or two when I can but I just have not made it a priority to invest the time or energy into it like some people have. Now, don't get me wrong, I think it's great if someone can save their hard earned money and still take care of themselves and their families, but I do think that many people are taking it a little too far.

I have many friends/acquaintances who are currently involved in the coupon craze that is going on. Shows like Extreme Couponing have people wanting to find the best deal. Again, with the economy the way it is, any way to save a buck is certainly a wonderful thing.

Here's what I don't understand...the people who go to great lengths to hunt down coupons, who buy coupons, who steal other people's inserts and exhibit other crazy coupon behavior for the sake of walking out of the grocery store with 14 boxes of Halloween Crunch cereal (really I saw a lady do this just today) for free or close to free. I understand clipping coupons for things you use. I don't understand stockpiling 1000 tubes of toothpaste or 40 jars of spaghetti sauce (although in this house, that would be a wonderful thing, given the amount of pasta my kids eat). I don't understand people who purchase things they don't even normally buy for the sake of getting it for .33 cents. You aren't really saving money if you're spending money on things that you don't even use! Someone else posted about all the money they saved at a recent toy store sale...they bought hundreds of dollars worth of toys for a ridiculously low price. Sure, you found a great deal but does one child need 60 new toys? Am I crazy? Do I just not get it?

Here at my lovely Military Installation we even have rival coupon groups on Facebook. That's how serious it is here. That's a little too intense for this girl. I see people who go out and go all over our spread out community to "save" money on items they probably wouldn't have even purchased had they not had a coupon. Gas isn't cheap at the moment, so where they might be saving on that brand new type of candy bar that just came out, they are putting right back into their gas tanks.

I know why people coupon and hit the clearance racks, I myself enjoy when I look at my receipts and see how much I saved, I just don't understand the part where people buy things they don't use or need.

Oh well, it's really not my problem...just something I have been pondering...