While checking out the QueenOfTheFrugalBlogosphere, I found a link to this article.
Let's just say that as I was finishing off a bag of...ahem....snack products that I was being paid to test but I can't tell you which ones they were or they could sue me in to bankruptcy...I spit said snack product all over my computer from laughing. (lucky thing I got free Windex 3 weeks ago to go with the free Bounty Towels last month!)
It got me to thinking about Brad's reactions to my couponing. In the beginning, he was hesitant...mainly because he couldn't wrap his head around the idea that I walked in to CVS, gave them $4 and walked out with 4 tubes of Crest and $12 in ECBs...and that I kept doing that over and over with different products. I honestly think that for the first few months, he was expecting the police to show up at our door any minute!
But after a while he got on board....he loved the free razors, how I seemed to be satisfying my shopaholic tendencies without it costing more than a dollar or two per trip.....AND we were getting free toiletries and cleaning products for free.
Then I went over to (what he calls) "The Dark Side".
No longer content with just free toothpaste, shampoo and deodorant at CVS, I started seriously couponing at the grocery stores. Sure, he loved the free Bagel Bites and Totinos in the beginning (he has roughly the same tastebuds as my 5-year old)...but then he started to need to rearrange the extra freezer in the garage after each shopping trip.
Today I came home from Target with 14 free trial size bottles of All Free and Clear. I didn't tell him...I just emptied them in to an existing full-size bottle and buried the 14 bottles in the recycling bin. It's just easier that way.
Then again, he didn't mind the 6 cases of Mountain Dew Code Red that I bought him in the same trip...at only $1.50/12-pack. He works insane hours and sometimes the only thing that keeps him upright is Code Red (he doesn't drink coffee). And despite the fact that he can walk across the parking lot from his work to a Target, he would be too "embarassed" to get more for himself, even if I gave him the coupons.
And have I ever mentioned his tendency to walk away from the register on those rare occasions he is shopping with me? He doesn't mind the couponing...he just doesn't want anyone to know that he is "with me" (note to Brad: they know me and our kids at the stores. You trying to act casual as you are wrangling the children all of the cashiers know as mine doesn't exactly qualify as "incognito")
But he does seem to find all the free Skintimate shaving cream. I won't go in to details, but comments WERE made about how, if I HAVE all that shaving cream AND an abundance of free razors........well - you figure it out!
So what does your spouse think of your couponing?
Dianescraps
Mine thinks I am totally crazy, and was also convinced I was going to be arrested or physically thrown out of the store (OK, so I did feel like that grump at ACME would of if she could of, but I have proved her wrong 100 fold)
Mine does not go shopping with me. His only exception is that everytime we are on vacation he seems to have an urgent 'need' from something from CVS. I believe he may think that my ECBs grow on trees!
He will very, very rarely use a coupon himself. But he will happily tell me that he needs X, Y, Z and could I please get together coupons and or deals for it.
But what won him over, at least to the point of supporting my couponing.
FREE STEAK, the man is a serious meat and potatoes guy, and when I showed him I could put free steak on the table, he was a happy man.
Rachel
Mine keeps saying "but we have enough toothpaste". -He just doesn't get it. it isn't about what we need now. It's about what we will need in a few months....and not only that...what we can now give away to the Neighbors food shelf at church and the Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes at Christmas time.
Mindi
Diane: I think that they only really get exctied about it when you DO bring home things like steak (or Code Red) or anything that they really enjoy. Toilet Paper/Kleenex/Shampoo? Who cares about that stuff? That is just stuff that they take for granted is always in the house! As for the using our ECBs? When he was having a problem with his feet he was almost scared to ask me if we could use my ECBs for some kind of Dr. Scholl's thing...especially since it was $17 and wouldn't produce any ECBs!
Rachel: we donate a TON of food and toiletries each month to St. Vincent DePaul....we don't tithe money to the Church for personal reasons, but I will gladly give our "tithe amount" each month in product! My MOMS Club also has a toiletry drive each year for a battered woman's shelter.....suffice to say that I will be making a rather large donation this year!
JessicaB
At first my husband was worried that I would come home with tons of unneeded things. When he began noticing how he never ran out of razors, shaving cream, etc. he was very happy. The next point in his approval was when we starting seeing a change in our checking account. Now he understands just how much money we save and he loves it.
My dad on the otherhand I think is embarrassed. He will not talk couponing with me. I wonder if he thinks I'm stealing sometimes. When he thinks couponing, he thinks of my grandmother who bought things just because she had a coupon. I could have really taught her a thing or two.
JessicaBs last blog post..Pre-K Princess
Jenny from Mommin' It Up!
Hilarious! my hubby sounds alot like yours. When I first started CVSing I would have him do some transactions, and he was soo mortified by it! However, now that he has enough of his favorite Nivea for Men and Fusion razors to last a year, he is no longer embarrassed to be with me, he'd just rather not get his hands dirty!
LAdy
I'm all for the couponing...and my husband feels the same as yours, but his main concern is that it's wasteful when we buy (get free) items that we don't need or get sizes that are ridiculous, i.e., your 14 free trial size bottles, which you emptied into the big bottle.
Okay...props for at least recycling but I agree that it's not so great for the environment...
Mindi
My husband and I spoke again about this last night, as we were with a friend we hadn't seen in over a month. He DOES love the couponing and all the free stuff...he just doesn't like having to find room for it 😉
But another thing is that, as I mentioned, we donate quite a bit to St. Vincent De Paul and other charities. For him, it isn't a priority...for me it is! So I do have another motive than just getting cheap and free food for our family. I get it for other families as well.
And Lady: as for the 14 bottles? You are correct that perhaps not the best on the environment but as you said, I DID recycle them. And considering that I do not buy bottled water (actually, I'm still working on a case I got for free 3 months ago), I figure that I'm more ahead in that area than most people that I know! 😉
Jen @ JenuineJen
I read that article a couple of days ago and then had to read it out loud to my husband. We were both laughing so hard!! My husband has been a real sport about the couponing. He will go with me to CVS. Now before I leave to run errands, he asks if I have the appropriate cards (not credit card but store savings cards) and if I have all my coupons.
Laura
Your comments, and the linked article, are hilarious. However, it is not my husband that gets somewhat embarrassed...it is my son. I will cut him some slack, what 16 year old male wants to go "couponing" with their mother. But, he has commented many times over that he loves what I am doing and the benefits from it. In fact, I am getting the reputation among his friends as the mother with the best snacks. Little do they know how little I pay for them.
Suzie
The post really struck a chord with me! My husband laughs at all the "free" stuff we are getting at CVS. He's as excited as I am and can't wait to see what I bring home. We would feel guilty if CVS stock wasn't going way up.
I just found your blog through Blissfully Domestic and I love it! Can't wait for more of your advice. Your do a great job here!
Sarina
I love that you added to the original post with one of your own! I shared it with my husband as well and we both got a kick out of them. I haven't gotten so bad (or in my opinion met my goal of a nuclear winter stockpile) but I do remember my husband asking me one day, "Honey are you trying to tell me something with all this deoderant?" LOL Can I help it if CVS and All You made it possible to "buy" 4 free deoderants that week? He doesn't use my coupons, he's tried and he always gets the troublesome cashier so he let's me do my thing and on occasion I get to go out on a weekend day without kids and do a big multi-store run 🙂
Sarinas last blog post..Price vs. Service or Walmart vs Target