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Thursday, February 25, 2010

Learning to say NO -- When a deal breaks the budget.


Let's just face it...Couponing is addictive! When I tell people that being frugal is truly fun (hence the name of this blog), they usually don't believe me at first. But as soon as they make that first savings trip to Publix, walk out of CVS with a bag full of freebies, or beat their all-time savings record...they start to understand how much fun saving money truly can be.

I'm sure you've experienced this fun and addicting coupon high as well! You start looking at that savings to spending ratio at the bottom of your receipt on every trip. You start feeling like you can NOT miss a single deal from week to week. You absolutely, no exceptions, will not pay full price for anything. The cabinets in your kitchen and bathrooms are overflowing, not to mention the donation boxes that are full to the brim. You take pictures of your grocery trips to share with your friends on Facebook. ;)

Where do you stop? Is there a limit when it comes to chasing the deals out there? I would say...YES.

This past week's grocery trip is a perfect example. I sat down to plan out my Publix run, and I knew I had less than $15 to spend in order to stay under February's grocery budget. I began going through the list of deals that I wanted to grab, printing coupons, getting excited about that killer Viva Italia sale. I then added up the estimated prices on my calculator to get a general idea of what our grocery bill would be...

I was over by about $10 or $15. I went over the list a million times trying to figure out what I could cut. I pretty much needed everything on the list for meals or staples. It came down to the awesome General Mills sale that was putting me over. I knew it would be a long time before I could get that great of a deal on some of those products again.

But, I figured out how much I was saving versus how much it was putting me over budget. I had to make the choice to not buy the products for the General Mills sale. I had to forgo the great sale, but it was worth it to stay under budget. It was so hard!!!

Sometimes you have to give up seeing that awesome savings number on the bottom of the receipt to grab savings in another way -- because staying under budget and not spending is the best kind of savings that exists. Don't you think?

What About You: What are your thoughts? Do you have troubles giving up a deal? Even if it means you'll stay under budget?

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8 Comments:

Blogger ChristinaLynn said...

YES! This is so hard. For me, this week, it was the Pillsbury rolled dough. I SOOOO wanted to go back and get 3 more and 3 more, but just didn't have it in my budget. And we can go through some crescent rolls!! I even thought about borrowing from this coming week, but didn't. It was HARD!!

February 25, 2010 at 10:32 PM  
Anonymous Ally said...

I have this problem! When I see something is 75% off I have to buy it...no matter what it is! I need to learn self-control around those deals :) Thanks for sharing!

February 25, 2010 at 11:48 PM  
Anonymous money4thisnot4that said...

LOL I finally had to convince myself that just because it was a good deal didn't mean I needed to buy it. It's not saving money to buy something you don't need.
You know it's bad when your kids tell you to stop buying cereal.
I'm learning to pass up the deals.

February 26, 2010 at 12:35 AM  
Blogger Melissa said...

I totally agree! Sometimes a bargain is not a bargain if you have to bust your budget to get it!

February 26, 2010 at 6:27 AM  
Blogger Klee said...

I guess since my publix doubles i was able to get all 20 items for free and then them pay me like $1.40 over for those. I think i spent 3.60 and then with the 5 off coupon it took off i got to use the overage on other stuff!
One perk of living in Georgia!

February 26, 2010 at 7:44 AM  
Blogger Meagan said...

Don't talk to me, Kaylee! ;) He He. So jealous of your doubling stores...

February 26, 2010 at 8:55 AM  
Blogger Meagan said...

I am so glad I wondered to your blog and read this entry. I started couponing in January. My sis-in-law has been on me for a good year to do it. I LOVE it! It is highly addictive though. At first I bought up everything and did save a ton of money. Now I am having to slow down and say no. It is SO hard though! I also have a hard time buying something that isn't on sale. The downside to couponing I suppose. Each week I keep trying to beat last week's Publix run. I can feel your pain of no doubles since I'm from Panama City, FL...another land of no doubles. Thanks for the post! I'm glad it's not just me.

February 27, 2010 at 9:16 PM  
Blogger Kim said...

I have finally had to come to this point as well. I have also had to take into consideration if I don't really use/need the items and they are free, but I pay $5.00 in tax - well it wasn't free at all and I could have put that $5.00 somewhere else.

I am also using the discipline of saying 'no' from a spiritual standpoint. God wants us to be good stewards of his finances, but he also expects us to have self-control. So every time I say 'no' to the impulse, unplanned, unneeded deal - I give praise to God.

Enjoy your blog!

February 28, 2010 at 8:30 AM  

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