Of Minding My Own Business

So. Did you see TLC's new Extreme Couponing show last night?

Neither did I, but oh, everybody on my Facebook couponing sites was condemn--uh, chatting about it.

I did watch various preview clips yesterday of the show, saw the couponers-gone-wild, what with their whole bedrooms filled with groceries they'd gotten free (or nearly so). Shelf after shelf of mustard and toilet tissue and deodorant and -- well, you know. Stuff. And the way they tied up check stands for a long time and made cashiers, well, insane.

But I kept in mind that 'extreme' word in the title. I mean, who's going to watch a show called, The Occasional Coupon Clipper?

And now everyone's throwing a fit and crying 'foul', 'organized hoarder' and prophesying that this will be The End Of Couponing As We Know It since, most likely, coupon makers as well as stores will change their policies. After peoples' dirty little coupon secrets have been exposed.

And perhaps it will be the end of an era. Could be that God will need to help me save money in other, different ways someday.

But you know? You won't see me at Facebook casting stones. I won't make snide, prideful statements like, "I'm glad I'm not like those extreme couponers! My ways are better ways!"

Uh, no. What will I now do instead? 

I'll allow those Extreme Couponing clips to inspire me to fill my own pantry with nearly-free groceries. I'll get out my envelopes of coupons today and feel more challenged to make a cool shopping list which will save me a few twenty dollar bills. I'll enjoy the hunt for coupons online, learn from others' couponing expertise and try some shopping hints I'd not considered before.

And I'll mind my own business and allow other people their freedom to do as they see best, to let the people they respect and know, personally, to speak into their lives--and to learn from their own mistakes.

It's incredibly easy to become all negative and critical. To feel the whole world wants to hear our opinions. Anybody can be like that, no special talent required. 

It's as easy as rolling down a mountain and any Jane Doe can roll down mountainsides. In my lifetime? I'm seeking to climb many mountains.




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For those who say, "I don't use coupons. They are only for processed, sugary foods," here's a partial list of groceries I've not paid full price for in weeks or months because of coupons(usually combined with sale prices making them either free or merely costing pennies, way lower than what I would pay at Aldi or Sam's Club-type stores.)--


Bread
Peanut butter (no hydrogenated oils)
Toothpaste
Paper towels
Kleenex
Breakfast cereal(healthy types only)
Mayonnaise
Vinegar
Tortillas
Cat food
Pickle relish
Canned pasta
Vitamins
Trash bags
Canola oil

And these things I most often (but not always) buy on sale and with coupons:

Tuna
Frozen vegetables
Bottled juice (no sugar added)
Bathroom tissue
Cheese
Cottage cheese
Mustard
Canned fruit (no sugar added)
Prunes
Boxed/packaged dried pasta



If I had people saving Sunday coupon inserts for me, I'd do better. But alas, we get just one copy of the newspaper each week--Sunday's.



"Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business and to work with your hands... " 1 Thessalonians 4:11




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Odie wrote a fun post about coupons today, too! Check it out here.


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