Saving money takes TIME and sacrifice!

[samm07]

I'm kind of a half hearted couponer and never price match. I just go to different stores. (They wouldn't do it the few times I tried it.)
And I totally get it. Do the work and you get the benefits. I know how much difference it makes if I shop according to the sales as opposed to just going to the store.

I do multiple shops if I have time. I do like shopping at stores that offer great sales. And points! Lol but we don't have every store in my town.

[walkonby]

Just thought I would share this as I found it on FB.

After paying for my groceries today I was preparing to walk away and I see the cashier rolling her eyes and sucking her teeth as a young lady and young man, (who obviously didn't have a lot of money) were putting up their groceries, I had a really strong feeling that I was suppose to stay close to these youngsters, well I stayed and watched as the cashier slammed through their things, the final total was $123.40.
The young girl looked nervous but scanned her food stamp card and again the cashier rolled her eyes and smirked when it came back that the balance was only $95.30 on their card and she took great pleasure in repeating this, so I stepped up and said,"First of all you need to lower your voice, and second I'm gonna help them out and don't you roll your eyes at me I'm not a young girl,"

She didn't say a word. I took out my coupons and stood there very slowly going through all 3 of my coupon carriers. After finding what I could for these young people I hand them to the cashier then gave her my E-card so they got double the coupons and it really seemed to piss the cashier off. The young lady and young man were so excited because they not only had enough but the $123.40 went down to $68.22. It's been a very long time since I've had young people jumping on me so happy and excited.
After they packed up and we were walking away I looked at the cashier and said, "Why?" She looked like she was gonna cry but said nothing! People, what does it take to change the very essence of ignorance? Why is it easier for some to hate or belittle than to love and encourage? What did it cost me to help these young people? NOTHING but some coupons that I can just print up more.
Just Paying It Forward!!

Did ya have to make me bawl my eyes out?? Oh my, @macw1960 that was beautiful!! That young couple will never forget your kindness, lets hope the cashier remembers to adjust her attitude next time too!!

[Nina1]

Great topic! loved reading all the reactions.(love saving money too!)

[goldenkagi]

I have mostly the same experiences. My mother-in-law would ignore or scoff at me whenever I would try to tell her about some money saving tips I have. They love eating out, going on vacations and shopping and they have credit card debt and such. Then they wonder why my husband and I are doing better than them. I seem cheap to them but yes, as many of you have said, saving money takes time and sacrifice. The other year I got our tax return notices in the mail and my father-in-law was like, okay, where are you treating us to dinner, are you going shopping? I was like, uh, no, these go back into savings. My sister-in-law is much better though. She's amazed that our grocery bill is about half of theirs. Although she's one of those who don't have time to coupon and such.

[macw1960]

Did ya have to make me bawl my eyes out?? Oh my, @macw1960 that was beautiful!! That young couple will never forget your kindness, lets hope the cashier remembers to adjust her attitude next time too!!

Sorry WOB, I didn't mean to make you cry but this wasn't me. It was a wonderful gesture of this lady but it was posted on my FB page and it was in the US.

[anisa]

We get a thread like this every once in a while on SC, always a good read lol

I have learned to basically keep my mouth shut about how I save and how I stock up on items.

[samm07]

We get a thread like this every once in a while on SC, always a good read lol

I have learned to basically keep my mouth shut about how I save and how I stock up on items.

Yes lesson learned! No more trade secrets will be shared lol

[tjthemanto]

I shop frugally too. But thesedays I don't go overboard with couponing , trading and PM ing. I am saving lot of time and energy and stress due to this, and I am only spending slightly more than before.

if you are trying to do it 100 % it takes lot of time, so lot of times 80-90 % is enough for me, but the amount of time I am saving is a lot and the money I am spending is only 10-20 % more.

Thesedays I let go and don't bother about some couponing, PMing opportunities and l just go for the 80-90 % easy ones, the 10-20 % harder ones are the ones which are really the most stressful and time consuming, and are simply not worth it for me anymore, as it was affecting the quality of my life.

The arguments with cashiers and stores and companies over cpns and PMing is just not worth it for me anymore, but luckily its only 10-20 %, which I avoid anyways and go for the other 80-90 %.

it doesn't have to be an all or none approach. Go for the 80-90 % approach, and you will have best of both the worlds i.e save money and have time to do other things too.

[freefreefree]

Who's with me here? Doesn't it just grind you when you are asked about saving money. So you share. Then get "oh I don't have time for that" or "we are too picky to eat that" and so on? I'm pretty strict with my budget and if pineapple is on sale and blueberries are not, guess what I'm buying? And yep I spend a solid amount of time planning my shops. I look at it as a part time job. I wouldn't expect to be paid and rewarded without putting in the hours with a real job. Why would you expect any different when saving money?


This doesn't happen over night! I spend time collecting coupons, matching up cash back, sales, points, and coupons!

And you know, I GET that not everyone has time for couponing. I do. But that's no excuse for not price matching. AT LEAST and shopping sales! If you want to save money, it takes TIME. It's YOUR MONEY no one else cares how you spend it, so YOU have to!

Ugh drives me mental! I don't care if this "lifestyle/hobby" isn't for everyone that's fine. But stop expecting I have this magically band aid solution to overspending on groceries because I DO NOT I work hard EVERY SINGLE WEEK to keep my families hard earned cash in OUR pockets.

Rant over!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

LoL, you sound like me

[torontogal12]

I hear you 100%. The only people I share deals with are mom (who taught me frugality and even some couponing from years of struggle. Now the student is the master haha). I also share with Smartcanucks because they return the favour and know the thrill of a good deal too.

Some people have found out about my couponing I get stupid comments about being crazy or being a hoarder. Which is stupid because I live in a small apartment so where exactly do I keep all this stuff they think I've accumulated? No I'm just smart and if you're going to criticize me I'm going to keep my tips my myself and laugh at you from the beach with a mojito since I buy myself a vacation with all the money I've saved every year

[tjthemanto]

I think you also save time. If something is expensive you only buy 1-2 and every time it gets over you need to make multiple trips to restock.

But with cpns if the expensive thing becomes cheap, now you buy like 10 of them. Now you don't have to go out of the house for 6 months and make multiple trips..as you have enough.

I don't think I have bought any Tooth Paste in the last 7-8 months. As I stocked up on at least 20 of them ( with long expiry ) the last time there was a sale and coupon opportunity.

Same goes for laundry detergent, dish detergent and Deos and air-freshners..haven't bought any for maybe 7-8 months.

I don't stock up just for the sake of it, I do that so that for the next 7-8 months I don't have to buy that product or even go in that shopping aisle again in the grocery store. This saves lot of time and energy and gas and trips for me.

[momi]

My favorite is when they ask and you tell them what you do and their response is "Why don't I just give you the money and you can do it for me".

Hahaha, I really enjoyed your comment because I usually face the same situation.
But sometimes you can not say no' to your family or close friends.
But then I start making excuses oh you know,I could not go there,I did not get s chance etc etc.
I am afraid what will happen if my sister read this comment 😂😂😂lol

[flemeth]

@samm07 I very much enjoyed your rant. We all make the time for what we feel is important in life and ways to save bucks seems to be in the news and it sure seems like most people want to do that....but oh wait, they would need to invest some time and effort of their own?? They might have to make tough choices on whether or not to buy the higher priced produce or the sale priced one? That is where you lose most people.
They want stuff as cheap as possible but they would like someone else to do all the legwork for them.

Well said walkonby I tried may times to help my closes relatives by giving the coupons ect but guess what I have to let them know about a deal never do the put in the time themselves for a short time I stop telling them any thing and giving them coupons because I have to micro manage it

[Ciel]

Since coupons can be hard enough to find for one's own or family use, any extras are best shared with those who will benefit/use them (other SCers or for donations to local food banks or causes). I recently made sure Mom used a coupon for the haircut she wanted because she usually wants to save money. But regular coupon clipping is my deal because I am the one that searches flyers and also spots any useful offers in the free publications beyond what I read/find here on Smart Canucks.

Takeout/food meal deals-hit and miss effort on my part to hold on to most of them. Usually best to save one or two offers and share or recycle the rest.