Now that I've hit a significant milestone, I wanted to share my success story here (though this is still a work in progress).
I started couponing at the age of 22, fresh out of college and starting a demanding graduate program. I needed to stretch my $20K/year living stipend as far as it could go, so I started a coupon savings spreadsheet in August 2009, started watching sale flyers and clipping coupons, and logged every purchase where I received discounted or free items.
It's taken 11 years and 9 months, but yesterday I passed $50,000 in coupon savings.
Back in 2009 when I started, I mostly used paper coupons clipped from the Sunday paper or printed online, and store coupons in sale ads. Nowadays it's mostly digital coupons, online cash back websites like Rakuten, store loyalty programs, and rebate apps like Ibotta.
It's been a long but enjoyable journey that I'm not planning on stopping anytime soon.
Here are some things my coupon savings and frugality have helped me be able to do:
- Be able to cover several thousand dollars in (often unexpected) pet healthcare expenses
- Be able to start saving for retirement in my mid-20s despite making $20K/year
- Be able to be generous and help out some close family/friends with purchases they need but can't afford, without asking for any repayment
- Be able to afford a 20% down payment on a home a few years back (a home which I'm now selling at a considerable profit)
On the flipside, here are some lessons I've learned (often the hard way) in the process:
- The cheapest item isn't always the best. Sometimes it's worth it to spend a little (or a lot) more on quality for an item that you're going to use a lot. Back in 2009 I bought the cheapest cooking items I could find -- cheap cooking utensils, cheap pots and pans, a $1 plastic colander. With the exception of the $1 colander (which is cracked but still functions) and a spaghetti serving spoon, everything else has broken/worn out years ago. When an item wore out, I replaced it with something of better quality.
- Just because you can get five bottles of shampoo (or whatever other item) for free after coupons/sales, you shouldn't buy five bottles of shampoo if you aren't going to use them all in a reasonable time frame.
- (This is stupidly obvious, but) It's extremely rare to get fruits and vegetables for free or cheap at the grocery store with coupons and sales. Still, they're worth buying. I cringe thinking back to 22-year-old me who rarely bought any vegetables and would only spring for the $1 bags of iceberg lettuce, and would eat at least half of her meals from the frozen foods section since they went on sale regularly and were low-effort to prepare. In my 30s (with a better-paying job) I've discovered a love of cooking and now really enjoy preparing meals from predominantly fresh ingredients. My weekly grocery bill is a lot higher but it's so worth it. But I'm still trying to undo the consequences of a decade of poor diet, which is a lot harder to do in your mid-30s than your early-20s.
- Money can't buy happiness, but it can by things that improve your quality of life. I used to be so anxious about money that any purchase more than $10 would have to be internally debated and agonized over. I would feel guilty for buying or even wanting to buy certain things. Now, with maturity and a better salary, I don't feel guilty for planned splurges. I have an allowance-based system that works really well for me where doing things I need to do but don't enjoy (scooping cat litter, exercising) earns me money I can spend guilt-free on whatever I want -- which lately have been things like getting takeout (since I very rarely eat out), paying for experiences (museum tickets, etc.) and buying fun items like yarn for crocheting, cute decor for my home, and makeup.
May 28, 2021 at 12:02AM
