Random Mania

Well, I was going to ignore this subject but, I’ve decided it’s a woman’s purgative to change her mind. As many of you know, Extreme Couponing is rearing its ugly head for another season tonight. I myself will be watching….Survivor

Those that have been with me long know how I feel about the show.  In truth, I've been doing a great amount of soul searching lately, wondering just where I fit into all this. I’m not an extreme couponer or a young mother but I have been both and my hopes for the site were to lay the ground for common sense savings. This website laid its foundation as a blog that doesn’t extreme and lately there have been many days when I think I've gotten off track.

On July 7, 2010 I published a laugh of the day post about a Rite Aid deal that was all over the blog circuit. It required eleven PG coupons. Mind you this was a Rite Aid deal. A reader (now friend) emailed me and we had a little cyber laugh and chat about how I wouldn’t be surprised to see news stories of hoarding and even stories of people purchasing too many deals, using credit cards to purchase deals of the day. Uhm.. sound familiar? Now here we are about to dive into another round of silliness.

I read many blogs that work on the premise of donating what you don’t use. If you are one of those, I THANK YOU! In reality though, most people don’t do that. In general, as a society, we glob onto what we can get free, pile it up and later when it’s expired and no longer good to us we toss it out or let it go to charity in an attempt to make ourselves feel better.

Now, I'm confused, why are we saving our 20 year supply of toothpaste and deodorant on specially constructed shelves in our home before we donate it? Will it make a better donation when it's old and dried out? Last time I checked salad dressing was not like fine wine, that gets better with age. We as humans are collectors, some collect stamps, coins, dolls and some collect food. Hey, whatever floats your boat. But, please don't confuse this “stockpiling” with good old fashioned “food storage” and preparedness.

It may surprise you to know that I pass up a good portion of the deals that I share with you each week. If it's not something we use, why waste time, energy and gas money to get it.  Including donations items. If I don't have a specific fundraiser in mind or if I'm not planning a trip near the food bank I forgo these items. Even if it's free.

Since I have no idea what's on your shopping list, I post all good deals that cross my path as we want our readers to have all opportunities to save. Before you purchase however, ask yourself this ONE simple question – “will I consume, use or donate this product in the next 6 weeks?” If the answer is no, STOP! THINK! and consider, are your saving money or wasting money?

On Tuesday’s,  I often go to Walgreens with two elderly ladies, to help them with their coupon purchases. These ladies are on very limited budgets. They don’t read deal blogs or even have email. Both have been shopping at Walgreens for years, clipping their coupons with care and matching what they need to the ads. Every time I’m with them I learn something new, some wonderful perspective on life that only someone that’s “been there, done that” has.

Yesterday, as I was kneeling on the floor looking for that non-existent last tube of Colgate toothpaste, one of them said to me “Honey, as long as you have someone that loves you when you have bad breath, it doesn't matter if they are out of free toothpaste.” I’m still contemplating that statement. My interpretation is, enjoy the moment, family is precious and gone before you know it.

No matter what entertainment you decide to enjoy this evening hopefully you’ll be with someone you love.

Thanks for letting me ramble. Keep it real