When "Free" Is Too Good to Be True

You've heard about "extreme couponing:" people go into grocery stores armed with stacks of coupons and leave with carts full of groceries for just pennies. I used to do that. In fact, I used to be rather addicted to it.

After a year of marriage, we were cutting it close with our finances. We were able to pay our bills on time, but just barely. In my desperation one day, I Googled "how to live for free." Couponing sites started popping up, and I wondered how one could possibly live for free on coupons. In the 80s and early 90s, I had watched my mother clip coupons from the Sunday paper. She'd save 25 cents on potato chips or 15 cents on paper towels. That surely wasn't enough to pay my mortgage. But I looked into it. And the more I learned, the more I wanted to try it.

Using coupons today is a far cry different than it was 20 years ago. Today, coupons are often over $1, and they are everywhere for all major brands. Companies know that if someone tries a product purchased with a coupon, they can get hooked on it, so even when coupons disappear, the person will still want the product. They also know people love free things, so they intentionally allow customers to get items for free. The coupon usually won't say "free" on it, but if you have a $1 coupon for toothpaste, and that toothpaste is on sale for $1....you get the idea. But back to my story.

One of my "free" shopping trips in 2009.

I started gathering up coupons from friends, family, and neighbors. I would check the recycling bins for coupons that were carelessly discard. I'd even order them from coupon clipping sites and eBay. In the beginning, it seemed great. I was getting free popcorn, plastic baggies, cleaners, deodorant, cat food, candy, soda, cereal, soap, flavored water, and more. If I coordinated my coupons with sales just right, I could easily get $100 worth of groceries for under $5, and I did it often. I knew the sale cycles and I watched the coupon previews. My house, and my mother's storage building, was brimming over. I'd get so much that I would give it away to family. I knew so much about couponing, I taught classes about it to try to help others. The couponing project was going great. But other things were happening.

For one thing, it didn't affect my grocery budget very much. I was getting more but spending the same amount of money because there aren't many, if any, coupons for fruits, vegetables, and meat. I was also gaining weight faster than a new baby. In 6 years of marriage, I put on 55 pounds. My skin was sensitive and drying out, my hair was ragged and breaking off, and my allergies were constantly going crazy. My husband wasn't in much better shape. Even the cat was having health problems and was put on a prescription diet.

Here's the problem with couponing: nothing you get is healthy. The food is loaded with salt, sugar, and chemical preservatives. The health and beauty products are full of sulfates, chlorine, ammonia, and parabens. And we won't even go into what's in the cleaning products. All of these things were making me, and my husband, sick. There is a lot of truth in the statement "you are what you eat," and eating a diet full of free Hamburger Helper and Chex Mix was turning me into something I didn't like. Couponing also complicated my life.I had to plan for hours just to go on a shopping trip. I had to research sales and drag my family from store to store. It was a job, and I didn't feel like I needed another job.

I never officially gave up couponing; I just did less and less as I realized what products were a danger to me. I still carry some coupons, but they are mostly for natural products that I feel are still beneficial. I've found new ways that make me feel better and really do save money. And I will be writing a lot about them very soon.