Finding Your Coupon Balance

We (the Savvy with Savings ladies) have been talking a lot about couponing for our families lately. It is a great way to support our families by making each hard earned dollar stretch just a little further. But is there such a thing as too much?

When I was a coupon newbie, I felt like I had to go get every single good deal that blogs posted about and get as much of it as I possibly could. I will admit that I may still have a few items in my stockpile that I bought almost two years ago and have not used yet (see the circled Scrubbing Bubbles cleaners below? I used to have enough of those to clean my toilet every day for a year!). Learning to coupon is also about learning what your family needs and how to find the balance between buying and using your stockpile.

A good way to know how many of one item to buy is to figure out how much your family will use in 6 months time and buy just that many. One thing I am glad I have learned is everything will go on sale again! We even have posted a sale cycle list here on Savvy with Savings that shows what time of year most items will be on sale.

A good example of this is when I buy chicken. I usually purchase my chicken through Zaycon Foods. They sell their chicken in 40 lb. boxes. My family usually eats 2 lbs of chicken a week so 40 lbs. will last around 5 months. Which is perfect since Zaycon Foods sells their chicken about every 5 or 6 months! I buy one box at a time knowing I will be able to use all of it before the next sale.

I love this article by Fabulessly Frugal,  "Stocking up: How Much is TOO Much."

This past weekend I wanted a couple bottles of free Dawn dish soap with doubles at Albertsons. There were none on the shelf so I talked to one of my favorite managers who informed me that they only had 30 to begin with and one lady had purchased all 30 of them. I understand that I am not going to get every deal since there are so many trying to stretch their dollar also, but to hear that one person ruined it for everyone else is really pretty annoying. I think Fabulessly Frugal says it best, "Some couponers aren’t trying to build a massive stockpile, but just need to feed their families that week. When the shelves are empty, they don’t have a huge stockpile to fall back on."

I have always believed that couponing is all about finding balance. In this case it is all about finding the balance between buying and using.

Have you found your balance?