Coupons = Thrifty or Cheap

I am a coupon user.  Just because you use a coupon does not make you cheap.  People are always making fun of me cause I use coupons to go out to eat, at the grocery store and at the mall.  I by no means am cheap, I consider myself to be thrifty.  Now this is not a bragging post, just trying to make a point.

First of all, I ran across this saying a while back and loved it.  "We are to poor to buy junk".  I always say you get what you pay for.  And if I can get a little off - well I have more money for other things.  But when you buy cheap junk, all you have is cheap junk.  I love to shop at Dillards and Macy's during their huge clearance sales.  I have $150.00 dresses that I got for $20 or $30 on sale with a coupon.  If not for sales and coupons, I would have to wear Wal-Mart dresses.  (Well maybe not that bad, but you get my point).

I always have a new car, we live in a nice house, we have a nice truck, we have two dumps, er I mean houses in WV.  Everything we have is all ours.  So I am not cheap.  If I use a coupon then I have more money for other things.  I want for nothing, but I want nothing.  I am not a material girl.

Some people judge their wealth by how much stuff they have.  I cannot stand to have clutter.  And I cannot stand to have every space full of something.  Every winter I purge every file, closet, drawer and cabinet in this house.  I have even decided to donate some Christmas stuff this year.  How much Christmas stuff does one person need.  I have 7 huge totes of Christmas stuff plus wreaths and trees.  My motto for decorating is: "What goes up must come down".  And I don't put up Christmas till the first weekend in Dec. and it comes down Dec. 26th - every trip up the steps my arms are full of decorations.  So its time to get rid of all them decorations that stay in the boxes year after year and let someone else enjoy them.  My tree does stay up till New Years.  My mother said its bad luck to take it down before, and she never had taken her's down before New Years Day, so that is a tradition I must follow now.

Back to couponing.  I do not use a coupon just because I have it.  I don't buy stuff I am not going to use just because I have a coupon. My mother was not a big couponer.  Nor my dad, but I get something for him with a coupon and he is excited about it and the price.  Kevin was in Texas in August for two weeks and I told my dad one day he was taking me out to dinner.  He said, "Wait and let me see if I have a coupon".  I about died laughing.  A COUPON?!?!  But you need to know my dad to know how funny that is.

You know if you don't plan along the way for your retirement, you might be working your whole life.  As the country is today - you need all the help you can in saving for the future.  Willpower to not need instant gratification is a good thing also.  My girlfriend once told me I have allot of willpower, and I feel I do too.  I think some people are ashamed to use a coupon or something.  I feel that the business put out the coupon for me to use, so why not use it?