20 Bottles of Tide – Why the hell do you care?
By Jennifer Toth,WWH- My first article appeared in World Wide Hippies sharing our family’s way to save money and stop making the BIG man richer. Couponing is the one thing that every person can do with minimal effort and no cost. What truly amazes me is the criticism that comes along with it. Now honestly, I’ve been doing this long enough to have developed a thick skin but some of the criticism’s directed my way may benefit you in your quest to save money! I face criticism everyday for saving money. Yes, in the beginning it did bother me until I realized I am the one having the last laugh – I am the one who just saved my family from spending tons of dollars on items that I got for free. My response to the criticism is generally “why the hell do you care how many of anything I bought. Why is it that it is bad that I got a ton of something for FREE and you didn’t. What’s bad is that YOU didn’t even try.”
The number one rule in couponing, as I say over and over again, is – NEVER PAY FULL PRICE FOR ANYTHING. Never, Nada, Don’t even go there! And the first question I am asked is, “well, how the hell can you do that? Not everything is on sale all the time.” Very simply. Redefine your thinking – and develop a thick skin to the criticism.
My first article featured a trip to Walmart. Do you remember me showing you how I made a huge purchase with over 78% in savings? My total was $101.74 and I only paid $24.21 for everything. That included 71 Degree Deodorants. HUH? What the hell would someone do with 71 containers of deodorant?? I am asked this frequently. What most people don’t know, is our family consists of 9 people – mom, dad and 7 children (the youngest being 15). But again, I am faced with feelings of having to defend to the “non-couponer” why someone would ever buy that much.
People, wake up – this is the year 2012. Back in the day, buying in bulk was the way to save money, right? The larger the package the bigger the savings. Well, no more.
I had (71) $1.00 (on any size) coupons for Degree Deodorant. You, the non-couponer, immediately assume I bought the full size container – WRONG – this is why I save so much and you don’t! This is why you need to read my weekly column and learn there is a method to my madness.
I marched into Walmart and went straight to their “trial/travel” size baskets and picked up 71 containers of Degree Deodorant, priced at $0.97 each. My coupons were for $1.00 – WALMART CREDITED MY OTHER ITEMS (71 x $.03 – $2.13)!! So not only did I get 71 containers of FREE deodorant, but I also got $2.13 credited to the rest of my purchases.
Now, you’re thinking, “she really is crazy.” Right – WRONG. Sales on products run in cycles. You can find that almost every product sold in grocery stores 
will be on sale approx. every 3-4 months. So with my 71 containers of trial size Degree, it breaks down like this:
9 people – each using 1 container a week (sometimes 2 –but for this we’ll go with 1)
That’s 9 containers a week
71 divided by 9 = 7.88
That is less than 8 weeks worth of deodorant for our household – so technically speaking, I do NOT have enough deodorant to last our family until it goes back on sale again. This, my fellow Americans, is the true reality of keeping the money you make to yourself, and not give it to the big corporations.
Just follow a few simple rules:
Never pay full price for anything, ever!
If your coupon is for “any size” – buy the smaller size and buy more – preferably enough to last you 3 – 4 months
Don’t buy something just because you have a coupon for it. Make sure it is a product you use. To the ladies: Why the hell would you buy condoms if you had your tubes tied??
And, DON’T LET THE NAY-SAYERS bother you
Get out there!! Buy those items you use every day, every week, or every month in amounts that will last you up to 4 months. Let people who see you walk out give you funny looks. Let the people who question your purchase on Facebook, Twitter, etc. make fun, ridicule and make sly comments eat their words. Develop a thick skin. WE are the one’s saving money. Now, I have to go…. I have (20) coupons for Tide Detergent for $2.00 off any size – guess what, Walmart has the 24 loads bottle on sale for $4.97. I’m going to get 20 of them for $2.97 – when was the last time you got Tide for that CHEAP??
Jennifer Toth is a wife, mother of 7, Blogger, and Freelance Writer who believes it doesn’t take a lot to make a difference in your family and your community. Start with one person and we have the power to bring about a positive change. One hundred years from now, it will not matter what kind of car we drove, what kind of house we lived in, or how much money we had in the bank. Times are changing and more and more people struggle along the way. As families, we need to find ways to save the major corporations from taking what is OURS! Join Jennifer as she looks for ways to save money, hold on to hope and extend a helping hand to those who need it.
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You go girl! As the oldest of 11, I know all about snide remarks when I walked behind my mother in the grocery store pushing a cart that contained 20 loaves of bread. That was just a week’s supply to pack lunches for everyone!
i love coupling but i am not that good at it yet, i see gaint have a lot of stuff that i need on sale and i have coupons for it, but i never have a way to get there,i am trying to save money any way that i can can u give me some pointers on how u got started. thank u.
Wat to go Jennifer! I think all couponer at some point go through the “crazy coupon lady” at some point. Especially when it becomes a habit. When I first started people thought I was wasting time cutting coupons that would only save me $0.40 on one product, but little do they know the tricks to actually using that coupon to stretch it as far as possible. Once I started getting better at it, everyone started asking me “How is that possible”. It is always fun to see the reaction on peoples faces when they find out how much you paid for so many high priced items.
I too have felt the “criticism” that comes from those full price payers…and you are dead on in this! I always respond with “I’ll quit coupons to make you happy, cause then YOUR tax money can pay for MY food stamps!” To which their attitude always changes! LoL (and to be honest, I am shocked that you posted this on ECF page on facebook and they havent slammed you yet…they tend to slam anyone who gets overage at walmart.)
Thank you all !!! Although the criticism/eye-rolling from others is not what we want, I feel if we band together we can overcome it. Knowing what we want and how to get it is 3/4 of the battle so keep checking back for regular updates to my column. I will be writing a couple of times a week here on WWH and will be digging deeper into the ways/tricks of the trade of couponing as we go along
Have a great day everyone!!
“Why the hell would you buy condoms if you had your tubes tied??”
Condoms are NOT just to avoid pregnancy, it is to avoid STDs!
This is year 2012 already, we all have had enough information to be asking these kind of questions…
Kudos Random Reader – I agree with you 100%!!!! That being said, my column and this particuliar reference is for families whereas the “woman” is in a long-term relationship – generally. Therefore, with only one partner, would not normally need condoms. The point was don’t buy it unless you need it – I certainly did not mean to take away from the absolute need for condoms for protection of STD’s when multiple partners are involved
That is a fact of life in this day and age…