Is Couponing worth the time?

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Jenny Kerr from TheJennyPincher.com shares her experiences with couponing. Couponing is not just cutting pieces of paper out of your local ads, it involves shopping, travel, and seeking out great values to help you stretch your dollar.

It can become more about the Deals than Savings

Jenny started extreme couponing a few years ago, even while she was unemployed! She tells her story of how couponing started to become an addiction and was more about scoring a “deal” than it was saving money. She even donated many of the items she “scored” to food pantries and rescue shelters. That is very generous from a single person on a budget.

How you know it’s more than being frugal

At one point Jenny it was taking 4-5 hours a day of her life to couponing. She was searching the internet for savings, getting the mailman to deliver extra copies of the local ads, traveling to the stores, and of course the time spent with a pair of scissors.

But coupons are totally worth it, right?

There can be great savings from clipping coupons. You have to answer the following three questions to yourself to see if the money savings is worth the cost of time clipping coupons.

1. How much time does it take each week?
2. Could I be doing something better with my time?
3. What is my return? What am I getting out of it?

The Time Value video

Watch the “Time value of couponing” video Jenny produced for Financial Literacy Month 2012.

How to find out more from Jenny