A Full On Intervention

First, let me put this out there: I coupon.  I love it.  It's truly a hobby of mine.  Plus, it saves my family a little bit of money, and keeps the hubby happy with the grocery bill.  That being said, lately, my hobby has become more obsession than entertainment.  It's like an all out war on regular prices. I've gotten so bad about couponing that lately I've been buying things I don't really use or need solely because I have a coupon for them.  Ridiculous.

Yogurt.  I bought yogurt last week.  Guess what?  I hate yogurt, my husband hates yogurt, and my kids won't eat it.  I bought it because the coupons I had made it too cheap to not buy, and because I get a little high everytime I use a coupon.  The more the better.  I'd like to say that I bought the yogurt for the purpose of donating it somewhere, but I'd really hate to lie on my own blog.  The truth is that using a coupon to buy yogurt that I won't use is my own personal crack.  A smoker would have an easier time cutting the cancer sticks than I would have giving up my coupons.

I have a friend, Hannah, who is also a coupon addict.  We support each other's addictions.  Yesterday, we had a long conversation about our coupon strategies, what percentage we save on average, and what we tend to buy. Wonderful conversation, because together we rationalized that we really NEED those 10 boxes of fruit roll ups anyway, and how lucky are we that there just so happened to be some coupons that made them a buck.  Yes, you read right. One dollar!  Who could resist one dollar fruit roll ups?  Clearly, not us.  Two addicts making excuses for each other. We could go to AA for couponers together and save on gas.

Oh, and by the way, in case you're curious, I've got like 10 boxes of Cinnamon Toast Crunch and Cocoa Puffs stocked away.  If there should happen to be a flood over here in River Ranch (which is one of the highest neighborhoods in Benton) and we can't get out for a week or two, I'm all set.  We can live on Cinnamon Toast Crunch and Fruit Roll Ups.  I may even learn to like yogurt.

Don't even get me started on the body washes and deodorants.  My bathroom pantry could double as the body care aisle at Walgreens.  Seriously.  I'd post a pic if I weren't so embarrassed. At this very moment there are about 15 Swagger body washes just gathering dust because my husband doesn't like them.  And I've already got plans to buy more at the next mega sale.  Sick, I tell ya.  They say the first step is admitting you have a problem, but I have no intention of giving up couponing.

The time is fast approaching, though, when I must start editing the coupons that I use,  My proverbial cup runneth over with cereal, snacks, body wash and toothpaste.  Toilet paper?  I've got a whole cabinet full of "squares to spare".  Friends, I truly have no more room with which to store the fruits of my habit.  Literally, my pantry shelves are bowing under the weight of all the processed food.  So, so sad.

I'm not sure if I can do it.  Not sure if I can walk away from the coupon game. I may just have to eat more, wash more, and brush my teeth more.  Or convert the garage into a giant storage area. The one thing I know is that unless I cancel the newspaper and let Larry get the mail on Wednesdays, the coupons aren't gonna magically stop coming. So I'll continue my obsession until the walls cave under the weight of the stuff.  By the way, if you someday see me on Hoarders, please come check on Hannah----she's probably buried under her own stack of Swagger.