Couponing: A guy’s perspective.

Since I remarried six years ago, I have done the majority of grocery shopping for our household.  I don’t mind it, I’ve never minded it.  And I’ve always bargain shopped and dabbled with coupons.  But as luck would have it, I stumbled upon a Facebook group dedicated to sharing tips on saving money, more specifically, the practice of matching up coupons with store sales.  It intrigued me as to how this all worked and I wondered why I hadn’t figured it out sooner.  But even though I consider myself one of those guys that doesn’t really care what others might think, I still found myself feeling very uncomfortable talking to people about couponing.

So I’m sitting at lunch with a group of guys one day last August, all co-workers in the office where I work.  AND IT HAPPENED!  One of the guys looks over at me and says, “So I hear you’re into couponing.”  The table went silent.  I thought to myself, “How do I handle this? Own up to it?  Deny it?  Change the subject?”  After a few seconds, I said “Yes, I am”.  What happened next totally caught me off guard.  Instead of the snickering and good-natured ribbing that I was sure I was about to endure, I spent the rest of our lunch explaining the basic concepts of how to save money with coupons to that group of guys.  By the next day, a group of five of us (all guys) were comparing notes on coupons, sales and deals in our local area.  And now, it’s not uncommon for us to “hit the stores” on our lunch break to search for the great deals.

Some guys might find couponing emasculating.  The thought of walking into a store with a fistful of coupons, or worse yet, a coupon binder may not seem very macho, but I have to tell you, I’ve been met with nothing but positive reactions in the stores.  People, both men and women, are curious to see how it works or how much I’m going to save.  I think the idea of a man couponing is still foreign to most.  Heck, even with the couponing group on Facebook that I spoke of earlier, it’s not uncommon for members to start their posts with “Hey Ladies…”, but I quickly learned that regardless of gender, we all have something in common.  We all want to provide for our families, make ends meet, or maybe save for vacation.  In the end, that concept transcends any stereotypes that people may have.

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