Saturday, November 02, 2002

Two weeks later, I'm still looking for a job. But I've got some good prospects.

I've gotten into couponing. I know, it sounds pathetic. But after reading post after post on FatWallet.com from people who are buying $120 worth of groceries for less than $10, I had to try it. While I haven't gotten the 90%+ savings like some of those folks, I've done pretty well.

So why do we look down on this? People at the store give you this annoyed look when you whip out your clipped paper slips. Do we naturally assume that people who use coupons are some of life's losers? Why?

My next job probably won't pay what my last one did. But I'll make plenty of green. Even so, I'll likely keep using the coupons. If it saves me money now, it will later too. And with a daughter on the way, saving money ain't a bad thing.

Still, why the stigma? Why is it that we make a connection between saving money (and taking advantage of a $275 billion industry - that's the value of coupons that are printed each year), and a lower level of human.

Well, let me be the first to proudly state "Hi, my name is Leo, and I use coupons". Because it's smart, it saves me money, it gets me grocery items for darn near free.

And they let me use sharp scissors.