Is saving money making you unhealthy?

You’ve probably heard of the show on TLC called Extreme Couponing.

I’ll be honest. I’ve only seen bits of two episodes.

I’m not really a fan of extreme couponing. Either the show or the practice. And before some couponing guru hops on here and screeches at me, let me explain why.

First of all, from what I’ve seen in the show and from learning about extreme couponing online, it seems that the best deals are on junk food. Hamburger Helper, hot dogs, frozen pizzas, sugary juices, cookies, candy, etc. And the cereal… oh, the cereal. And it’s sugary cereal more often than not. Now, I’m not gonna say that my family never eats these things (except Hamburger Helper… NO. Just, NO. *shudder*) but we eat them pretty rarely. So it’s not really doing my family justice to save money buying foods that we wouldn’t normally eat anyway.

Hey, look on the bright side: the money these couponers are saving can be applied toward their healthcare costs later on in life when this horrible eating catches up with them!

Secondly, and this one really bothers me, it seems that on the show, they’re showing couponers clear off shelves by buying all the product there and using a bunch of the same coupon over again. Like the one where the lady had 70 mustards. WHO NEEDS 70 MUSTARDS?! Do they even care about the average shopper that only uses coupons as needed, and NEEDS mustard, and intended to use that coupon to just buy one or two mustards? I’ve BEEN that shopper and it’s really freaking annoying.

Third- the stockpiling. This, I’ve got mixed feelings on. If they’re buying a million of something and then are going to donate it to shelters or send it to the troops, as I have seen a guy on that show do, then it’s not so big a deal. But when you have 50 boxes of cereal in your pantry, there’s no way you are going to be able to eat them all before the expiration date. If you have 30 boxes of cold medicine in your cabinet, there’s no way you’re going to have enough colds to use them up before they pass their date. Stockpiling things that can’t go bad is one thing… but stockpiling things that do have a use by date makes no sense to me. (And again, I’d just like to stress that if these items are being donated obviously I am totally cool with that.)

And fourth… well, this: TLC ‘looking into’ allegations of coupon fraud on ‘Extreme Couponing’.

So… am I against couponing? Of course not! I love to save a buck as much as the next gal. And I do use coupons regularly (and legally!). But I do not agree with eating a diet of all processed, sugary, fatty, salty foods in order to save money, nor do I agree with accruing things you don’t want or use just because they were cheap or free.

Stop talking, start doing.

View from the Empire State Building

I went to New York City! But this blog actually isn’t about that.

I’ve been back about a week, but haven’t been in the mindset to blog about anything. Most importantly, I had some much needed catch-up time with the husband and kids. But I’ve also been a bit stressed and thinking about things and my mind was too all over the place to write about it all but I’ve talked with a couple good friends (a HUGE thank you for listening to my craziness!) and I think I’m a bit more centered now and I can actually manage to get some thoughts out that make sense. Uh… well, maybe anyway. Reading back over this paragraph, I’m doubtful. Oh well, let’s proceed.

You see, the thing is… I decided to go back to college. I intend to get my Associate’s in Radiology Technology. And since it’s been about 12 years since I’ve gone to college and I only ever completed one semester, I’ll be pretty much starting back at the beginning (I haven’t taken my placement test though so we’ll see what I can skip. I don’t have super high expectations for myself. It turns out you just get dumber as you get older. It’s crap!)

So I’m facing new things. I’m facing being the 30 year old in classes full of 18 year olds. I’m facing having to actually pay for school and for daycare while I’m in school. I’m facing two or three years of getting my general requirements. After that I’m facing half-moving to Elko for a couple of years once I get accepted into the Radiology program because all the classes and clinic hours have to be completed there from what I understand.

Yes, I am a bit stressed, a bit nervous. But I’m ready to do this. It’s something that I’ve always talked about doing and I kept saying I’d wait til the kids were in school the full day but… why wait? Other women can have kids and full time jobs AND still manage to go to school.. so why can’t I, when all I do is sit at home anyway?

So, there’s that.

NYC was beyond awesome. Had the best food, saw the coolest things, and I want to move there effective immediately. Honestly I can’t even really say that much about it because whatever I say won’t do it justice. I am so glad I went, it was the best vacation EVER.

Also, my friend Denise? I already knew I loved her from talking online/on the phone but meeting her in person re-confirmed that. I still have some people that react negatively when they hear I’m meeting/have met “online friends”. I prefer to think of it this way: when you live in a town, especially a small town, your ‘pool’ of people to draw friends from is pretty limited. (Not saying that there aren’t awesome people here because there totally are. Just… interests and personalities differ.) But when you have pretty much the whole WORLD of people to interact with, the chances you’ll find someone whose personality meshes perfectly with yours is much greater.

So, I had a great time in NYC but I realized that I am not a very independent person and I hate that about myself. I thought a lot (especially on the plane ride because what else is there to do other than breathe the same air as other people and drink tiny plastic cups of ice water) and came to the conclusion that I need to stop talking or dreaming about becoming the person I want to be and actually DO something about it.

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