The Couponing Stigma

One of my favorite Money Saving blogs, Fabulessly Frugal just posted a brilliant article about "The Couponing Stigma". Some people ignorantly look down on people who use coupons. My favorite part of the article said this:

"Sadly, I think many people don’t recognize how smart couponers are.  Like I naively did as a child, too many people view those who use coupons as poor or lower class and actually look down on us, as if couponing is beneath them.

I am a proud coupon user. I am not poor, but who cares if I was. I am not lower class, but who cares if I was. It doesn’t matter what our social standing is or how much money we have in our bank accounts or what drives us to coupon. It makes no difference what side of the tracks we live on or what car we drive to the grocery store. As couponers we share something regardless of our differences: common sense.

When given the choice, we choose to pay less. We choose to save money. We choose to take control of what we are spending  at the grocery store. And contrary to what I believed as a child, that certainly doesn’t mean we’re poor. It means we’re brilliant!"     Click here to read the whole very enlightening article.

She makes a very good point. You never know how poor or rich a person is by looking at them. You may see someone drive a fancy sports car, wear designer clothes, and live in a big pretty house. They appear to have a very high end lifestyle. But you don't see their bank account. They may be in major debt just wondering how they are going to afford their next credit card bill. Some people are too proud to use coupons and find deals.  You may see a person in the store with a pile of coupons and assume she isn't well off. But you may be surprised that she has no debt, and since she's smart with her money, she actually is better off financially than the one driving the fancy sports car. 

Don't judge a book by it's cover, and don't judge me for walking into a store with a huge pile of coupons! I'm proud to be smart with my money to save my family's hard earned dollars. I'm proud of having no car payment and only a very small credit card balance. I'm proud that I have an IRA, and that I automatically transfer money into my savings account every week. I'm proud that my husband and I managed to buy our first home at only 23 years old. I'm proud that I am finally able to be a work at home mom and spend time with my baby instead of wasting my money paying for day care and not seeing him all day. I'm proud that I have found multiple small streams of income to help afford to stay at home. I'm proud that I find good deals and shop with coupons so that I can afford to live the lifestyle I need instead of going into major credit card debt to live a lavish lifestyle.

The customers behind me sometimes give me dirty looks at the checkout line when I hand over my pile of coupons, but then I always make sure to say out loud, "Wow, I saved $104.35 today from all my coupons and sales!" I've had the people who gave me dirty looks then ask me how I do it. I'm thinking of making business cards for Home Sweet Frugal Home to hand out to those people at the checkout counter. 

I am a proud coupon queen, deal diva, and mama-preneur. Even if I were wealthy, I would still be smart with my money and shop with coupons because why pay full price if you can pay less?