Clipping Coupons

I clip coupons. It's a regular routine of mine to read the Sunday newspaper and separate all the coupons pages in a stack. Then I get my scissors and excitedly go through and find the coupons for products I use. I have a coupon envelope that organizes them by areas of the grocery store so it is easy to find what I need. Sometimes I pull out all the coupons I want to use and make a list and go shopping with my coupons. That works best for me to actually get the coupons used.  I also use my grocery list then go through the coupons to find what works for items on my list. Either way I am able to save some money on my groceries.

I love coupons that are dollars off of something! Or the buy one get one free coupon! I really feel like I've saved money when the dollars off add up to several dollars worth on my receipt. I even do the refund or cash back by mail rebates if they are for dollars. You can save a lot of money on products in the drugstore, if you aren't particular about the brand name.  And I love combining the store's sales with a coupon! That's like a double win.

But, to be honest I'm not a great coupon user. I get frustrated that the coupons expire before I get them used, or I can't find the 'new' product in the stores yet, or the brand on the coupon isn't the one the store carries.  I don't like the ones where you have to buy two or three of something either. The 25 cents off coupons are hardly worth the trouble. I get frustrated when the no-name brands are much cheaper than the item with a coupon. The worst though, is when I just plain forget to give the coupons to the clerk. So I've become at best, a part-time coupon user.

I'm really glad that God doesn't require coupons for me to be saved. He made it so simple for us to have a Savior. Jesus Christ hung on a cross to save each one of us once and for all. Grace is the true bargain.

"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God--not by works, so that no one can boast" (Ephesians 2:8 NIV).