Deal or No Deal?

Is it just me or are coupons sometimes a bigger pain in the ass than they are worth?

I should preface this post by saying that I clip coupons from the Sunday paper as well as save the ones that come in the mail. I have an organizer and group the coupons into: food, toiletries, baby items, and other. I use them a couple of different ways. I either pull out what I need based on my shopping list, or I check expiration dates and try to use the "good" ones before they expire.

I am all for saving a buck here and there, but sometimes it just isn't worth it. I'm not even talking about the coupons that are complete BS, like the ones that are 50 cents off two packs of something. Please. That's not even worth the effort of cutting it out. I'm talking about legitimate coupons that completely stress me out. Two examples from today.

1. I got a coupon in the mail the other for a free tote from DSW with a purchase of $24.95 or more. It's really easy to spend this in a shoe store; it's pretty much a pair of shoes off the clearance rack. Shimmy happens to need new shoes, so this was perfect. This is exactly how I got the bag that I currently use. I love my bag and it was free! So I decided to go all the way out to DSW today. It's not just around the corner and I didn't really have much else I needed to do in that part of town. It's President's Day, so Sophie is off of school, so she had to come along with her very runny nose. When I pulled into the parking lot, I took out my coupon and realized that it is only valid from 2/19-2/22. So I drove all the way out there for nothing, and will have to drive out there again sometime between Thursday and Sunday. GRRRRRR

2. At the grocery store I decided to pick up some chumus because I knew I had a coupon that was about to expire. It was $1.50 off, which is actually an awesome coupon. When I got to the check out line I pulled out my coupon organizer, but that coupon was nowhere to be found. I was annoyed, but since chumus is a staple around here anyways, I just paid full price and decided to forget about it. When I got home I reached into my pocket for a tissue and lo and behold, there was the chumus coupon. I have no idea when I put it in my pocket, definitely not today. But it had been with me all along, probably laughing to itself the whole time I was searching for it and then paying for the chumus.

Sometimes I can't help but wonder exactly how much I am actually saving.