Hi there! Yes, it’s me. Now that I’m not miserably pregnant anymore, and instead blissful mommy of two – Miss Adorable and Captain Cute, I have a bit of time to blog! Hooray! Now that the Captain is here, there are many, many more reasons to be as thrifty as possible, starting with the harsh reality of shelling out two daycare/preschool payments each month once I go back to work. Ay caramba.

So, I’ve learned that while coupons can save you a good chunk of change when leveraged properly, I want to bring up another shortcoming of coupon clipping: that is, 90% of them are for things I would never use in my home or put in my mouth. Same with probably 50% of what’s on sale each week at my local grocery store. So when I’m searching for that magical combination of coupon + sale, much of what comes up is fantastic deals on, say, SPAM.

Not so helpful for a vegetarian, or really, any person who respects their body too much to feed it processed entrails in a can. (Meanwhile, as an aside, my middle-aged downstairs neighbors, judging from the smell of their kitchen each Sunday and many other days, enjoy some kind of fried processed meat more than many things. That or they grill up their dirty socks for Sunday brunch every week.)

So, back to my point. Here’s a sample of the coupons in my Sunday paper:

Popeye’s Chicken meals

Two different kinds of processed pet treats/food

Keebler cookies (OK, I admit, I clipped that one)

Buca de Beppo — if you’re not familiar, a nice Italian place, but with entrée portions that would feed most of the population of Malawi for a week.

“Fruit Chillers,” a supposedly healthy frozen treat made by DelMonte, , but still, a highly processed one, I’m guessing made with a lot of added sugar. (oh yes, I checked – 26 grams of sugar per 1 cup serving — so much for healthy treats. That’s twice the sugar and more calories than a Skinny Cow ice cream sandwich.)

… and then a bunch of lipstick, hair removal, free checks, and a very supportive yet stretchy bra that appears to be made expressly to repel sexual advances of any kind.

Can you believe these are buy one get one free?

Not helpful. I know there are online sites that help you find coupons on things you actually want to buy, but I do wish I saw more coupons for, say, Amy’s Frozen Meals, or Boca, or Kashi. Not that they don’t show up on occasion, but they are not exactly competing with Popeye’s Chicken. And that place could use some competition.

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