Coupon Conundrum

Last week I attended a couponing class offered by our county Research & Extension office.  I was intrigued to see if they could teach me anything I didn't already know, but it was also a great excuse to get out of the house by myself and not have to spend money to do so.  It was a good intro level course and I learned a couple of new tidbits, but what really stuck was the story of another woman in the audience. 

She added a few insightful comments throughout the presentation and so I could tell she knew her stuff.  At the end of the class, we discovered the woman she attended with was her mother-in-law, who shared her two-cents at the end of the class about why it's not just a silly hobby.  She told us that her DIL was 32 years old, had three children that she stayed at home with, and had just paid off the family mortgage.  When pressed for more details, the woman told us how she did it and talked about the total freedom it afforded them.  They paid off cars, a boat, and the house - and when all that was done 9 months ago they took two extravagant family vacations to celebrate - and paid with cash.

So I checked out one of the books recommended by the library where the class was held, devoured it in a day, and have officially decided to give coupons another chance.  I was also inspired enough to schedule a day of future planning with my hubby to revisit our financial goals.  Sounds romantic, huh?  I'm thinking next Saturday might not be, but a 10-year anniversary trip to Jamaica would if we get debt free in the next two years.

Today was my first attempt at scoring a deal.  I used all of my resources (acquiring my coupons from my in-laws Sunday papers = free, matching them against the grocery sales ads, checking the online matching sites for anything I missed, etc.)  My summation is that I still have a lot to learn because this took me way too much time.  But I suppose that's to be expected when you're trying something new like this and math wasn't your strongest subject.

Here's the fun part.  I decided that I would only try to conquer Target today.  So I collected my coupons for the deals I was interested in and headed out.  Actually, I think I did pretty good!  First, I discovered a way to combine coupons with the current Target promotion that gives you $5 gift cards when you purchase certain quantities of Glade holiday candles.  I love these anyway, but wouldn't need ten for myself.  Fortunately, it's almost time for Christmas gifts!  So here they are, ten yummy-smelling Glade candles.  And the grand total was:

$3.97!!! Ten cents for each of the scented oil candle holders (w/ candle) and fifty cents for each of the jar candles plus applicable taxes.  Less than the cost of one of the scented oil candles at regular price.  (Now if I can just do this for diced tomatoes!)

Then I had this $10 rebate and a $5 Target store coupon for Crest White Strips.  To just buy the box of strips was $35, but I found this kit on clearance at the end of the aisle for $32 and it included toothpaste, rinse, a toothbrush, and a coupon book.  So in the end, my strips cost me $17 and I almost made that back in freebies.  Did I need the White Strips?  Probably not.  But since it was a good deal I went for it. 

Which brings up the one issue I have to address to be successful here.

My conundrum with coupons is this: how does one use coupons to purchase items for deep discounts and stockpile them for future use without ending up purchasing something you would never have purchased in the first place?  My eyes get dazzled by the $$ saved and forget that it isn't really money saved if you never would have bought it in the first place.

So what do you think?  Are they worth the time and energy?  How have your coupon experiences gone?