Jill Cataldo

The following is a forum post that was so good, smart, funny, and TRUE that I bumped it up to the front page! I think it pretty much encompasses what every Super-Couponer feels after their first whirlwind year of shopping smarter! -- Jill

Dear Jill,

How Do I Stop?

I learned so well and saved so much money that:

• My cupboards are jammed
• My freezers are packed
• My neighbors' freezers are packed with my food
• I've worn out my tires from running to the food pantry
• My Blue Cart is full each week with all the newspapers I receive (for free or close to it) & have won great prizes from the city for my recycling efforts
• I get frustrated when I can't figure out how to get to $5 in order to spend the $5 Cat that is going to expire as the cart keeps filling up but the coupons keep reducing the price or giving it to me for free.
• I've taught all my friends so they all have the same complaints and questions as I do and we no longer have anything new to talk about.
• I never run out of coupons.
• The deals never stop coming
• If I need to get away and need a few minutes of personal time I go to the Jewel and blinkie shop, it's free and we love FREE.
• I spend hours taking to friends who have funny names like Bluedemon20, Prea and Guy who I have never met, yet I don't have time for a conversation with the people who live next door.
• I order stuff online but email the company first to ask for current promo codes so I can save more money, and if they send them after I've ordered I email back and ask for a bill adjustment and they comply.
• I walk into stores without coupons and ask for coupon savings and end up saving money without even having the addicting pieces of paper.
• I am on a first name basis with cashiers at 4 Jewel stores, 1 Dom's and 2 Target's, 2 Walgreens and 3 CVS, yet the pastor at the church I have been attending for over 20 years and giving to on a weekly basis still doesn't know my name.
• I talk in lingo that no one understands: BOGO, LMAO, DD, DW, YMMV
• I am joansin' when I have coupons left, the deal is still going on and my wife has the car.
• Last year things got crazy here and I did not know how I was going to feed my family, and now they are getting fat and I am able to feed half my neighborhood and still have surplus.
• I go to get my haircut, the hairdresser hands me a Christmas gift of shampoo and conditioner, and I have to decline as I have shampoo and conditioner coming out of my ears.
• My wife goes to picinics where the cakes are in the shapes of Catalina machines and preferred cards and blinkies rain out of pinatas
• My son keeps taking about the cute girl he talked to for hours at the picnic who loves heavy metal music, whose mom is some queen in the NW suburbs and is sad as he doesn't know how to get in touch with her... 13 year old boys.
• Unlike other couponers on this site who have dedicated a spare room to couponing, we've dedicated that spare bedroom to sleeping and eating for our family of 4, as coupons and product have taken over the rest of the house.

Please tell me how to get it under control without contacting Jerry Springer and asking for an intervention.

Signed,
CouponDad
Flush with cash and product but.....
Still Dazed, Confused and Addicted in 1 short year