Keeping the Big Money Picture in Mind

Money

Yesterday my husband offered to go grocery shopping with me. Rather than rushing off to work first thing in the morning he hopped into the passenger’s seat and accompanied me to the store.

Before leaving the house I grabbed a few coupons. A flyer arrived in the mail two days earlier containing $5 off a $50 purchase, $2 off a $5 produce purchase and a few for free items.

Somewhere between the produce section and the checkout counter I lost that tiny stack. Ugh. I’m not sure if they fell out of the cart or if someone snagged them out of it, but either way they were gone.

It wasn’t the end of the world, but I was still pissed about it. My husband absolutely hates the amount of time it takes to use coupons. He is unwilling to wait in line or in the middle of an aisle while I search for relevant coupons, not to mention the fact that coupons rarely seem to ring up properly at the register.

He told me to walk back through the aisles to see if the coupons had fallen somewhere. I walked back quickly, but couldn’t find them. I didn’t want to waste a ton of time, so after a quick glance I moved on.

I don’t know why I was so mad about those dag on coupons. I don’t clip many these days, but I didn’t want to pass up $7 worth of free groceries either.

Seven dollars is nothing in the big scheme of our finances. We are certainly not desperate for cash and my husband keeps reminding me that its more important to look at the big picture than a few dollars here or a few cents there.

I know he’s right but it’s tough to break old habits. I started worrying about money when I was in college and twenty years later I still have a hard time recognizing how much we have.

2 thoughts on “Keeping the Big Money Picture in Mind”

  1. It is hard not to be annoyed by the loss of coupon/free money! A day after PiC bought and gifted something to a friend from Carter’s I discovered that he overlooked an AmEx deal that would have saved us $5.

    I think it’s because we know that those small amounts can add up quickly, for or against us!

    Reply
    • I think you hit the nail on the head. I missed out on a bunch of ways to save over the last week. $3 at CVS, $7 at the grocery store, $4 on a Christmas gift. Losing those coupons after all of those other little losses seemed to sting more.

      Reply

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