Did you catch yesterday’s article, Should You “Pay Yourself” in Coupon Savings? It introduced the concept of paying yourself with money that you save from clipping coupons and taking advantage of bonus card savings. I talked about what “paying yourself” means, as well as different ways of doing it.
But, paying yourself with your coupon savings might not make sense for everyone. And so, I’m going to examine the ways in which it can be a positive practice, and then later, in another article, how it can actually negatively affect your frugal lifestyle.
Wanting to start out on a positive note, I decided to first share the pros…
One of the great things about this practice of paying yourself is that it can be a real motivator. Clipping coupons, organizing them and using them can be hard work, especially when you combine them with sales. At the very least it is pretty mundane. Knowing that each coupon you use will turn into cash that can be used for a special treat, such as a book, a coffee or something larger, can be just the motivation you need to keep you on tract with coupon savings.
Paying yourself with that coupon money can also be a nice self-esteem booster. You can really get a sense of accomplishment when you see all of that money in its physical form, or as a balance in an account. Just look what you were able to do!
If you are in a one-income household and aren’t the one working, it can give you a sense of earning money or contributing monetarily to the household. As a stay-at-home mom, I struggled with not working and wanted to feel as though I had some income coming in to the household. Tallying up all of that coupon savings at the end of the year helped me feel as though I “earned” an income. The money went back into the household for something that the whole family needed, and I felt great providing that for us.
Look for the next article on the cons of paying yourself in coupon savings. And yes, this practice could be a dangerous thing to do.
Mary Ann Romans also writes for the Computing Blog here at Families.com where she shares everything from the latest news on technology to cool downloads and fun websites.
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Should You “Pay Yourself” in Coupon Savings?
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