Coupons

Coupons have changed my life. Not as much as Jesus, but still alot.

I hadn't really thought about it that much until my friend Tina was in town a few weeks ago. Tina lives in Indiana now and I don't have company over to my place anymore, so no one had been there to point out the changes.

When Tina and I were in our hayday and every night there were 15 people at my condo, I was broke. I had bought my first place when I was 22 and trying to keep the bills paid was tough (but totally worth it). So I had the cheapest of everything- the bad paper towels that really don't work, the scratchy toilet paper, the hand soap that smells funny etc. And most of the time, I didn't really have that much of anything in the house. Often times I would be trying to make things last until the next paycheck so I would be rationing toilet paper or shampoo for a few days. This is the world Tina remembers.

Then coupons happened. I know they have been around forever, but only in my world since my sister introduced me to the concept at the end of last year. And now when I go into stores (after a little prep work) I give them shiny pieces of paper that I cut out of my sunday paper and they give me toilet paper for little or no money. And paper towels. And tooth paste. And shampoo, razors, food etc. The list goes on. So I take as much as they will give me and stick it in every nook and cranny at my house.

And you know what? None of it is scratchy anymore. I use toilet paper with lotion in it. Or air pockets. I use paper towels that you can rinse and re-use and have pictures of licensed characters on them. My soap smells like a million bucks. It turns out the free stuff is better quality than the cheap stuff.

So two weeks ago when Tina hollered through the bathroom door "Oh my gosh, you have toilet paper everywhere!" I yelled back "Yep, they don't make me pay for it anymore!"

And I laughed.