Big Fish, Small Pond

So, because my primary motivation for moving from Boston to here was running a Mac software company on a shoestring, I thought, what the hell, is there anything to these coupon thing-a-ma-mobs? Can they save you money and really, are the worth the trouble? I was curious, so I've tried clipping and using them a few times.

Here are my conclusions:

For me, someone shopping just for themselves, someone who really doesn't like to grocery shop AT ALL, it's an added complication. If you use one or two on things you normally buy anyway, it's not so bad. It gets a lot more complicated when you have a number of them, on things you want to try, things you don't buy that often, etc. I'm not sure how these people who use a LOT of them make it work. I'm just not organized enough in this area, though this has given me a few ideas for MacGourmet shopping list features (which is actually another reason I'm trying this).

So, can you save money? Sometimes. I was able to save 5 or 6 bucks using manufacturers coupons. I suppose you do even better if you shop somewhere that doubles them. 5 or 6 bucks, considering what I buy, is nothing to sneeze at, but it's also not necessarily enough to make the effort. I'm not sure yet. I'm going to try and see if I can add features to MacGourmet that maybe improve this return on "investment".