My son and his girlfriend are making candles for Christmas gifts, so he was happy to get coupons from various crafts stores from me. He called from Hobby Lobby with a question, and to my horror I saw that he’d left his pile of coupons behind, a potential loss of ten or more dollars! I said,”Don’t buy anything yet Get your coupons.” “But we’re here now….” I admit I wanted him to use the coupons partly because if he didn’t use them I would have bought something like a new canvas or art supply that I don’t need. That’s the downside of coupons.

I encourage my son to use coupons when they go to restaurants that offer deals, too. When he comes home with a doggie bag, I say: “Why didn’t you tell me you were going to Blah Blah Blah Restaurant? I have a coupon for that.”

The last time I said that, they both rolled their eyes, and I had to laugh at myself. I told them that they’ll put this on my headstone. “I hope you had a coupon for this.”