Coupons

How is it that I find coupons so cool? I can't explain it... there’s just something so….. tidy about them. I know, TIDY??? But yeah… that’s pretty much the word that comes to my mind when I think about coupons.

I never used to care much about them… in fact, it’s not at all common practice in Mexico to use coupons… occasionally yeah… people will cut out a coupon from a newspaper or a magazine for a specific product or if the rebate is indeed interesting, but basically it’s not a regular buying instrument in the Mexican culture.

On the other hand, my grandparents in the US receive entire magazines by mail of nothing but coupons. You see them everywhere in the states, on shelves at the supermarket, on the back of shopping receipts, at the bottom of shopping receipts, inside the Sunday news, on flyers pushed under your windshield wipers, everywhere. And people use them too. It’s simply that common, like paying by check.

Now, you would think that coupons, being a French word and all, would be popular in France right? Think again. Indeed, a “coupon” is a common word in the finance sector that refers to the pre-determined interest payment that comes “attached” to an obligation, but if you’re talking about a “save 10 cents off a bottle of…" coupon, then no… your average Frenchman is not going to go out of his way to cut along the lines, save in a pocket and hand over to the cashier in order to save 10 cents off anything.

But I will!

Coupons here are hard to come around but there is one place where they never fail to show up: the groceries receipt at Monoprix. And that’s right folks, I like cutting on the dotted lines and I like saving in my pocket (I have a filer with labels like “dairy” and “beverages” and “hygiene products”) and yes… I like handing them out at the cashier.

I can’t explain what it is….

Perhaps it’s the surprise factor. When I get my supermarket ticket I hastily turn it around to see what goodies are mentioned this time and if I see products that I recognize or that I’ve been meaning to try out I let out a silent “yuuppeee!”.

Or maybe it’s the creativity challenge that comes with coupons. I like trying to come up with new ideas for a meal around the items that are listed in my coupons. Pitted black olives? Hmmm… maybe a nice greek salad. Strawberry/Orange carton smoothy? How ‘bout making ice popsicles for dessert?, Liquid sour cream? It will go nicely in a veggie potage or on sliced bananas….

Or maybe it's just the chase; you get a coupon for an item you've never heard of... so if you're like me, then you have to go down isle by isle until you find the so named product just to see if it's something you would need or want. Kindda like hunting. A lot of times the item turns out to be a reject (something no one buys, like hamburger buns if you live in France) yet once in a while you'll discover a new product that you didn't even knew existed!! Tha jackpot!

But above all, there is the afore mentioned tidy factor. The idea of getting something completely worthless (who saves groceries receipts these days???) and giving it a purpose. I just find that so neat. And I’m not using neat as a synonym for clean but as in “there’s a place for everything and a thing for every place”… or as Hubby likes to call it: “my crazy obsession with order”.

Anyway, I’m off to the supermarket… oooohhh I hope I get something cool this time. Like chocolate. Or hummus. :-)

Fned.