it's queue-pon, not koo-pon.

i am somewhat of a casual coupon clipper. i don't sign up for online coupons or mail away for a lot of rebates or anything, but i'll go thru the sunday newspaper coupons and clip the relevant ones. using what i clipped sunday, i saved like 6 or 8 bucks, and it took about 20 mins to accomplish so that's like $18-24/hr which is the pay rate of like a professional engineer [drawing, not driving]. i used to clip for all sorts of shizzle that looked good but i never bought. i quit that b/c i was tired of giving the freeloading coupons a ride around town. now i only clip for items i am actually thinking of purchasing. and, out of respect for mini-me, i threw away that no-expiry-date cornflakes coupon i had been toting around for like 15 years. [you're welcome.]

i really like terra chips but they're kinda pricey, so i was happy sunday to find a $1 off coupon for those and when i went to use it, the terra chips were in "special 15% bonus" size packages AND they were on sale so it was like a grocery trifecta. woowoo!

i also take my own bags to the grocery, which i have been doing for like 20 years -- way before it was cool. back in the day, i had a pile of wack canvas bags of all shapes and sizes and the baggers thought i was eccentric and amusing -- by which of course i mean dorky. at any rate - by now i've replaced my odd collection with the store-standard bags, which you'd think the baggers would be used to at this point, but which confuse them in a manner which is, well, confusing.

for instance, i'll fold the bags and put them into one of their mates so that the bags are all neatly stowed. when they go to use the bags, the baggers will inevitably dump them all out and use the stowbag first. then, when they get done and there are bags left over, they are so confused about what to do with the bags. if they had used the bags sensibly - by pulling them one-at-a-time from the stowbag - then the leftover bags would be in the stowbag at the end. how can this not be obvious?

also, the cloth bags do nothing to alleviate the baggers' tendency to put the crackers with the OJ with the coffee with the bacon in a way that exhibits no order and makes unpacking the bags a hassle. finally, the cloth bags are mysteriously made much larger than the plastic or paper bags and this encourages overpacking. there is no reason to put all the canned goods into one bag.

thank you for tuning in for grocery chat. happy shopping!