I’m the one who suggested my blog’s title art feature grocery coupons. The photo illustration was created from a photo shoot using my actual coupons and coupon box as props.

When I first saw the close-up photo you see above, I said “that’s it!” Then the webmaster and I got tweaking with the fonts and colors for the title.

So it’s probably to no surprise that I found Shannon Christman’s piece at Saving Advice: Why I am not the least bit embarassed to use coupons to be quite interesting.

A snippet:

When you use a coupon, you are not cheating anyone. It’s no different from accepting an offered sale price. I suppose some people may be embarrassed to be seen digging through bargain bins at sales, but I doubt anyone has ever gone into a store to buy jeans and said, “I see you’re offering 30% off my favorite brand today, but I insist on paying full price.”

Now the article and follow-up comments discuss a variety of situations: coupons at the grocery store, coupons at a restaurant while you are on a date and such. So it’s kind of mucking up the train of thought.

I can see where using a coupon would be a bit embarrassing on a social occasion where you don’t know your dinner partners very well … the obvious question being, why did you eat at a place you could not afford?

But I have absolutely no shame in using the coupons at the grocery store. I grew up in a coupon-clipping household and assumed (until I learned otherwise) that every other family couponed as well.

I am quite efficient at the checkout line. I put the applicable coupons the front of my coupon box when I put the product in my shopping cart. I start writing the check while I am waiting for the customer ahead of me and / or after I have loaded the groceries on the counter. I hand over the coupons, bottle deposit slips and shopper card just before writing the final amount in the checkbook and on the check. Hardly any time is added to the transaction when I do this prep along the way (but as you might imagine with this routine, I avoid self-checkout scanners as much as possible.)

There have been times I’ve racked up so much in grocery savings that I impressed the store clerks.