Coupon addict

When new products show up in our house--the more expensive and less useful the better--my husband looks at me and asks, "Coupon?"

Well, now that you ask, yes.

I love coupons, the little items which show up mainly in Sunday inserts now, although I remember a time they would be scattered through the newspaper itself or in magazines. I rarely cut one from either place now, but the Sunday inserts and I always have a tete-a-tete after church. It's a habit I developed from watching my mother clip and take to the grocery. While the coupons x-years ago were a dime and twenty cents, a quarter being a big savings, I haven't noticed one for under 25 cents in years. They're larger, many times 55 cents so as to beat the "double coupons under 50 cents dictum" at some stores, but you might have to buy two of the item.

I am not particularly brand loyal if I sense a bargain, but I'll not buy just to use a coupon. If it makes the product cheaper and I either already use it or am willing to try, sign me up.

So three new items have made it into the house, one of which I'll buy again maybe even without a coupon, one of which I will not, and for one the jury is still out.

I'll buy: Electrasol PowerBall Tabs. Well, aren't these nifty little items. (And they were practically free, the coupon was so large.) No more sifting powder or pouring thick liquid into the dishwasher. They seem to do a wonderful job.

No way: DelMonte Fruit Chillers. Interesting concept and something I wasn't going to buy without a coupon again no matter how good they were. Found in the fruit aisle (a bit confusing but well-advertised on the coupon), they are four small cups of "fruit" that you freeze, setting them up to be just-right portions of sorbet. I liked the concept, but the price (at Wal-Mart) of $1.98 (or so) was entirely too much for such portion control. With a dollar off coupon, it became a quarter a serving and I was all about that. I tried out the mango today (raspberry and strawberry are the other options). It was fair, but what really bothered me was the main ingredient: pear puree. Next up: corn syrup. Finally, we get to mango puree, followed by pear juice concentrate. I had also bought raspberry and the ingredient list is the same, subbing raspberry. I like pears, but if I'd wanted frozen pear puree, let's call it such. I'll eat what I have and that will be that.

Trying to decide: Mars has put out a new entry in the dog/cat food market called Goodlife Recipe. BIG coupons at first, i. e. free. Grabbed that for a trip to Wal-Mart. My housecats are on a restricted diet, but the outside population takes what I have coupons for. They will, quite simply, eat anything. (Note: I only own one outside cat, Little Girl. However, the neighborhood population has found where there's a full bowl at 5:45 a.m. and they're there.) In searching for the website (which didn't immediately make itself evident), I came across two reviews for this healthy product, one for cats and one for dogs. Neither were complimentary. Hmmm... Goodlife Recipe was affordable for outside cat dining only if I had coupons anyway, so it may be off the menu since the good coupons go away rapidly once a product is introduced.

But I'll keep cutting and looking. After all, how else did we find the Bertollis?