More about dollar wise and penny foolish

Today I cashed in my $20 Shaw's reward for spending $300 over the past 4 weeks. Its actually not a bad deal, about 6% off, if you paid only $300. The way Shaw's set it up was to use points. Shoppers would earn 1 point for each $25 spent, and the likelihood of spending $25 exactly 12 times is small. I probably spent $400, reducing the percentage saved to 5%. I was also able to use 3 $6 coupons for the first $180 dollars I spent. Along with the manufacturers' coupons, and the discounts from our credit cards, the savings likely approached 10%.

Earlier in the day, I went to IKEA to buy some Tanda outlet timers. It took about 30 minutes, and then I went to Staples to use a $10 / $40 coupon which had to be used in the store. I didn't have anything in mind to buy, so I browsed around for awhile. I ended up buying a big white board, and a 512MB flash drive. All together I spent $55 dollars, minus the $10 coupon, plus 2 x $3 free coupons for recycling ink cartridges. With the ink cartridges, you have to bring them into the store.

During all this I struggled with the idea that I was wasting my time. Even if I saved $30, I spent about 3 hours, earning about $10 / hour. Unfortunately, I can't make a living on $10 / hour.

Everyone tells me that coupons aren't worth it, but I do.