Saturday 1/9/10: It's not a deal if you don't use it

One of the news stories I've seen about women who use coupons to "get $$$ of groceries for a penny!" showed a mom whose pantry was stocked floor to ceiling with boxes and cans of food she'd gotten for "free or almost free." A bit of a sensational claim I have a few issues with, but the point in this tip is that her pantry was stuffed full of food that was just sitting there. I recognized a lot of it because as you become experienced in using coupons you know that there is a certain set of items that you can get for very low prices because from time to time they go on a very good sale that you can combine with a high-value coupon. The food in her pantry was that--bags of Knorr sides. Boxes of Suddenly Pasta Salad. She said "if my boys are hungry they know this is where the food is." But I don't know any teenage boys who are going to go in the kitchen and whip up a Suddenly Pasta Salad. I don't know this is the case, but it looked like as time went on she found "good deals," bought items, and packed them into every corner of her pantry. But my feeling is that if I paid 50 cents for a bag of cheese, and then I don't use it because I didn't have any plans for it and forgot it was there or whatever reason, it wasn't a good deal--it was a waste of 50 cents.