Coupons....another addiction????

OK if you're in any way slightly connected to the CFO of the typical US household these days, you have probably heard them talking about deals, savings, coupons... yes coupons. I recently received an interesting email from a friend telling me about her savings with coupons and loyalty cards and all that good stuff. So being the competitive penny pincher that I am I grabbed the gauntlet and started to surf the web eagerly checking out the links on the Southern Saver web page. I am that person, if there's something going on I have to be in on it, especially something like this where it's like a strategic game; how much more can I save on that $3.00 item that I have never heard of? Do I use my loyalty card so that they give me bucks back which I immediately spend on another item I have never heard of and will probably never use; or should I double it with a printable coupon, add it to the loyalty card and do six jumping jacks at the checkout??? Then I can really save by burning 45 calories while I save some hard earned cash on that 80 lb bar of Fatties R Us Chocolate with extra goo and nuts. (it's also 25% bigger- ooh more savings).
So I get online, decide on the coupons I want, plan my attack on the evil empires of CVS, Publix and the like. I gleefully click (clip) the coupons that appeal to me most, $2300 off bigger boobs, $4500 off that chin lift, $0.35 off Pillsbury dough boys and my fave 25% off prescription drugs until 3/1/2010. This means I can get happy saving on my happy pills for the next year!! Woo Hoo Double Whammy. I am so excited by this time I am calculating the savings and opening another tab on my browser so I can spend said savings immediately.
And then it happens....... "there is a problem printing your coupons; go to advanced setting and uncheck this; check that; double click, return, enter, enter and kiss my ass" What in the world is all that about. My first reaction is to carefully follow the instructions, OK I know Vista sucks but this website must know that and they can walk me through it, right? Wrong. I then reach out to my fellow CFO's and ask for help. Nadda. I know they're not looking at their facebook right now it's Friday night and they all have lives. So I leave it for a while before I bust a blood vessel. Steve arrives home to me fuming about that stupid thing and I am so frustrated I can't get it all out. Good old Steve, he calmly eats the dinner that is now a gele (that's French for goo) mess I had prepared earlier and forgotten about. Then he disappears for a nano-second and comes back to tell me all is well.
Obviously I don't believe him it could not have been so quick a fix right? So we go about our business because I just can't go back to this nightmare of coupon clipping online or I will literally go insane. I settle for light relief in helping 7 yr old daughter arrange her newly decorated bedroom. There's a soothing distraction if ever there was one... not..... but that's a whole 'nother blog.
Kids in bed, Steve in front of the TV, I return to the computer to see if I can finally overcome this mess of savings just out of reach!!! I click on facebook first just for a quick peek and Natalie has answered my plea for help. I am returned to the original web site, I click on the link, think to myself I'll just print one and see what happens... it starts the whole aggravating cycle again. OK, I am going to beat this thing if it's the last act of a desperate woman wanting to get better savings than the Jones' so help me God I'm going to win!!!!!!!!!!
I stop, go the kitchen a pour a large adult beverage, I am not talking wine, I am talking the hard stuff baby. I go back with glass fully loaded and I start again, this time clicking on a different link and the first thing that catches my eye is that you have to have their coupon thingy installed. What??? Nooo, I am so paranoid about worms, spies, predators etc. So I think OK lets investigate... and lo and behold they speak my language. They don't like all of the above either, they must be good people. So I set about following the instructions etc. and no it still doesn't work. Then, I just don't know what happened, I tried it another time and TaaDAHHH the wonderful sound of my printer setting to work spitting out DOLLARS BABY... that's what they are, not coupons, but money in my pocket rather than in the pocket of "the man". There, I socked it to ya, you can't hold me back, I am woman hear me roar!!!!
Success! Yeah! Woo Hoo and ring a ding ding!! Just one thing, being the inquisitive person I am, I had to find out whhhyyyy it worked this time, what was different??? So I go back into Printers, Settings, Advanced Settings, click click click and there it is.... Steve had somehow managed to uncheck the box that says "Save Printed Copies" !!!!!! That pesky box which it didn't matter how many times I unchecked it and cursed it, it never would stay unchecked!!! So as much as I hate to give him all the glory, I am wife hear me purr!!!