I love getting a good deal. To me, there is nothing better than paying less than full price for something. I particularly enjoy using coupons to score good deals and save money. Receiving one of those envelopes packed with coupons in the mail makes me feel like the latest lottery winner.

I’m going to go ahead and admit that I have so many coupons on hand at any given time that I’ve got a little pouch to store them in. They’re divided into categories – restaurant coupons, grocery coupons, entertainment coupons, household supply coupons. I have a coupon for pretty much everything. You name it, I’ve got it.

However, I’ve noticed lately that coupons have come to sort of dictate my life. When out shopping, over half of the items I plan to buy are being purchased for the sole reason that I have a coupon for them. I often choose what and where I eat based on what coupons the pouch contains.

So I base my decisions on the coupons I have available. But how can you pass up a good ‘buy one get one free’ coupon? I’m sure to eventually use two tubes of toothpaste. Why wouldn’t I use the $5 off a bottle of lotion coupon, even if I don’t exactly need it? Why would I go to a certain restaurant when I have a coupon for another one? It’s a good deal, and I just can’t pass it up.

But where coupons really get me are retail stores. The ‘spend $50 and save $10’ coupons have me desperately hunting the store for one more $9 item so I can reach my $50 and save $10. Because technically, if I can find a $9 item (regardless of whether I need it) I will actually save one dollar and get a $9 item for free! This happens to me frequently. It’s almost as if the coupons are designed to do this to customers. Alright, so they are designed for this purpose, and let me tell you, it’s rather agonizing.

During one shopping extravaganza, what should have been a dream come true turned out to be a nightmare of a coupon. The coupon offered savings of $5 off my purchase of $25, $10 off my purchase of $40 or $15 off my purchase of $50. I aimlessly wandered around the store in search of unneeded items, just because I had the coupon. Eventually I picked out $50 worth of merchandise which included a black shirt exactly like the 15 other black shirts I own, a decent-looking necklace that I never wear and seven pairs of underwear which I had to try to squeeze into my already plumb full drawer of undies.

I end up with items I don’t need or want just because I basically get it for free with the coupon I clipped. But a free item that you don’t like is basically like junk isn’t it?

That’s where you’re wrong. It’s free junk, making it impossible to pass up.

And so, I’ll continue clipping and using my coupons and getting free stuff. All the while, I’ll completely deny spending money I wouldn’t spend had I not clipped the coupon.

Shootin’ the Wit is a weekly column about everyday life that should never, ever be taken too seriously.

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I’m a writer and photographer who loves old cars, big dogs and trying stuff for the first time. I believe everyone should have a bucket list because life isn’t about working, paying bills and having the latest and greatest. It’s about experiences. Achieving goals. People. Adventures. Travel.

I’ve never dyed my hair, broken a bone, or watched a Star Wars movie, and I don’t plan on doing any of these.