@Anonymous wrote:What baffles and irritates me are the people that say they are too lazy to coupon. I don't care if you are the cheif neurosurgeon at the best hospital in the world...you still have time to hunt for a few deals now and then. Get off of facebook, put down the soda crush saga, and find a few deals. Pair the deals with some reward cards. If you want to be extra bold, take the total amount saved and put it away for an emergency fund.
Are you talking about regular clipping of coupons from the Sunday paper or the life-consuming act of trying to combine coupons from 15 different sources in order to buy huge quantities of things for like $0.25 (things which my family rarely buys)?
I wouldn't say I'm too lazy to "coupon". Couponing just isn't going to do us much good. We only eat organic fruits/veggies, only buy grass fed meats / free range chickens / wild caught fish, buy few non-perishable foods and of those we're exclusively non-GMO, and we simply don't have the space to store 1000 packages of paper towels. I use coupons here and there when I can actually find coupons for the things we use. But at the end of the day, there are very few coupons out there for the kind of life we live and things we buy. And forget about "super-couponing". No one's going to be giving away 50 boxes of organic, non-GMO fruit bars for $0.25 each.
Starting Score(8/15/13): 607
@Anonymous wrote:
@kdm31091 wrote:
People go for the CLIs to lower utilization. More credit available equals lower util which is good. However some people really do go too far with it. On a fairly average income, you can only have so much credit. A 50k limit on one card is overkill and may raise eyebrows from lenders on future approvals. Credit limit vs income is something some people forget/ignore.
Number of cards is a preference. Some people like to maximize their reward on every single purchase. To me, it becomes a pain to spread my rewards around 5 or 6 cards which is why I primarily use 1 or 2 most of the time. Outside of spending ridiculously large amounts, I dont see how someone with 25 cards ends up with meaningful rewards on any of them. To each their own though.
I think the best approach is moderation. Get cards that benefit you and your spend. Ignore what is popular. For some people 3 cards is more than enough. Others really want 15 or 20. But the more credit is available to you, the higher the percieved risk can be, so dont go too crazy with CLIs IMO. It has downsides. Utilization is only one piece of the puzzle.I totally agree with kdm. It seems like sometimes people are racing to see who can get the highest CLIs, best cards, most popular cards, etc...I personally think is a disaster waiting to happen. I also think i have way too many cards and that is why im not applyling for any other cards except for an AMEX a year from now and merging my capital one cards. My retail cards are for my son and myself when buying clothes as we have those stores here in San Diego.
I have just above $50k of CL with $61k income and i think that is enough for me. There are some people here who have well over 20 cards and have experience getting some cards closed by the banks because they have too much credit. Choose and use wisely.
I think most that have higher credit lines have higher incomes. I don't think someone making 50k has 250k in credit lines. And most likely have funds in the bank to cover those higher cl's. I don't see it as going into debt, just being able to buy what you want without having any affect on your credit score if you decide to pay if over 2/3 months. Some people do need the extra credit for emergencies and it's good they have it. It's your responsibility to manage debt correctly. 
@CreditCuriousity wrote:As another poster here mentioned.. Most people on this forum are responsible that have been around for awhile and have rebuit their broken credit and you rarely see people get into trouble that have had to rebuild before, because it is such hard work and they are super "anal" about everything, such as myself
.. As another poster stated, I would rather have more credit now then when I would possibly need it and not be able to obtain it.
No one can say what another persons needs w/regards to credit. I would venture to even say some of the people that lecture people on this subject have more credit then their income, just a guess.. I have a bit below my income and probably will keep it right below my income or at my income level and continue to prune and refine my cards and get down to say 5 cards at 25k-30k limits is my ideal scenario so I don't have to micro-manage any one particular card if I want to carry 5k for a few months on one card.
So trying to figure out someone elses need and to lecture them on it, well is kinda silly as you don't know their income or means of repayment. Live your own life and let others live theirs. Obviously if people apply for 20 cards in one month their is a issue, otherwise who the fudge cares?
I can date a high maintenance girl if I wan to hear opinions all day
+1
Thank you Musiclover.
@Anonymous wrote:its irritating because they are usually the folks complaining about money. or about how much something costs. and if they would do the footwork, they could see the savings..
and to the other people talking about food...uhhh i barely coupon for food. my farmers market that i regularly shop at has enough sales as it is. I was referring to basically everything but food. its not like you need to have your basement full of stuff. that could be space wasting away, on say, converting to a bedroom or whatever. all you need is one simple shelf to start out with. you might end up with more than that though. you will start to get things like laundry detergent, paper products, coffee, beauty products, oral products, anything, you name it. it is really easy to do. and yes, my sayings may come off as abrasive, so be it. I wish more people would perform in the same manner to me so I could learn more new things.
believe me, there is always a way to save more money. it just depends on how ugly and cheap and frugal you want to be. i am not advocating you saran wrap everything you own and use your hot tub to do laundry, bathe, and cook your soup in (people do that you know).
Couponing for me, is a little like credit cards. They can be challenging at first. You will make a few mistakes a long the way. But couponing totally ties in to all of this. It is a big part of finances and savings. And if it was only one person who saw this and was inspired to start, that would be enough for me.
Most of the stuff you list we still buy natural or "organic" and rarely (if ever) have coupons. Even beauty and oral products. It's not 'everything you name it'. Again, though, if we do see a coupon, we use it and I do a lot of comparison shopping. Personally, I'd rather make money than spend time trying to save little amounts here and there that might add up nicely (but might not make much difference, either). And I don't think we'll be switching to cheaper / less natural foods and products just to do the couponing. I'd rather take on a second part time job (that will likely make a lot more money).
But if you enjoy it, more power to you. We have several friends who do it and love it.
@Anonymous wrote:Thank you Musiclover.