Retail Me…Not?

                       

    After reading a post about RetailMeNot.com from fellow blogger Arielle’s page, ”Eternal Sunshine of the Innovative Mind,” I decided to check out the site for myself.  I’ve always been a big fan of coupons.  In fact, I’m known in my family as the “Coupon Queen,” which is a compliment (I think).  I don’t typically use coupons for things I wouldn’t normally buy (mostly because that means spending more money which defeats the purpose of using a coupon in the first place), but I do take the time to clip coupons for things I purchase regularly or for things I think I might be of use to me at some point.  It’s not that I’m obsessed with saving money or anything, although I do enjoy getting a good deal when I can.  To tell you the truth, I find clipping coupons to be kind of stress-relieving, as strange as that might sound.  Maybe it’s because it gets my mind off of all the school work that I should probably be doing instead.  Maybe it brings back memories of kindergarten when my Kool-Aid stained classmates and I would use our safety scissors to cut out shapes in our macaroni-covered construction paper.  Maybe I’m just a little odd.  (I’m pretty sure it’s mostly that last one…)  Whatever the case may be, I’m always the one standing in the checkout line at the grocery store saying “Oh, wait…I think I have a coupon for that…”  Needless to say, I was intrigued by the idea of a website with coupon codes that I could use for some of my favorite merchants.  So I clicked on the link to see what deals I could find. 

    After exploring the site for a couple of minutes and checking out some offers for a few preferred places, I have to say, I was kind of disappointed.  I couldn’t really find that many coupons that I thought I would actually use and the ones that did peak my interest proved to be non-working.  I tried to find several different codes for some websites to no avail.  However, this doesn’t mean that all of the coupons on RetailMeNot.com will turn out to be dead-ends.  I suspect that perhaps I’m just not interested in the right kind of coupons.  For those of you that don’t know me, I’m not really a Victoria’s Secret kind of girl, and I don’t usually shop for CDs or books online at websites like Amazon.  These are two of the most popular stores with codes on the website, so users who are interested in buying from retail establishments such as these would probably have more luck than I did. 

    Overall, I think RetailMeNot.com is a good idea for those who do a lot of online shopping.  I particularly like the feature of users being able to see the success rate of others who have tried using the coupons.  However, I personally prefer websites like Coolsavings.com where you can just print out a coupon to take to a store.  Better yet, just give me the old-fashioned insert in the Sunday paper.  For now, I think I’ll skip the codes for the online stores and just stick with the coupons for the important stuff.  You know, the essentials…like Extra Cool Watermelon flavored gum, Clairol Herbal Essences shampoo, and pretty much any available Aunt Jemima product.  I feel the need to break out into a classic Julie Andrews song right about now: “These are a few of my favorite things…”

---