Sputtering, Halting – Are We There Yet?
A Brief Recounting of Russian Christmas 2010, and Thoughts About Coupons
It’s January, but as always the old year laps over us until Russian Orthodox Christmas is celebrated on January 6 – 7. Last year I made the traditional “sorta-almost” Russian meal, or as close I can approximate, in my continuing and lengthy effort to present as authentic a Christmas as the Husband remembers from his youth. But alas, the Greeks fled the old calendar long ago (splitters!) and no longer celebrate Christmas with the rest of the Orthodox, and the little Russian Orthodox church in town closed a couple of years ago. It’s just us and the food.
In the beginning, I researched RO Christmas Eve meals and tried to make real recipes. This was problematic for two reasons; first, Russian cuisine is crazy-regional, and so sometimes I would put things on the table that nobody had ever heard of. And second, Russian food is highly labor intensive, and I am only one woman. So I dialed it back and now we pretty much eat what we like, as long as it dovetails with things Russians eat anyway, like salmon.
Which is what I made this year: roasted salmon, steamed fresh asparagus, basmati rice (yes I know, but paired so well!) and a green salad with homemade honey Dijon vinaigrette. And of course bread, and cheesecake for dessert. It was a good call not to go all out, or like last year make a beautiful Rus-influenced cake that did not actually taste good (to me.) My m-i-l felt ill and decided she could not come, plans were hastily remade, and by the time it was all sorted out it was late, we were starving, and the Husband and I ate in front of the TV.
I will have to make it up to him on Valentine’s Day, which I hope is coming if 2010 ever properly starts.
If this year’s Russian Orthodox Christmas Eve meal is any indication, then I am well on my way to simplifying the new year; not by slacking off, but by slacking smarter.
For instance, last year I learned: Extreme Couponing is not for me. Despite my best efforts, we are not a good fit. Successful couponers have lots of excellent strategies but the foundation of them all is: figure out who has the cheapest price or runs consistent sales on what you buy routinely, and then be ready to slap a coupon on top of that. Thusly I compiled a database, which was an eye-opening effort, and cut and saved every coupon I could get my hands on. I filed them in a big binder and read all the sale flyers when they came out weekly, and planned accordingly.
High-achieving couponers make a schedule that gives them a set block of time to run out and hit every store they can find that has items they use and accepts coupons. I mean, every store. From Wal-Mart to Dollar General, to high end grocery chains with a couple of major inducements like cheap chicken breasts in the family pack, to the gas station or Walgreen’s where milk is on sale. There are also Excel spreadsheet templates devoted to Walgreen’s and CVS, stores that require a higher level of commitment than I can stir up, not being competitive by nature or turned on enough by taking on cashiers and ill-informed store managers and winning. These gold-medalists of the coupon game will stand their ground and have the corporate customer service telephone numbers programmed into their cell phones, and will righteously hold up a checkout line if they have to, to receive the promised benefit and value of coupons when they’ve carefully – and with no small investment of time — calculated what purchases to make at that store, on that day, with that coupon. They are amazing.
But the bottom line is, if you do not buy the right type of things or find the whole exercise to be personally satisfying, Coupon Queen is not in your future. Instead, I was really intrigued with knowing the lowest prices on items I use routinely, at the grocery stores most easily accessible to me during the average week when I am juggling my other responsibilities. The aforementioned chicken that is supposed to be on sale at a big chain may still be a dollar more a pound than the regular price at Wal-Mart. And while I am no fan of Wal-Mart, my careful survey found them to be the lowest regular price overall, consistently. Damn it.
So it is extremely good to know, as I assemble my shopping list, where my base shopping will be done (Wal-Mart) and if I am going to hit any other grocery stores for very specific purchases, and if any of these items are in the category of foods we need weekly (Yoplait, butter, pet food) or things used in mass quantity, mostly without brand loyalty (toothpaste, soap) so I can use a coupon if I have it. This basic knowledge saves a lot of money when I stay on top of it and don’t get harried or distracted.
The rest of it – the bounty of coupons aimed at young families for diapers, little kid food, prepackaged snacks and sweets, convenience foods – I rarely use, and with admiration, I leave it to the experts.
