Coupon Debate

You may remember I wrote about whether or not couponing was truly "green" when you consider the waste coupons - or the products you buy with them - really have.

So after shopping most of December and some of January with coupons I came to the conclusion that while couponing is great and SHOULD be utilized because its free money IF you are planning on buying that product anyway, but its not for me.

I found that most of the coupons I was using were for things that had A LOT of packaging and were companies I didn't feel totally comfortable buying from. All I could think of was that line from Food Inc when they say, "Every time you shop, what you buy is like a vote. It sends your vote to the manufactures and tells them you want more!" (not a direct quote obviously!)

While I might have saved a great deal on 20 cartons of Yogurt when I saw how it filled up my trash and was full of corn syrup, suddenly that $1 savings didn't seem worth it anymore.

So I cleaned out my coupon folder last night and sent off all the coupons I wouldn't be using to the troops overseas and only took out the coupons for items I felt good about using and companies I wanted to send my "vote" to by buying their goods.

I didn't feel one bit sad about it in the end. I can't believe I was resorting back to how I ate when I was a kid - out of a box mostly - and eating stuff that was beyond processed, it was unrecognizable.

But I still need coupons for those items I DO want to support. So here are some links I found. Check them out and let me know how you do! Some of these are not coupons in the literal, take to the store sites, but directories and code sites. Remember shopping online is the best and most eco-friendly way to shop!

Green Coupon Codes (for online shopping)

Mambo Sprouts (coupon booklet that can be emailed or mailed - new one coming out Feb 2010!)

Go Green Deals

Happy Hippie (Eco-shoppers directory)

Ecobunga (Green giveaways and deals)

For some of these I'm going to add as a link to the right hand side of my blog so you can shop with these later!

All of these great links were found at Ecoki.com

Image courtesy of Raleigh for Hire blog