Made fun of for coupon clipping

When my brother and his wife where here last week, they discovered my couponing habbits. They laughed at me and kept making fun of me. They would say, "do you have a coupon for that?" or "Why didn't you use a coupon?" when we would go to the store or what not. They were cracking me up with their funny sayings and joking. Not to mention I do have a bit of a problem in my basement with lack of shelves... I have about 40 bags of stuff just dropped on the floor. The bags contain anything from aluminum foil, razors, tooth paste, plug in candles, bathroom cleaners, laundry soap, toilet paper to fruit snacks, cereal, apple juice, gum, granola bars, instant oatmeal, and crackers (and many things inbetween).

We are planning on being with my brothers family over Easter so I called him to ask if we were doing an Easter Hunt or anything... and told him I could buy some candy, I have coupons for candy and also some dollar rewards to spend at Walgreens that I could combine and get a good deal on lots of candy for eggs. I prefer to use wrapped candy in the eggs, I didn't use to but currently, it disgusts me to just through some whoppers in an egg and then have it sit out in the grass till someone finds it and eats it. Not to mention the whole plastic egg "made in china", is it really made or more importantly SAFE to eat out of? (Maybe this habbit of having candy wrapped started when Grandma/Grandpa started to throw pocket change in the eggs with the M&M's...some things just gross me out like that.)

I am talking to my brother, he is just laughing, "Oh you have coupons huh!" as he is laughing and telling his wife or my mom or who ever is there... I then was wondering what we were doing for dinner. I told them I would much prefer to bring things from home, if I could for dinner than to have to worry about buying them there and have to go shopping instead of visiting. Again my brother is just laughing at me... saying, "oh yeah, you want to bring your own food... you probably have coupons for that huh!" I was going to tell him also, that who ever bought the ham to be sure to save their receipt, since there is a $20 rebate when you buy a ham and some other groceries. After his laughing, I was afraid to tell him. (I do have 4 extras of those coupons since it is only one per household for anyone that doesn't get the Sunday paper if anyone is interested.)

He thinks it is pretty funny, and he likes to make fun of me. I was telling him at Walgreen's they have a sale through this month that you buy Colgate for $3.49 and then you get a coupon back for $3.50 so your toothpaste is basically free. He was arguing me on it, "It isn't free, it is only like free...that isn't the same." I then told him at one Walgreen's in Lehi their toothpast is only $2.99 and then I had a $.75 off coupon, so I paid $2.24 and then they gave me $3.50 back. He again argued that it wasn't FREE as I was claiming it was, or that they weren't really paying me to buy it as I was telling him it was sort of like they were. (He likes to argue with me!) He still makes fun of me even though I got a GREAT deal, and he laughes when I tell him about things like that.

But I see nothing funny or nothing wrong with using a coupon to get toothpast or chapstick that is kind of like free.... Or when I use coupons to buy 6 boxes of cereal for $1.70, would you?

Albertson's is having a sale on Post brand cereal, they are $2.07 a box, but if you buy two of more, you save $1 off two, so instead of $2.07 it is then $1.57. Then I had a coupon for $1 off 2 boxes of cereal, making them now, $1.07... but when you buy 5 or more there is a catalina coupon that prints off at check out for $5 off your next purchase. So the first time I bought 6 boxes of cereal I paid $6.07, but then the next 6 I used my $5 coupon, and the next 6 I used my $5 coupon making my cereal $1.07 for 6 boxes. Then my coupons for the cereal were gone. (Which is probably okay, since we have about 55 boxes of cereal in our basement, and that isn't counting the ones that may be in our pantry closet.)

What is so funny about that? My brother just doesn't understand a good sale! Awww, I am falling in love with coupons!!