The couponing community certainly isn’t devoid of men.
In fact, there are more guys than you’d think that are bona fide extreme couponers. Generally speaking, however, it is the matriarch of the house that leads the couponing efforts, while the dad just sits idly by benefiting with little gratitude.
It doesn’t have to be that way, though. There are several techniques that can be employed to get dear old dad engaged with couponing. Heed the advice below and dad will likely get more excited about couponing than you ever thought possible.
Focus on using coupons for the things he likes
One of the man reasons a lot of fathers are disinterested in couponing is because they don’t feel a personal connection to the products that are purchased. Sure, they might eat the cereal and use the deodorant that mom gets with coupons, but those aren’t items that inspire passion. Start showing them how much they can save on a new pair of golf clubs or a new power tool (or whatever they happen to be interested in) and you’ll begin to see their interest perk up. Especially if it means they can buy themselves more of the stuff they love.
Take him shopping with you
No matter how much dad might understand theoretically that mom is saving by using coupons, it doesn’t truly become real until he’s in that checkout lane himself. That experience of seeing a pricey bill get chopped and chopped and chopped until it’s next-to-nothing is exhilarating, even for the most apathetic person. Once he gets a taste of couponing up-close-and-personal the odds are he’ll find it a lot more exciting. At the very least, he’ll be able to better understand why mom gets such a high from it.
Introduce him to online couponing
Regardless whether it makes any sense, there is still a certain social stigma attached to couponing in some circles. As stupid as it may be, some dads might be too embarrassed to ever become an in-store couponer. Thankfully, the explosion of online couponing solves that problem. He can use as many online coupons as he likes and nobody has to know. Once you show him how promo codes work and how easy they are to use, don’t be surprised if he gets seduced by the savings.
Trade responsibilities with him
Next time mom puts together her honey-do list, she should make a point to drop some of the traditional handyman and cleaning chores from the tasks and instead ask dad to take on the couponing assignment. He might complain at first, but it’s up to mom to tell him that it’s just as valuable work as all the rest and offer to help him out. One of two things will inevitably happen. Either he will develop an affinity for it and catch the couponing bug, or he will be so overwhelmed that he’ll discover a new-found appreciation for your efforts.
Turn couponing into a game
This tactic will prove particularly effective if dad is the competitive type. Challenge him to a couponing contest to see which parent can save the most money in a given week using coupons. Obviously, make sure to include a requirement that only items that are useful for the household are eligible. If nothing else, this will get his juices flowing and expose him to the work involved in successfully couponing. With some luck, he might enjoy the couponing game enough that he wants to participate full-time.
This first appeared as a guest post written by Dealspotr's Jason Feller on the Coffeeshop Ceilings blog.