“Dear Jill,

I love couponing and I can’t stop getting the deals. For example, a national drugstore chain had gummy candies on sale for $1. When you buy a bag, you get $1 back in a reward coupon that you can use for your next shopping trip.

I really have trouble stopping buying things like this. There were at least 20 bags on the shelf, and I never buy them all, but I do feel like I must buy a good amount because they are free. I bought 15.

I don’t think I have a compulsive issue. I just really like free things and bargains, too. If something is on sale for a good price and I have eight coupons, I will always buy eight. My spouse says we will never use or eat everything I have bought, so we disagree on some of my habits at times. So, when something is totally free after a deal, how many do you buy?”

Lucy K.

I, too, love free-after-promotion deals – whether it’s a coupon, a cash-back offer or a rebate that makes something such a good deal you just can’t pass it up. However, any behavior can become a compulsion. One person may think “Fifteen bags of candy are too much,” while another may think, “Maybe she’s stocking up for Halloween.” It’s a slippery slope when someone begins judging how much is “too much” in another person’s shopping cart.

Loss-leader offers such as the “buy $1 candy, get $1 for future shopping trip” promotions are designed to get people in the store – and they do. From the manufacturer’s perspective, they would like fifteen different people to come into the store, buy their candy and see if they like it. In turn, the store would like those fifteen people to use their $1 reward coupons obtained from this sale to return to the store on a future trip and buy something else.

Some stores limit promotions like these, but others don’t limit them at all. While the retailers and manufacturers would like as many people to enjoy a promotion as possible, there may not be anything to stop a single person from going through the checkout lane time after time, racking up freebies and rewards offers.

Instead of passing judgment on how many is too many, I’ll answer the question posed to me: When something is a great deal after an offer, how many do I buy? I try to balance buying what our household can use in a reasonable period of time. If it’s a food item, I like to stock up, but I never want to exceed the expiration date. For example, I bought peanut butter last week. Its expiration date is about seven months from now, and we go through a jar about every month-and-a-half. While I had six coupons for the peanut butter, I only bought three jars, because that’s about how much we’ll consume in the timespan before the product expires.

I do understand the feeling that one “should” or “must” use a coupon, simply because a product is on sale and will be a great deal that shouldn’t be missed out on. Early in my couponing years, I did this several times when a deal seemed so crazy good that I couldn’t pass it up! However, I do try to buy what our family will actually use. It doesn’t make sense to overbuy simply for the sake of using all the coupons you have or because the store has a lot of items on the shelf.

I do allow myself to stock up a little more on products like paper towels, bath tissue and cleaners, simply because they don’t expire. However, I don’t feel the need to fill our house with mass quantities. I like to stock up to the point that if I run out of something, I know I’ve got a few more of that item in the house so that I can “shop at home” for the next one without running to the store. When I’m running low on a particular product, I’ll stock up again – but in moderation.

— Cataldo, a coupon workshop instructor, writer and mother of three, never passes up a good deal. Learn more about Super-Couponing at her website, www.jillcataldo.com. Email your own couponing victories and questions to jill@ctwfeatures.