Coupons, coupons, coupons! I would use these even if I did not need to. It is found money. Just yesterday, my grocery bill was $115. After coupons that I used, I found awesome deals when the store has a buy one get one free, and then I had a dollar off coupon, I lowered my bill to $86. With a family of four that includes two teens, every savings helps.
Add your voice! Click below to comment. ThriftyFun is powered by your wisdom!
I wish I could agree with you. My sister-in-law mails me hundreds of coupons a month and I found I ended up buying things I really didn't need, just to use a coupon! So I finally stopped using them, although I can't tell my sister-in-law that, it would hurt her feelings. I just bring them into work and leave them where everyone can help themselves.
I just wish they'd do coupons for fresh veggies and fruit!
As you may have discovered, a really valuable coupon is rare, but you can get multiples of the best ones. You can order them by joining a website such as Refundcents.com or others and locating the people who clip coupons.
I agree with Bonnie. I find that most coupons (although not all) are for convenience foods, which I rarely use.. The store brands are often cheaper without the bother of using a coupon.
Here is a great website for printable and mailable coupons. www.couponcat.net/
My husband calls me the Coupon Queen. I regularly save more than I spend on a grocery foray. My mother-in-law always saves the Sunday coupons for me that she doesn't use. She started saving them for me when we were in college and on food stamps. I also get my own Sunday paper now. We have two local stores that will double coupons up to .99 with no minimum purchase.
I agree that some coupons are for items that I would not normally buy. canned biscuits, for example. But at .20 a can, I feel quite certain that I c an use them. Pizza dough, or pierogoie wrappers, for example.
How did you find out when the delivery person dumps leftover papers? And where? I'm not above a little dumpster diving.
OK, so here's my thoughts on coupons: Possibly they may sometimes be a deal, but they are offered by companies who want you to buy things. The companies wouldn't be doing something that loses them money, right? So we have to accept that most people end up spending more when they use coupons, and that if we are actually saving money using coupons, it's because we are somehow shopping in a way that most people don't shop.
It might be worth considering whether, even if you do only use coupons for things you usually buy, if it's worth while getting yourself accustomed to the more expensive items, or used to buying a certain brand. What if generic wheatie-ohs are less expensive than brand Cheerios with a coupon one day?
For me, the time I have to spend calculating whether coupons are really saving me any money, plus the time I have to spend collecting and organizing the coupons, plus the longer shopping time it takes me because I have to consider the expensive options instead of the one or two I know to be the usual cheapest, makes coupons pay a very poor hourly wage.
When the stores double the dollar coupons is when I stock up on cleaning supplies. I used the diaper coupons regularly but really only saved the most at drug stores.
Add your voice! Click below to comment. ThriftyFun is powered by your wisdom!
