This page will list the truth about a lot of common mistakes regarding couponing.
-- They don't have coupons for what I buy:
There are coupons for everything from organic foods to kosher foods, freezer section to fresh fruits and veggies.. Almost half of the coupons issued are for household products, cleaners, toiletries, and the like. If there is something you really like try the company's website, if they don't have any there email them. You are already buying things that have coupons available, save money on what you can.
-- It's not worth the time to use coupons:
It does not take a lot of time to start seeing sizeable savings. Share the work, if you have children let them cut out printed coupons. Once you get the hang of it a few hours a week will be plenty of time, and you can do it whenever you want. Cut and sort while you watch a tv show, discuss your list during the commercials. Your actual time spent in the store will be less because you already know what you are going to buy.
So is it worth it? Let's say you spend on the high side and 5 hours a week (an hour a weeknight average) Our budget savings ($70/week) would mean $14/hour for a second job you do anytime you want and includes 65% off your shopping bill. To take that one step further we are on pace to save over $3,500 this year from our previous budget. If we put that all aside we could pay for a standard rate 7 night DisneyWorld resort stay incuding meal plans and 5 day park hopper passes for a family of 4. ($2,600). Is less then an hour a night worth a week in DisneyWorld?
--It's cheaper to buy generics:
When you combine a name brand item on sale, with coupons more often then not it will be cheaper then the generics.
--Coupons make me look poor (only poor people use coupons):
Coupons make you look like a smart shopper, not a poor one. According to a recent survey, Marketing Charts, nearly twice as many adults with household incomes over $100k have used a coupon from online source then adults with income under $35k. Also adults with college degrees are twice as likely to have used a coupon in the last 6 months then an adult who didn't graduate high school.
--Coupons make you buy things you wouldn't normally:
This is a yes and no. Yes we have bought things we wouldn't have bought without coupons. But that is because the savings made things we weren't willing to pay for into things we could afford. Example: a box of organic granola bars is normally $3.99, with sale and coupons we were able to get it for $0.69. Would we have bought it without coupons? No, we want them but not at that price.
--Somehow, someway coupons are a scam:
Here is the "scam". Stores and manufactures want to sell high volume. They want to keep stuff moving off the shelf. Some stores make their prices "low" all the time and then are able to mark down a little bit to move remaining stuff. Other stores have a higher normal price (this is where they make their profit) then they are able to offer a lowest price to sell remaining stuff and make room for new product. With couponing you take advantage of that lowest price and add in the savings of coupons. So by using coupons we give the store a high volume of sales which means they do a high volume of purchasing which allows them to get better prices.
