I know, I know, there are thousands of people who save hundreds of dollars every month with coupons. Many of them faithfully clip coupons and search for deals, double coupons, etc. I think it’s great but it just doesn’t work for me. I have tried it. I have joined sites that are supposed to show you how to do it and save thousands of dollars. I have read ebooks on saving with coupons and that have systems that are supposed to make it work.
My biggest problem with coupons is that they are very rarely for the things that I buy on a regular basis. We buy very little prepared or convenience foods which are usually the coupons I find. I make biscuits for a few pennies with flour and baking soda. A large percentage of our vegetables are from our garden. If I want a pizza, I use homemade tomato sauce, garden vegetables and fresh cheese.
There are very few coupons for fresh meat or vegetables. I’m sure that they are out there but I just haven’t been able to find them, at least, not often enough to make it worth the time I have to spend searching. When I did take my coupons with me, I saved money on the food that I bought but it wasn’t food that I would normally have purchased. So while I saved money, it was money that I normally wouldn’t have spent.
My third problem with coupons is that I don’t go shopping often enough to really spend so much time planning it. While we plan out our meals and make a grocery list, we purchase things when they are on sale and we shop at specific stores for specific items. One of the small local grocery stores has 5 lbs of sausage for $5, 5 lbs of bacon for $5 and 5 ls of Bologna for $5 so when we are in that town, we will stop by to stock up on those items. We stash it in the freezer and it generally last us for a couple months.
Another store, about 25 miles in the opposite direction, has excellent buys on great quality meats. When we are in that town, we stop and purchase as much meat as we can afford. They run weekly sales so we might end up with 10 pounds of chicken or 4 to 5 Chuck roasts. It may not be the most practical way to shop but it does keep our grocery costs for the two of us under $200 per month.
I am writing this for the people like me who have found very little benefit from clipping coupons. I have often felt a little guilty for not doing a better job of it but I have finally decided that it just isn’t for me. We all have to use the savings methods that work the best for our own situation and trying to make someone else’s method just may not work for us. So if you save tons of money with coupons, I applaud you but I will stick to what works for me.
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I AM a coupon clipper, but that’s because my family eats a lot of cereal, snack crackers, etc. where coupons are readily available.
Two of our large supermarkets have $10 off $50 worth of groceries–if your area has anything like that, they are definitely worth it because they cover whatever you buy.
I use coupons more for non-perishables than for food. Like you, I have not found many coupons for food but there are plenty for toothpaste, toilet paper and the like to make it worthwhile for me.
I agree. Many grocery stores offer coupons for boxed goods like cereals and snacks. While it is good to use coupons, if you were not going to buy it anyway, why spend that couple of dollars? Coupons for the most part, in my opinion, don’t do me any good unless I was planning on buying that. If not, it would be a waste of money.
Cindy I agree with you, coupons are just not a great deal for many people. I do scan the sunday paper and the few items I would use coupons for are now buy one, get one at half price, or buy two, get one free. I don’t have the pantry space to store all those items. Like you said, lots of coupons are also for things I don’t eat or need to have. I almost do better savings wise, by keeping a close eye on the supermarket flyers. Every once in a while, I do manage to get a coupon and get a good deal, but not that often.
It is really an advantage for us buyers to avail coupons. Coupons could not be on a monetized basis but in product basis, this is good for budgeting moms like me.
Coupons have good deals comes with it also if you’ve got a great coupon you really got the “jackpot”. I do claimed a “jackpot” on coupon so I’m still going for it on some products.
Count me in as another who doesn’t use a lot of coupons. I’ve tried! I’ve joined coupon trains, groups, etc but most aren’t for the foods we eat. I do use them now and then for non-perishables and once in awhile I find a food coupon we can use but it’s rare indeed. So, we just do what works for us and wish well to the coupon clippers out there. I do admit I’m a little envious of their savings, though!
I tried using coupons more in the past and it didn’t really work out for me either. In the end it made us buy more since the coupons were often for things we don’t normally buy. We even bought a whole book full of coupons, but almost the only ones we used were the $5 off a $50 grocery purchase ones.
Coupons are really good for saving.