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Why Bother?
Is it worth the time and energy to clip coupons? Is it even worth the cost of a Sunday paper?
Attempts to save money by using coupons often result in frustration after hours of clipping, searching the store and shopping result in total savings of $5-$10 dollars which seems small even viewed on an annualized basis of $260 – $520. But coupons are one key piece of a larger puzzle – Strategic Shopping. Strategic shopping combines multiple promotional marketing elements to realize the greatest possible savings. The ultimate goal is to purchase any given item at the lowest possible price which is often free and occasionally profitable.
Making Coupon Use Effective aka. clipping your way to a great annual vacation…
The most effective way to balance the time vs. money equation is to focus on saving significantly on key household and grocery staples. Select 25 – 30 items you purchase on a regular basis it is helpful to be brand flexible but not required. Assuming these items are purchased at a rate of four per month = 48 units of each focus item per year and a total of 1200 (48 x 25) total items.
How much can you save per item? Obviously the rate is variable and dependent on any individual’s shopping list but here are some common examples with five items in the categories of grocery, home care and personal care: *
* prices are based on Brand Name items i.e. Tree Top or Motts Juice, Windex, Tide or Gain detergent, Crest or Colgate toothpaste etc.
Anonymous says
best strategy i find is to stock up on cheap staples such as white rice, lentils, split peas, all the other dried beans, regular oatmeal, and potatoes, etc. and use that as your base…
all of these "value added" stuff that comes in a cardboard box like instant oatmeal(small packs?), granola bars, crackers, Mac and Cheese, etc are really a huge ripoff in terms of real nutrition and they aren't worth the money at anything over 50 cents a box…same thing with the 15% juice drinks that are just basically sugar water or HFCS water…
for dishwashing liquid i just get lemon ajax which is always avail. at Dollar Tree in 19 oz variety or a huge bottle at SWM for about $2.97 – enough to last for several months…