Image obtained from jaimekirlewcouponing.com
The majority of my friends, family, and coworkers find it absolutely absurd that I “coupon.”
The majority of this harsh criticism is sparked from TLC’s Extreme Couponing. This show features families trolling supermarkets stuffing their shopping carts with 30 bottles of mustard, 50 cans of soda, and enough tuna fish to last them 3 years.
I believe the show does “couponers” a huge disservice. It promotes theories that we:
- Go dumpster diving for coupons
- Spend countless hours a week finding deals
- Hoard food that will eventually spoil anyway
- Don’t have a job
This couldn’t be any farther from the truth. There are many benefits to couponing ESPECIALLY from a financial standpoint.
I’ll give you two examples:
Image from Alice.com
Example 1: My wife absolutely loves the Secret Expressions Lavender deodorant which typically sells for $3.99 a stick at Target one of the lowest discount retailers in the country. Without boring you with too many details it is possible to get this same exact deodorant for $.99/stick a 75% discount to retail value. That’s a heck of a discount! But let’s take it one step further, my wife goes through about a stick about every 3 weeks. So we calculated that we need about 17 sticks to be good for a year. That’s $17, if we purchased the sticks individually at retail price it would have cost $68… That’s essentially $51 we’re saving!
Photo obtained from mojosavings.com
Example 2: Every Sunday we have a home cooked meal consisting of turkey, mashed potatoes, macaroni & cheese, and stuffing. We use Kraft’s Stove top stuffing which retails for about $1.39 a box. About a month ago we got a deal of $.25 per box! Since we have stuffing every week we bought 52 boxes for $13. If we had paid for these throughout a year it would have cost us approximately $72. We were able to save $59 for the year.
Right there you have two examples where you would have been able to save $110 for the year.
Unfortunate Circumstances
When you’re in trouble financially and are forced to cut back you will find it VERY difficult to cut back on the things you need most such as food and shelter.
Let’s be honest and practical here. Very few people walk into work knowing they are going to lose their job, they may be aware of cutbacks and downsizing but generally speaking nobody knows when they are going to receive the dreaded pink slip. Emergency Funds are highly recommended for situations like this but if you’ve ever found yourself in this situation you know that those funds are consumed quicker than you had expected. Additionally the unfortunate truth is there is no guarantee you will find another job before your funds run out.
I coupon because this is my family’s “Food Insurance” in case of an unexpected job loss. This will allow our emergency fund to go a lot further during our down times. Imagine knowing that you have a year’s supply of food, toiletries, etc? I can tell you personally that it gives me a piece of mind that I cannot fully articulate. I am the sole provider for my household which is a huge responsibility and one that I would never compromise or manage recklessly.
“Prepare for the unknown by studying how others in the past have coped with the unforeseeable and the unpredictable.”
– General George S. Patton
Stop With the Excuses!
Acquiring a substantial stockpile does take time however with diligence and a little guidance a family can get started in as little as a week!
The number one excuse I hear when it comes to couponing is “It takes too much time to find deals! I might as well get a part time job.” This couldn’t be any farther from the truth. There are website owners out there who love helping families with this dilemma, they run full time websites and list the weekly deals for grocery stores. This cuts down on ALL THAT TIME it would normally take you to find deals. Here is a list of the websites I follow:
“What about getting the coupons? I don’t have the time or money to buy multiple newspapers and clip coupons!”
I’ve got your answer for that right here. There are multiple coupon clipping services that provide the specific coupons you need for the item you plan to get. The service I have had the best experience with is Klip 2 Save. After placing my order I generally receive the coupons 2-3 days after.
If you currently have the means I urge you all to consider this vital insurance for you and your families.
Here’s to Our Wealth!
January 16, 2013 at 1:17 pm
I’ll use coupons whenever I have them, but since I work away from home it’s harder for me to get the coupons. I need to look more into getting coupons emailed to me or on my phone so I can still use them. The only downside is that they need to be manufacturer coupons since I never really know what store is going to be close to where I’m working at the time.
At the very least everyone should use coupons on things they would go about purchasing anyways. If you spend 15 minutes cutting out coupons for your typical purchases and that saves you $10 at the grocery store each week you just earned $40 / hour. Considering you’re using you time off to do that, that’s a pretty significant savings rate.
January 20, 2013 at 9:08 am
All of the coupons provided from Klip2Save are manufacturer coupons.
I like your math JC it really drives home the point!
January 16, 2013 at 11:28 pm
Marvin, thanks for this tip. I’ve tried it once, since I liked the idea, but I wasn’t much successful in collecting coupons on stuff we need at home and was finding coupons for the stuff we do not need so it was going the opposite way – buying unwanted stuff just because it was discounted. However, after reading your article I will give it another shot.
January 20, 2013 at 9:10 am
We struggled with the same thing. We REALLLLLY do not need 30 packs of Oreo cookies. We have found that we typically stock up on the non perishables such as deodorant, soap, paper towels, etc. As for food we have a couple things here and there we try to stay away from processed food as much as possible. For our meats I literally keep a spreadsheet of the average cost for meat, vegetables, and fruits then stock up whenever there is a sale.
January 17, 2013 at 10:54 am
Good post Marvin! I’ve never watched the show, but know people that would be a good fit on it. You’re right in that it does do a disservice and is showing the utter extreme. We coupon, but only to the extent that it is for stuff we’d buy anyway as a way to save a little extra money.
January 20, 2013 at 9:11 am
We do the same and purchase things so we won’t have to purchase them until a year out.
January 21, 2013 at 8:32 am
Don’t let the haters get you down.. Time spent couponing is money well spent.. I am convinced that folks on those TV shows are somewhat of a fraud.. Those coupons for 100% value of an item that they seem to have so much of are regularly available for purchase via eBay, but are typically not given out for free (except for Maybe one at a time)..
We coupon and have saved hundreds of dollars in the last year as a result.
January 21, 2013 at 2:50 pm
Glad to hear your results and see that someone else is benefitting from this technique.
I agree, I also don’t know how they can grab 50 items at once. At our stores you can only use 5 coupons on the same item in one transaction.