First is stockpiling. Now, I get a lot of people that tell me they have no room to stockpile anything. People, I live in a tiny apartment. TINY! It is me and my two kids in 3 bedrooms, 2 baths. I can find some crazy places to put stuff and I literally have a small grocery store in my apartment.
The key to saving with coupons is combining a sale with your coupon so that you are getting your item at a rock bottom price! The Key to saving consistently is to purchase enough of that item at that rock bottom price to last until it goes on sale again. Stockpiling is the act of accumulating items purchased to be able to use at a later time. It means you wait until the item is on sale at a rock bottom price and buying enough to last until that item goes on sale for that rock bottom price again. Buy it when you don't need it right away, but you know you will use it before it expires.
Here's an example of how stockpiling saves you money:
Carol Couponer’s family uses 1 box of cereal per week. She sees that her store has cereal on sale for $1.88. This sale comes around every 6 weeks. Carol has 6 coupons for 50 cents off 1 box and her store will double that coupon making it $1 off 1 box. Carol pays $5.28 for 6 weeks of cereal. ($.88 x 6)
Carla Clueless’ family uses 1 box of cereal per week. She sees that her store has cereal on sale for $1.88. She doesn't use coupons. She buys 1 box of cereal and next week when she needs another box of cereal, she pays the full price of $3.69. For 6 weeks of cereal Carla pays $20.33 (1.88+3.69x5)
Products go on sale in cycles. For example, January you will find a lot of health foods on sale. July you’ll find a lot of grilling and picnic items on sale. Go to http://thekrazycouponlady.com/2010/08/17/sale-cycles-how-to-be-a-coupon-psychic/ to see what is on sale during each month and what is clearanced during each month to know what you will be stocking up on each month. A natural question I get asked is "How will I know when an item is worth stocking up on? Typically, if an item is discounted after sales and coupons 65% or more from retail, you should stock up on it.
Now lets debunk some myths about couponing or really what the naysayers are screaming at us!
Myth - Using coupons loses money for that store.
Truth - Stores earn on average 8 cents for every coupon redeemed on top of the face value. So for every 25 cent coupon, they are getting back the 25 cents plus 8 cents. If they turn in 100 25-cent coupons they will get back $25 plus $8 for handling. They don't earn money for taking cash, credit or a check do they!?
Myth – Couponing will cost me more than it’s worth.
Truth – No, you are saving more than you are spending. If you buy 1 newspaper at a news stand, you will pay $2. If that paper has only 2 coupon inserts, you will average $200 in savings. Even if you only use 10% of the coupons in there for the week, you've gained $18!
Myth – Clipping coupons takes valuable time.
Truth – Yes, and there are other things you could be doing other than clipping coupons like cleaning house or cooking. Do any of those tasks pay you to complete them? Lets use the example from before. If I am saving $18 from 1 newspaper and it takes me 30 minutes to clip and organize those 2 inserts I just made $36/hour.
Myth – You will buy items you would not normally buy – negating the savings.
Truth – You will buy items that you would not normally buy, but at greater savings than what you do normally buy. My husband needs lunch items. I usually get bread, cheese, lunch meat, pickles, and chips. One week there were Red Baron single pizza items on sale 2 for $4. I have 10 coupons for $1 off 1. They are regularly 2 for $7. With the sale and with the coupons I can get them each for $1. I buy 10 of them for $10. I would have spent $4 on 2 loaves of bread $6 on sliced cheese, $6 on lunch meat, $6 on chips and $3 on pickles for 6 days worth of lunches. Hmm....$10 for frozen pizzas for a week or $25 for sandwiches and chips for a week.
Myth – All coupons are for food that is not healthy for you.
Truth – I just clipped a coupon for almond milk, greek yogurt, cherry tomatoes, organic prunes, and chicken sausages. While fresh produce and fresh meat coupons are rare, you can still save on those items. If you are getting your household items and other food items for free or close to it, the money you just saved can now be used on the fresh produce and meat! If you do not want to eat the unhealthy items that are on sale – don’t buy them!
Myth - Wont I save more by buying the store brand?
Truth - Not always! Example: Safeway brand Tomato or Chicken Noodle Soup is usually about $.75/can. Safeway ran an ad 10/5 -10/11 with Campbell's tomato or chicken noodle soups at 2/$1 ($.50/ea) That sale alone was cheaper than the store brand, BUT there was also a coupon out for $.40/4 cans of Campbells tomato or chicken noodle soups that at Safeway doubled to $.80/4 making the deal even better at $.30/ea!
Myth - Wont I save more by buying in bulk or the economy size?
Truth - NO! Example: Nesquick chocolate milk mix 38 servings is around $7. There is also a smaller 7 serving pouch for $1.10. Without any coupons, it would absolutely make sense to buy the larger 38 serving container. However, about twice a year Nesquick puts out a coupon for $.50/1 which at the stores that double, makes it $1/1. This means you are then paying only $.10 for 7 servings instead of $6 for 38 servings. This works out to just over a penny per serving as opposed to almost $.16 per serving. Buying the smallest size available on sale and using your coupon on it will drive the price per unit extremely low and will often allow you to get items for pennies or FREE!
Now lets go over some coupon etiquette.
#1 rule of coupons: Never ever photo copy a coupon. This is fraud and is illegal!
Only use a coupon on the intended product, size, quantity, and variety that it states on the coupon.
Read your coupon to make sure you follow its consumer guidelines and restrictions. Example, P&G coupons state “limit 4 like coupons per transaction” meaning you may only use 4 of that identical coupon in one transaction. Some coupons have other restrictions that you must abide by.
There are no stores that allow you to use a coupon that is expired, so check that the coupon is within its available useful time period before using.
Pulling out several newspapers from the stand and not paying for them is theft. Similarly, pulling inserts from newspapers you or someone else has not paid for is theft! Don’t steal papers/inserts, more people will lose out than just the news stand owner.
Don’t clear shelves! While product is intended to be purchased, you should leave enough for other customers to purchase some. My rule of thumb is to leave 2/3 on the shelf. If clearing the shelf by simply purchasing what a normal “non-couponer” is unavoidable, don’t feel bad. But, if you would like more than a reasonable amount of certain items, please create a special order with the store.
When price matching at wal-mart, please remember that it is not in their policy to price match items after rewards. ie if Walgreens has toothbrushes that are free after register rewards, walmart will not price match it, nor is it within their policy to do so.
Please be courteous to those around you. You never know when someone around you is watching as you lunge in front of them to grab the very last tube of toothpaste. You’ll end up being ranted about on a coupon page on facebook ;) Also though, the more courteous you are, the more people will start to accept the coupon world and the less you’ll hear “oh, you have coupons” or “you must be a couponer” in those not so nice tones.
You are now a coupon pro! If you have questions about it at all, please ask and I will answer as best I can! Have an amazing day everyone!
No comments:
Post a Comment