So, a few months back, Grant's Pad showed all you aspiring penny pinchers a few tips on how to save money even after adding a new member to the family. Well, we're back today with some more great info!
Today, we'll focus on coupon clipping. My parents used to clip coupons from the Sunday paper (actually I think they still do from time to time). It seemed like
such a time consuming, painful process - all for just a few cents off. But lately, we've come to recognize the power of coupon clipping!
It started way back, early last year, when then-colleague Kenny told me that he and his family had switched to drinking predominantly organic milk. Now, everyone knows that I'm not really that into the tree hugging
au natural kind of lifestyle, but having kids sometimes makes you evaluate your foodstuffs with a much more discriminatory eye. However, I wasn't about to spend twice the money on getting all organic groceries!
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| Having kids makes you think twice about their health and safety, especially when it comes to food! |
Kenny informed me that going organic didn't really cost them any more than getting regular groceries did, because there are a lot of coupons available for organic goods. Where, I asked? The answer: where everything else can be found - the Internet, of course!
Specifically, he mentioned the great website
SouthernSavers.com. This forum-like site scours the Internet for coupons and great deals at retail stores and on the Internet itself. Coupons for everything from lunch meat to toothbrushes, juice to digital photo prints, chewing gum to toys - almost anything you can think of! There are even coupons that let you outright get stuff for free! We've had 10x13 portraits taken at Sears for a grand total of $0.00, and gotten free deodorant and movie rentals as well. There are so many coupons that you're bound to find one for something you were planning on getting anyway (which is important - you don't want to buy things just because you have a coupon for it! Although there are some exceptions, which I'll go into a bit later...)
So, anyone can find a coupon here and there - but here's the secret to true coupon power: Coupon Combo-ing! You see, generally speaking, there are two types of coupons: store coupons and manufacturer coupons. Most store coupons will state that you can only use one coupon per customer. However, you can often also use one or more manufacturer coupons in conjunction! This is especially powerful if there are also coupons on the product in the store itself (there are usually manufacturer coupons) or if there is a Buy One Get One Free promotion going on. For example, you will often see Oscar Meyer $1 Off coupons for use at Publix (store coupon). Once you get to the store, the $3.50 package of Oscar Meyer ham might also have a $1 Off manufacturer coupon. That reduces the price down to just $1.50 (that's almost 60% off)! Alternatively, if there is a BOGO promotion, the price for two packages of ham starts at $3.50, and you can use two $1 off manufacturer coupons to get both packages for just $1.50 - down from $7 with no deals! And there are almost always coupons for lunch meat on the interwebs so just print out a bunch of 'em and take them to the store when you are running low!
Here's another tip - we're generally taught to buy in bulk to save money on a per-unit basis. Basic economies of scale, right? Well, with coupon clipping, this isn't always the case. Often, you will find coupons for, say, $2 off breakfast cereal, choose between 12 oz., 15 oz., or 18 oz. Family Packs! or something to that extent. You go to the store and see that the cost of the 12 oz. is $2.50, the cost of the 15 oz. is $3, and the cost of the 18 oz. is $3.50. Ordinarily, without a coupon, you would get the Jumbo Family Pack, because the unit price is slightly lower (about 19 cents compared to 21 cents per oz.). But, with the coupon, the unit cost of the 12 oz. pack is just 4.2 cents per oz. compared to 8.3 cents for the 18 oz. using the same coupon! So, when using coupons that allow you to choose the quantity, it's often most cost effective to choose the quantity that had the lowest starting
total, not unit, cost.
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| All this maffs is really con-foozing! |
One last word on coupon clipping - this one
really blew me away. As mentioned above, there are store coupons and manufacturer coupons. By far, we like manufacturer coupons more because store coupons are subject to price increases by the store itself and you typically can't use them anywhere else (although some stores do actually let you use other store coupons - like Bed Bath and Beyond, which usually seems expensive but is actually is a
wonderful store if you use their promotions and customer services, such as price matching, properly). But the most amazing thing about manufacturer coupons is how they work - the manufacturer, e.g. Colgate, actually pays the retailer approximately the value of the coupon when they redeem it. On some occasions, the value of the coupon may actually be
greater than the sale price of the product at the store! A few weeks ago, we got dental floss, priced at 88 cents, and were able to apply $1 Off manufacturer coupons, and Wal-Mart
gave us the 12 cents difference! Yes, you read that correctly - Wal-Mart
paid us to buy the floss! You would be surprised at how often this is actually possible!
So, for all you aspiring savers out there, I hope this helps you save some money. It's just a few bucks here and there, but if you are able to save $5 to $10 on every grocery shopping trip on items you need on a regular basis by having coupons ready, that's easily several hundred dollars over time. Some "super savers" claim that they can consistently save about $500 a month just by coupon clipping! Just be careful you're not buying things you weren't planning on buying to begin with - saving on something you don't want is just wasting money!
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| Yay for saving money for my college fund! |
and his new gigantic L-series 100-400mm lens
!
. You can view some of our shots below!
