To coupon…or not to coupon?

The weekend newspaper is full of them…. they’re COUPONS, and manufacturers try to entice you to purchase their products by using them.  Are you a coupon shopper?

Coupons can save money

As for me, I use coupons to stretch my budget.  On my latest grocery shopping spree, I saved $26 by using coupons along with store discount prices.  I got about $90 worth of products for $64.  Besides saving money on my favorite things, coupons also give me the opportunity to try new or different products with less financial risk.

When coupons don’t add up

But, while coupons can help me save, they are not always the smartest choice.   Here are a couple of situations when I opt NOT to use my coupons:

1. When the national brand with the coupon still costs more than the store brand.  I skipped using several coupons on my most recent shopping trip because they didn’t really save me any money.  For example, it was not worth the 35-cent coupon savings on name brand sugar when the store brand was $1.00 less.  Since sugar is sugar, I opted to pass on the coupon and buy the store brand without a coupon instead.
2. When the coupon is for a product we don’t need.  Yes, coupons are supposed to encourage me to buy certain products.  But they are no savings if I spend money on something I don’t need or wouldn’t regularly buy.  For example, there are lots of coupons on high-fat, high-sodium and high-sugar snacks, desserts, cereals and prepared foods that I don’t choose to feed to my family.  So, by being a discriminating coupon shopper, I can save money by NOT buying couponed products that don’t fit my family’s needs and preferences.

How about you?

Do you clip and use coupons?  Or are they are waste of time?  What’s your stand on coupon shopping?  Leave a comment– share your opinion about coupons and your best saving strategies when buying groceries and household products. Let’s learn from each other!

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