The Six Top Mistakes Couponers Make

When my friend Karen stopped by, I was unpacking the items from my weekly grocery shopping trip. With my permission, she picked up the foot-long cash register receipt and gasped when she saw how many coupons had been subtracted and what I had finally paid. Though she had been couponing for a year, Karen never managed to save more than a couple of dollars each week. This was because she was guilty of several of the top six mistakes couponers make.

Too High, Too Fast

Surely 2.1 million viewers can't be wrong, can they? This is how many tuned into the first episode of TLC's Extreme Couponing series.

Unfortunately, many of them assumed that everybody who watched any of the 12 episodes would, like the shoppers featured, shave at least 90 percent off every grocery bill. As a result, many viewers bought dozens of Sunday newspapers each week, clipped every coupon in every insert and promptly stopped couponing with a month or two.

They expected too much in the way of savings. For some, the mistake was an expectation of seeing big results too fast. Others failed to realize they could only achieve what the policies of local stores allowed, such as how many of the same item a shopper could purchase free.

The Fantasy Stockpile

Who doesn't ooh and aah at the perfectly organized stockpile? It often contains free detergent, diapers, bathroom tissue, cereal, pasta and bottled drinks.

Two common mistakes are linked to stockpiles. The first is the assumption that everybody has space for one. Everybody doesn't. The second is that if the couponer isn't already stockpiling for a charity, "someday" he or she will.

Stockpiles aren't for everybody.

Buying Just Because It's a Deal

Each week, Karen proudly showed her husband the toothpaste, cereal and other goodies she brought home for free. However, her outlay for food and household items was $127 more the second month of couponing than what it was before she even started using coupons.

This was because she couldn't pass up the great deals that were the result of doubled coupons on top of sale prices. While she bought a $14 pork roast for less than $3, her family didn't like pork. That was $3 wasted. Free candy bars went untouched by her husband, who was on a weight-loss program. She also bought 10 jars of a spaghetti sauce nobody would eat.

While it's a great idea to try new foods or products--variety is the spice of life--deliberately buying something that you suspect won't be used at home is a major mistake and a waste of money, whether or not you have a coupon to cut its price.

Always Buying the Smallest Size

A cardinal rule of using coupons has always been to use the coupon on the smallest size available of the product. Using a $2 coupon on $3.99 item yields a much higher percentage of savings than $2 on the $8.99 size.

This is normally a good rule to follow. However, it's a mistake to automatically buy the smallest size when the product is one continuously used. In that case, the shopper should be going for the lowest cost per usage or serving. If, for example, you need to take an over-the-counter medication 365 days a year, you'll want to use that $2 coupon on whichever size yields the lowest cost per pill.

Using Multiple Systems

Most couponers try several ways to organize their coupons before they discover which works best. The mistake some make is trying to use more than one at the same time.

Karen initially divided her coupons according to type of product: cosmetics, canned goods, drinks, household cleaners and so on. However, a lot of them expired before she even considered using them. So she switched to filing them by expiration date. That didn't work well for her, so she tried a combination. The result: total disorganization.

Burnout

It could also be called obsession. If you sit at your dining room table four or five hours every day, clipping and organizing coupons, you will probably eventually burn out and just give up.

However, successful couponing does require discipline, meal planning and a knowledge of average prices for staples you use before setting foot in the supermarket or other store. Spending 45 minutes to an hour a week to save $30 to $40 at the cash register is well worth the effort and is unlikely to lead to burnout.

I've been using coupons, refunds and rebates successfully since the 1970s and used to publish a related newsletter. Eventually, Karen started using coupons again but on a far more modest basis after a mentor accompanied her on a shopping trip. She now avoids the six biggest mistakes couponers make and is happy to trim about $125 a month off the family grocery bill.

Sources:

http://press.discovery.com/us/tlc/programs/extreme-couponing/

Personal experience