Top 5 Coupon Myths Debunked

I started using coupons about a year ago. Since then, I have lowered my family's grocery budget by more than fifty percent. However, when I tell people about my success, I am often met with the same responses over and over. Here is a list of the top five excuses I hear why people don't use coupons and the truth I have learned.

1) I always think of coupons being for poor people. What is the obsession people have about worrying what others think of them? Just because you are trying to save money does not mean you are poor. In fact, studies have been done to show that the average couponer's household income is over $75,000 per year.

2) Coupons are only for junk food or processed food and not for anything I would use. I used to be guilty of this one. Turns out, I was wrong. There are coupons for just about everything out there. Yes, some are for frozen, prepackaged foods, but there are also many for household cleaners, health and beauty items, salad, canned goods, frozen vegetables, honey, milk, soy milk, etc. I would encourage any person out there to take a look at the coupons that are actually out there before making this assumption.

3) I don't have time to use coupons. You know the saying "time is money"? That's sort of how couponing works. I spend about two or three hours each week clipping coupons and organizing them and planning my shopping list with the stores' sales ads, and I save about $75 each week. That's more than $30 per hour! How many hours would you have to work to make $75 after taxes to buy those same groceries?

4) I save more money buying generic brands than name brands with a coupon. I also did this for a long time. However, when you match up coupons with sales at major grocery stores, the name brand items are cheaper every time. Let's say your kids' favorite cereal goes on sale "Buy One, Get one free". The you have a coupon for $1 off your purchase of 2. That's a savings of well over fifty percent! Even the generic cereal isn't less than half the price of the name brand cereal with the coupon.

5) Coupons don't save me enough money. So maybe you've tried to use coupons, and you came away discouraged because you only saved $2 off your one hundred dollar receipt, so you gave up. There is a better way to use coupons. They MUST be matched up with a sale to maximize your savings. Manufacturers expect that you will use their coupon on their item when it is at full price, giving you a very small discount. Later, they will put the item on sale, often 50% off or more. If you save your coupons until the item goes on sale, and then buy enough to last until the next sale, your savings will increase exponentially.

I guarantee if you give couponing a try, and learn the right way to use them, you will see significant savings. There are so many online resources out there to help you get started. You don't have much to lose to trying, but you could end up saving a lot!