How to use all those coupons you just gathered:
1. Everything you think you know about getting a good deal is probably wrong. Seriously. For example, before I started doing all of this, I would have told you that to get the most bang for your buck, you need to shop at a big super store. Even without coupons, that still might not be true. If you have literally no time to make a shopping list with corresponding deals, you don't mind that your coupons will NEVER ever double, and the fact that grocery carts are horrible and there are tons of people always there, then go for the super store. Okay…maybe the last part was me being stuck up, but I really have never gone into one and left feeling like I scored an awesome deal. Ever. Even before I started doing all of this.
Store brands. When I bought at the big time store, and even when I first started this adventure, I still bought the house brand. It seemed like the smart thing to do because the house brand is cheaper than the flashy name brand, right? Wrong! Lately I have been way more price conscious.
Before, I went straight for the generic. I didn't even take the time to scope out the prices of the other products. Why waste that time? Now, it's different. I can't even tell you how many times I have looked literally right next to the generic to see the name brand was actually cheaper!! That's right. Sometimes it was only by a penny, but sometimes it was upwards of fifty cents or more that it was cheaper, and that's without a sale or coupon. When you add in the sales and coupons, the name brand is cheaper than the store brand, hands down. I have only seen one store offer coupons for their own brand. And that is one of the many reasons why I shop at Target. Other than that, there really isn't a way to get those store brand prices to come down. Now, the name brand is not always going to be on sale, and there won't always be a coupon out there for it. This is why you will see people stock-piling. More on that later, though.
Warehouses that you can buy huge quantities means less money, right? I mean, you see those crazy coupon ladies buying in bulk, and here it's the ONLY way you can shop. Unfortunately, this is just a huge myth. Okay, first of all, you have to buy a membership. Some of you are probably thinking, yes but you have to buy all your newspapers. Earlier, I showed you how to buy plenty of copies for only $5 a week. That works out to $20 a month. You can do it even cheaper if you use more register rewards towards your papers, or if you safely dig through the recycle bins. Notice, I did not say dumpster diving. Digging is all that is required. :) Okay, back to the membership v. newspapers. Most memberships are about $40 a month, from my understanding. That's already a 50% savings right there. Lastly, buying in bulk when you are forced to, does not equal savings when you compare what I can do with my coupons at other stores. For example, if I can buy 3 deodorants, only pay for one of them, and that was at a discounted rate, that means I got 3 for $3.99. If I bought a pack of three deodorants at the warehouse, without coupons, because they aren't excepted there, I would probably end up paying about $12 for it. Hmm….$3.99 or $12? It's kind of a no-brainer. Literally the only deal at those kind of stores that I have seen better than grocery stores are on the meat, simply because you rarely find meat coupons. When you include the price of membership to the cost of the meat, grocery stores still win. Every single time. I personally do not believe that I will shop that way. I like couponing too much.
2. So if you're not going to go to the big super store or ware houses, and you're not going to buy the house brands, then what are you supposed to do? I know when I was first coupon-ing this was the hardest and most time consuming part. Beginning. As with anything worthwhile, it is going to be time consuming in the beginning in order to lay a foundation. I was kind of lost. I could gather the newspapers without a problem, but I would go through the ads and really not know what to cut. Some coupons looked entirely worthless, like the $0.25 off coupons or the $1 off when you buy 2, but they're not by the way. Othertimes there would be what looked like really good value coupons on products I had never bought. What to do? Which are worth my time? The honest answer kind of scared me. Truth is, the best thing to do is cut every coupon for a type of product you buy. For example, you might not buy Suave, but I bet you buy shampoo. Given the choice between absolutely free shampoo or $5 shampoo, I would choose free, and that wouldn't have been possible unless I cut the coupon I wasn't sure I would use. However, I don't have children. I don't need to even bother cutting the baby coupons. Some of you might not have pets that you would need to cut for, etc. My general rule of thumb, cut it if I use the type. And that will mean more time, but it will also guarantee the greatest chances of scoring the best deals.
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