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Tips to Cut Down Monthly Home Expenses
Every Wednesday and Sunday the local newspaper is usually stuffed
to the brim with coupons and sale ads. The way to get coupons to work
for you is to find out which ones to clip and use and which ones to
just throw away.
At the same time, a few tips on what you should look for and what
to stay away from while taking advantage of using coupons.
Begin by creating a shopping list of all the items you use and buy
on a regular basis. Then make a short list of items that you would
like to try if the price was right. Now go through your local newspaper
and search for coupons that relate to items on your list. Other places
that may have coupons can include direct mailer coupon books, savings
clubs, or the grocery stores themselves.
Now that you have a list of the items you use and a separate stack
of coupons, begin to go through the stack of coupons individually
and see if any of them can be used to save money on items you regularly
buy. If the coupon items are on the list set it aside, if it is not
throw it away. If a coupon is found for an item that you forgot to
put on the list and you regularly buy it, keep the coupon. If you
do not buy that item on a regular basis just throw the coupon away.
Coupons are just a form of advertising and retailers know how to take
advantage by using this type of marketing. The way to make using coupons
successful is not to be sold on items that you do not use. The thing
to keep in mind is that using a coupon to buy something can only be
considered a savings if the item that is being purchased is needed
and there is not a cheaper
alternative, like a store brand.
A simple example is if you have a coupon to purchase a can of Green
Giant corn and save $.50, but the store brand corn is $.75 cheaper
than the name brand before any coupons, the better deal is to purchase
the store brand corn.
Other options are store-sponsored savings. This is where the store
offers to give you a free card with an account number. Every time
you shop in that particular branch of stores, you give them the card
or account number during checkout to receive possible discounts. This
is sometimes called a paperless coupon requiring some sort of membership
sign up or obligation. This is a great way to save money but the trade
off is that the store collects the information of what you are buying.
If this does not bother you this is a great opportunity to save money
while shopping.
Never pay for coupons since it is usually against the retailerá˛ules
to accept third party coupons. Read the fine print at the bottom.
If you pay for coupons you are not saving money. You might actually
be spending more. Retailers give coupons away for free in order to
promote a certain item.
Some coupons can lead to impulse or needless spending and will hurt your budget.
There are not special tricks to using coupons, but in order to benefit from
them you must only use the ones that pertain to items that you already buy.
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