Imagine that you are waiting in line at the grocery store and the person in front of you hands the cashier a fistful of coupons. You might think “UH!, of all the lines I could pick from I chose THIS one!” or you might think “I don’t have time for this!”. But have you honestly looked at the person in front of you, with curiosity, to find out how much they saved? I’ll bet that you’d be pretty shocked.
My family and I use coupons everyday, and we’ve seen just about every reaction imaginable from the people behind us in line and from the cashier too. The strangest reaction, however, was when someone said: “You use coupons?… You MUST be POOR!”
Now, that has left me pondering… “Are we poor, because we use coupons?”
To answer that question, I took a look at my family’s financial situation as a whole. We have ZERO consumer debt, a few medical bills here and there, and our home mortgage. We spend about $400 a month on groceries, toiletries, and health & beauty products. That is probably 50% less than the average household who spends $600-$800 on these items. Could we spend as much as other families on their grocery bill? Can we not afford more?
The answer is yes: We COULD spend $600-$800… but we DON’T HAVE TO… Because we use coupons.
You see… while other families spend $600 to get $600 worth of groceries and other stuff, we’re spending $400 to get $4,000 worth of groceries and other stuff. We’ve been tracking our spending and savings for the last year and a half and we managed to have a CONSISTENT savings rate of 85%-92% every month. How can this be? It’s all because of those little coupons!
Using coupons doesn’t mean you’re POOR… it means you’re SMART!
For example, let’s say your family likes Jenni-O Turkey Burgers and you need TWO boxes. One box normally costs $8.59, which means for two boxes you’d pay around $17.18. But if you had two $2.00 off coupons and the boxes were on a buy one get one free sale, you can save a lot of money. Consider the following:
Scenario 1: No Coupons, No Sale
Buy 2 boxes of Jenni-O Turkey Burgers: 2 @ $8.59 each = $17.18
You pay $17.18 for two boxes
Scenario 2: Use Coupons, No Sale
Buy 2 boxes of Jenni-O Turkey Burgers: 2 @ $8.59 each = $17.18
Use 2 $2.00 off coupons: -$4.00
You pay $13.18 for two boxes
Scenario 3: Use Coupons, Buy One Get One Sale
Buy 2 boxes of Jenni-O Turkey Burgers: 2 @ $8.59 BOGO = $8.59
Use 2 $2.00 off coupons: -$4.00
You pay $4.59 for two boxes
Price for EACH: $2.30 a box!
Isn’t it SMARTER to pay $2.30 a box, rather than $8.59 a box? …and this is just ONE ITEM. What if you applied this principle to EVERYTHING you buy?
If you’re in debt, living paycheck-to-paycheck, it’s really worth it to use coupons to improve your situation. The money you save will help make your payments easier. For more information about how to use coupons effectively like this, follow this guide I wrote a couple of years back.
For some offline learning, The “How To Shop For Free” book by couponing expert, Kathy Spencer, is a MUST HAVE!
And finally.. visit www.couponfedfamily.com or www.couponfedfamily.com/facebook to see how my family and I save 90% on just about everything!
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