Frugal Living Today

I have said here before on more than one occasion that I am a strong advocate for the use of coupons.  While this remains to be a fact, there are some people out there who have been somehow misled into believing that they are saving tremendous amounts of money by using coupons.

Huh?

Now before I confuse you any further I need to tell you that coupons can save you big money if you are using them correctly.  The group of people I am addressing in the opening paragraph are the people who will purchase items simply because they have a coupon for them - items they would not have otherwise purchased on a normal month.

If this is you and you have a use for the product in question, more power to you.  If however you are buying the item (or items) simply because they are on sale, you should step back and ask yourself if this coupon is saving you more than it is costing you.

For example:
Brand X Pineapple Chunks has a coupon in the Sunday paper for $.75 off on 2 cans.  When you get to the store, you find that Brand X costs $1.97 per can.  Okay, let’s do the math.  $1.97 times 2 is #3.94.  Subtract $.75 and you are left with a cost of $3.19 for two, or a cost of $1.60 per can.

Good deal, right?  Maybe.

Before you buy, take a look at the store brand of the same product.  Many times the regular price of the store brand is considerably less than the price you’d pay for Brand X, even with a coupon.

Now this doesn’t apply to every case and there are people who can get brand name products for less than I can buy generics.  To those people I say come buy my groceries!

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