So with this upcoming baby, hubs and I have been discussing the fact that we need to start really buckling down and using coupons, especially because we just added ANOTHER monthly bill to our outgoing income because we had to buy me a new car (check back here for article on car buying later!) So on this beautiful Sunday morning, when the humidity hasn't hit the part of PA we are just yet, I decided to do some legitimate research about extreme couponing with the plans to give it a serious try. While doing this, I came up with some pros and cons, so if any of you are possibly trying to be frugal and save money, here's my own findings.
***I do actually plan to try out couponing to see how much we may save, but I also see some major negatives with it, so don't just assume I'm saying screw couponing***
The Pros of Couponing
1. When done correctly, couponing has promised to save me money on my monthly grocery bill every time I go shopping, to the point I may get free toilet paper and paper towels. If it will also get me free diapers for this baby that I can also possibly donate to a women's shelter or something, I consider that a win-win. Who doesn't love free stuff?
2. By doing a "stock pile" I will run out items less frequently, and will be able to save money on further shopping trips because I'll be able to say, "Ok, we have enough toilet paper to last til next week, when I can buy MORE toilet paper on sale, and with a coupon" rather than going, "shoot.. we're out of toilet paper" and having to pay full price. I don't mind paying sale price, but if I can get it for even cheaper, AWESOME. Having a small stock pile for certain every day items my husband and I use will also help me not have to take as long of grocery trips, or as frequently when the baby comes, and that will be very helpful.
3. You can possibly write off your couponing on your taxes IF AND ONLY IF you donate enough of your items to charity. Like I said above, if I can get a bunch of diapers free and donate them to a local women's shelter than may have mothers with babies, that's a win-win. I'm getting free diapers, AND I'm helping someone else who is having a more difficult time getting diapers for their baby get diapers. Same goes for canned goods, and other items that you can take to a food bank or homless shelter.
That was literally all the pro's I came up with for using coupons. The cons apply to people in general, not just myself.
The Coupon Con's
1. While doing my research, several articles suggested researching different stores sales, and NOT doing your shopping like on the TLC show "Extreme Couponing" where you see a mom with about 4 kids walking the store with her, each having a cart, then they get the register and your biting your nails for whether she's going to get her $300 bill down to $25 using her giant binder sized stack of coupons. Successful couponers are suggesting you go to various stores for your stock pile.
FOR EXAMPLE:
If you get your weekly newspaper ads and find Walmart has toilet paper on sale, and you've got coupons that will drop that price even more, BUT tooth paste isn't on sale there, BUT IT IS at Acme, you should go to Walmart, get your toilet paper, then go to Acme and get your toothpaste.
This is all fine for someone who has the time to go to separate stores for various items, but now you are having to take into account the gas mileage you are using to get these items, just to save money, and if you haven't done your research right, you just drove to another store for nothing.
2. Many of the successful couponers warn that couponing requires a good chunk of your time just to keep yourself organized so you can save money, and you need to be focused. Someone who doesn't work, and has children who are angels may possibly be able to do the organizational portion of this easily. Put on a nice long film for your kids, and do your coupons while they're entertained by Mickey Mouse, or the Octonauts. Someone who doesn't work, that may be doing night classes and is couponing to save for college may be able to easily coupon. HOWEVER, someone with four kids under the age of 6 that is a single parent, might find it more difficult to fit this and shopping at different stores into their daily schedule.
3. Purchasing JUST the inserts is possibly the worst "money saving" tactic I read. Hubs and I live just outside Philadelphia, SO we can get the Philadelphia Inquirer each Sunday from our local Newsstand, or have it delivered. When I started looking for insert subscriptions so I could get JUST the coupons, the different venues for that were priced at 9-20 dollars depending on how many different inserts you got in a week. When we did the math, it was still the same price IF NOT CHEAPER to simply buy the Newspaper, rather than have it delivered. One had shipping costs at almost 7 dollars to send me JUST 8 inserts of coupons, PLUS the price they were charging for the coupons. Another site wanted 11 dollars for shipping but claimed the coupons were free. I'd rather just walk to Wawa and buy an Inquirer... get some sunshine and exercise while I save money.
4. You can't be loyal to brand names. Brand names go on sale less often than store brands apparently... and you also will get less coupons (so I've been told...). This means that if you have special diet needs, then your coupon usage starts being restricted, or if you are someone who is stuck on your brand names, it won't work for you.
NOW with all that said, you can use "coupons.com" and other printable coupon websites on top of buying the newspaper, or getting coupons from family and friends (I will take all coupons family and friends are willing to give by the way...) so that you can try couponing yourself. It's something to try if you want to start stocking up on laundry detergent, toilet paper, etc, but foods that are going to expire, my husband and I have found that doesn't work well with coupons, since there is only 2 of us.
I still plan to give coupons an actual try, but I don't expect to be on Extreme Couponing anytime soon, or that it will be saving it me thousands and thousands of dollars each year.
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