I know it’s be a LONG time since I’ve done my first Couponing 101 post. I intentionally put it off for a while, but have come to the decision that it is time to continue. If you haven’t read my first Couponing 101 post, you can go HERE to read it.
Today’s post is not primarily going to be written by me. I found a great article about coupon misconceptions on a coupon site called WeUseCoupons that I thought was very informative and will be posting that. I thought that it was so good that I have added it to my own coupon class! The truth is that even in my limited time using coupons, I have heard almost every one of these “reasons” why people don’t want to try coupons. Heck, I thought many of these reasons myself before I started. On one hand, I do not feel at all like I need to talk anyone in to using coupons that is not interested…Whether or not you choose to use coupons is totally up to you. It may work for your family and it may not. And I think that my sister in law Shelley hit the nail on the head when she made the observation that when a person is coming up with reason after reason why such and such is not going to work for them, then that’s definitely a sign that they’re not ready or interested in doing it. However, for those people who are somewhat interested in learning how to use coupons, I thought it might be wise to address some of these misconceptions. Just in case there are those who are interested but have these nagging things keeping them from jumping in. In addition to this article, there was a post written by Frugal Living NW today that was on how to save money on “real” food. You can find that article HERE.
So without further adieu, here are the top 10 coupon misconceptions.
Debunking the top 10 coupon myths
Written by “Moonflower”
via WeUseCoupons.com
I think most coupon myths get started by people who don’t understand coupons. It’s sad because it really discourages people who are looking to cut back on one of the leading household bills – your groceries. I hope that I can explain some myths that I have heard over the years and clear some things up.
Myth #1 You can’t save money if a store doesn’t double coupons.
Although the grocery stores in my area double coupons, I know several people who’s stores don’t double or even triple coupons in their area, but they manage to save just as much as everyone else. A couple of my favorite stores to shop at are CVS and Walgreens, who don’t double coupons, but have some fantastic store deals. Often times I find I save more at those stores who don’t double coupons than the stores that do.
Myth #2 Coupons are only for unhealthy, processed, junk food.
There are just as many coupons for good healthy foods as there is for processed foods. Yoplait and Dannon put out coupons regularly for yogurt. You want salad? Dole and Fresh Express love to help you save $1 on bagged salad and Kraft, Ken’s and Paul Newman would never let you go with out dressing for your salad. I personally like stocking up on the frozen veggies rather than canned (which have more salt) and Birds Eye and Green Giant seem more than happy to help you do so. Tyson and Perdue even help you save money on fresh chicken. There are so many other coupons for foods, which I believe are healthy, like good whole grain breads, peanut butter, 100% juices, along with protein and nutrition bars and drinks. Remember, just because your using coupons, you still choose what you eat.
Myth #3 Coupons are for poor people.
Actually, statistics show that middle aged, middle class people who have some sort of collage background are the most likely to use coupons. In fact, people who make below $25,000 are the least likely to use coupons. Even so, when was it such a bad embarrassing thing to save money?
Myth #4 Shopping at discount stores will save you money.
It’s been my experience; stores like Family Dollar and Dollar General are just as expensive as other stores. The difference in them is they don’t have the store deals and sales like other stores. As far as true dollar stores (where everything is a dollar), I personally stopped shopping in them when I started couponing years ago. The reason being, I couldn’t go in there without spending $40 or $50. Those dollars add up fast! Now, I do not doubt that there are some good deals to be had in there, however most of the things I found I could get cheaper or even free elsewhere.
Myth #5 Don’t clip coupons for products you won’t use.
Why not? For one, there are a lot of things I thought I would never buy or use. However, I’ve found that when a deal comes along and I end up getting the product so cheap or even free – I have no problem using most things. In addition, if your friend has a dog and you have a cat, wouldn’t it be nice to swap coupons so you both get more of what you need?
Myth #6 It’s cheaper to buy the store brand product than to buy a name brand product with a coupon.
It is true that store brand is cheaper than name brand. However, store brand is not cheaper than name brand one sale with a coupon. Most of the time I don’t even look at the store brand price cause I know with the sale and my coupons, the name brand is going to be cheaper – or at least the same. For instance, recently I went to Kroger to buy 10 jars of Peter Pan Peanut Butter that was on sale 10/$10. I had 10 $1 coupons, which allowed me to get all 10 jars free. I know that no store brand is going to be cheaper than free – so why look. That’s a silly (but true) example. A better one might be the price of my store brand bread, which is around $1.29. However, Sara Lee Soft & Smooth Bread is on sale for $1.49 and I have $1 coupons, making the bread $.49 cents each. I know there isn’t any bread cheaper than that. (Now, if you are new to coupons, I wouldn’t suggest not looking until you got familiar with your store prices.) Anyways, my point is, in my experience, store sale + coupon = cheaper than store brand.
Myth #7 It’s not worth it to shop at multiple stores.
It can be worth it to shop at multiple stores, depending on how far you have to drive. I am fortunate that the four main stores I shop at are all practically on the same block and 5 minutes from home. You do have to consider your time and gas when choosing to travel to a store for a deal, but it can be worth it if your going to get $80 worth of stuff for $20.
Myth #8 Only use coupons for products you normally buy.
I’ve been couponing for so long I don’t even know what I normally buy anymore. This is due to one of the biggest coupon strategies, which is to not be brand loyal. Usually, I find the case to be I buy products that I would never dream of paying for normally, if that makes sense. By combining store sales, coupons and rebates I get things so cheap or even free, I can’t imagine paying full price for most of the items, I buy.
Myth #9 People who use coupons spend more than people who don’t use coupons.
If you use coupons the correct way, that is, by combining sales and coupons together than you won’t spend more. However, if you are just blindly going to the store and purchasing anything and everything you have a coupon for, especially if the product is not on sale, then yes, of course going to spend more. When I am standing in line and the person in front of me is paying for their cart of groceries that come to $175 dollars for their family of four and when my turn comes, my total is $39, I really don’t see how I am spending more. In addition, I think this idea came about from an article I read awhile back stating that people who use coupons spend more on luxury items. So, people who don’t use coupons never ever buy luxury items?
Myth #10 You can’t save money by spending money.
Well, it depends on how much your spending and what your spending it on. If my store is having a sale on meat for buy one package get one free – it’s worth it to spend a little extra and stock up on meat for a while. If I go over my budget a little that month, I will make up for it in the next month’s buy not having to buy as much meat
So.. I hope I have “debunked” a few of the myths out there..
Please feel free to comment any coupon questions you may have! I promise that I won’t take so long for the next 101 post!
I read an interesting post yesterday about the process of a coupon. If you’re interested in finding out more about the actual life cycle of a coupon, as well as how they should be used go 
The girls were very serious about their job.
This morning (Saturday) I was laying in bed, having some deep theological thoughts. This is not something I do a lot. But it’s Saturday and the kids are still sleeping and there’s no big hurry to get up and out of bed. So I started thinking about a conversation that I read recently; Person A: “Am I a failure?” Person B: “No! Of course you’ve made some mistakes, we all have…but that doesn’t make you a failure.” That was the gist of it anyway. For some reason the answer bothered me. I know it’s a fairly standard answer to that question so I wanted to figure out why. I think maybe it bothered me because it’s not honest. Isn’t screwing up, making bad choices and sinning the definition of the word, “failure”? Doesn’t that make us ALL failures?