Everyone wants to cut down on their grocery bills. You can find out many ways to follow a certain strict budget while grocery shopping and one of them is using coupons. Coupons can be found in newspapers, magazine and most of them, with lucrative offers can be found on the web. By using coupons, you can avail discounts on many items. Not only will your grocery bill go down but also, you can get many freebies with certain coupons. By registering with certain websites and blogs, you can also get personalized coupon offers. Unleash the power of coupons upon yourself, and enjoy reduced prices.
Here are the top five coupon myths many of you might have:
1. Coupon collecting is time consuming: This is absolutely not true. Whoever said this has obviously never tried collecting coupons before. Today, there are coupons and offers everywhere you look. You can get them in your daily newspaper, as pamphlets, new restaurant and new grocery store opening coupons and deals, emails, websites, blogs and even your phone! Receipts can also have coupons on them as promotional offers. You should pay attention to where you can find them and store them well.
Before you head out grocery shopping, you must check all your coupons for ones you can use, to reduce your grocery bill. Make sure you don’t throw any coupon away as you never know when one will come in handy. Also, keep a tab on expiry dates.
2. Coupons are for junk food items only: Again, you are clearly not a coupon user if you think this. Most of the coupons available are on items like tooth brush, shampoos, razors, toilet paper etc. Food coupons for cereals, frozen veggies, rice, flour, sugar etc are popularly used. Coupons for gluten free food items can be found as well. The trick is to keep an eye out for these kinds of coupons. Why won’t they be available? After all, the company that sells them also needs those promotional incentives for more business.
3. Using coupons tags as you being cheap: Now, this concept is just naive. Being frugal is called being wise. By saving money on grocery shopping by using coupons, you are adding to your savings. You must have some dream investment you wanted to make or a vacation you have always wanted but couldn’t because of lack of funds. By saving a significant amount of money using coupons, you are bringing yourself steps closer to what you have always wanted.
4. Stores lose money when you buy with coupons: This is not true; the stores actually make money when you make purchases using coupons. The manufacturing company giving away the coupons is giving them away for a reason- he wants people to buy things and improve his sales. The manufacturing company gives away coupons to those products which people won’t usually buy at that season. Lucrative offers always attract customers. By using coupons and buying more items, you are helping the store move inventory off their shelves thus benefiting them financially. They receive a generous percentage of handling fee added to the reimbursed coupon value.
5. When generics are cheaper than branded products, why bother with coupons? You will be missing out on saving a lot of money and quality if you don’t use your coupons on branded products. Yes, generic products are cheaper than branded items. However, the point you are missing is the fact when the branded products are on sale if you buy them using the coupons, you end up buying those items at a price lower than the generic items themselves. The best part is that while the price of generic items will not go lower than it already is, sales on branded items are on at least 3 times a year and you can easily use coupons on them.
6. The Dollar store will save me more money than coupons: Dollar store doesn’t have as many deals and rebates available, or any at all, as other stores. Using coupons you can buy high quality products, which can be availed on top of store deals. You stand to save more with coupons on normal stores than the Dollar store.
7. Using coupons ends up making you buy more: This depends on your own self control after all. If you shop wisely, coupons can save you half the money you thought you would be spending. Buy at the right times, like when sales are on. Do not go buying things you don’t need with coupons. That is something you should be consciously aware about. Coupons are there to help you cut down expenses not do the opposite.
8. Buying with coupons from multiple stores isn’t worth it: You have to do your math here. If you are getting a chance to buy a $50 item for just $10 and you have to spend only $3-4 on gas, then would you be giving up on that deal? Penny wise pound foolish shouldn’t be the deal here. Know your priorities, if you need that product from that other store not that far away then you should buy it with the coupons. That good a deal is a rare opportunity; you should not miss out on deals like that.
The power of coupons should not be underestimated. With those tiny amount coupons, you can end up saving quite a lot. If you utilize this coupon doubling offers on certain items, you might have to pay as little as half price for that item.
A ten minute coupon clipping session can actually help you build up your savings. Coupons for organic foods, milk, fruits, napkins etc, are quite commonly availed, and since these are regularly used items, the coupons are quite handy. If after reading these top 8 coupon myths you are interested in coupons, then you should join mailing lists on the many money saving blogs and manufacturing websites on the web.
