Save money
I am living proof coupons save money. I use coupons in almost every purchase that I make. Food shopping, clothes shopping, gift buying, going out to eat…you name it, I have a coupon for it. We buy the newspaper every Sunday for grocery coupons. We only buy clothes or housewares when we get a Kohl’s coupon. If we are going out to eat, we check that particular restaurant’s website for savings or discounts. When my family’s cost of living goes up, seemingly on a daily basis, we need to try any way possible to find ways to save money.
Before I was a husband and a homeowner, I never used a coupon in my life. Now that I have a mortgage to pay, a family to support, and a never-ending conveyor belt of bills, I must use every coupon that I can get my hands on. It’s like a scene from a movie in which someone is packing a suitcase to leave and his or her friend wants them to stay. As an article clothing is packed in to the suitcase, the friend removes another article of clothing. The process gets repeated as they debate whether or not he or she should stay. Living under a budget is the same thing. As my property taxes go up, as the price of gas goes up, as the price of food goes up etc etc, I must find ways to lower other expenses. I must find ways to compensate.
It’s extremely difficult. It’s a high-wire act without a safety net. I am torn between making sure my family has everything they need but, as the same time, making sure my essential bills are paid on time. If it wasn’t for coupons, there is no way I could pull this off. In the four years I’ve been married and paying a mortgage, I’ve saved literally thousands on groceries, housewares and pretty much everything else. Whenever I go out to eat with my friends, most of whom are single, they do not understand why I always use a coupon. I don’t blame them. They have no responsibilities and can spend what they want. If they ever get married, then they will understand.
It would be silly for me not to take advantage of the multitude of coupons, discounts and offers that are out there. We have even gotten in to this extreme couponing that we see on TV. It does work for certain items. We don’t buy 100 bottles of antacids for $1.00 but we have used couponing to our advantage. Staying above water when waves are constantly crashing at you is very hard. Thanks to coupons and savvy shopping skills, we’ve been able to stay afloat. I highly recommend the use of coupons, especially if you live under a tight budget like us.
Spend more
Coupons prompt you to spend more than you would otherwise do. Another thing about coupons is that you can only spend them at certain stores – thereby stopping you from shopping anywhere else. This ‘limit’ or ‘boundary’ is something that many people do not like when it comes to coupons. Although they may seem to save you money in the long run, one has to ask the question…are they worth it?
Coupons do save money, but only if you are looking for those items in the first place that the coupons will cover. What many people tend to do is sell on their coupons to someone else who may make use of them. Coupons put too much of a ‘limit’ on the shopper. This is because store coupons only refer to their own ‘store brands’ that they sell.
So, therefore, coupons do not save you money in the long run if you have no need for them in the first place. In fact, in many cases, it is hard to even give them away, because there are limits to what people can get. With coupons you can only spend them at certain stores and, as explained above, are therefore stifled in your shopping experience.
However with cash, or credit cards, there are no such limitations. Shoppers can go were they like, and spend their hard-earned cash in whatever store they happen to be in. With cash the shopper is only limited to how much he or she may have in their wallet or purse.
This is the beauty of cash, that there really is no limitations to were one can shop. However, if the shopper has coupons which are for a certain store, then he or she has to stick to that store. They cannot spend the coupons anywhere else, as then they would not be classed as ‘legal tender’.
This is the downside of coupons and it is why many people do not like them. They are useful only in as much as the shopper who has them NEEDS those items that the coupons cover. Otherwise, they do not save money but rather, waste money instead. This is because then the shopper is tempted to purchase those things on the coupons that they really do not need. This means that they are WASTING money, instead of saving it.
Indeed, there are good and bad sides to coupons. There are many people who collect them, because they do save themselves money. However, these are the people who routinely look for bargains – and can spend time in doing so. Indeed there are many shoppers who have no time at all to look for bargains to be had. They would much rather be able to go into any store they wish, with their cash and spend however much that item costs. Coupons too them serve no purpose and only serve in getting in the way of their ‘shopping experience’.
So, yes, coupons can save the shopper money, but it really depends on whether they are the coupons you want and need. If they are not, then they end up wasting money instead of saving it.