Do you use coupons?

I have never been a big coupon cutting individual, but I see so many people saving lots of money doing it.  I am excited to have Becki and Vera of BandVSaving.com guest post today. I have to admit that I fit into a couple of these myth busting points.  I hope you will learn as much as I have.

Myth Busting By: B and V Savings

I am sure you heard all the sayings such as couponers are cheap; only eat junk food, and about a million other negatives. People think that every shopping trip is going to be like TLC's Extreme Couponing, buying 100 bottles of mustard.  So let's start busting those myths!

Coupons are only for junk foods:  Not true.  It is completely understandable to think that shopping organic is a bit harder, but it is not impossible. Almost every store you visit now a days has Organic products.  Now I will show you how to get your hands on those Organic coupons and how to use them to get the best bang for your buck.  Here is a simple formula:

Sales + store coupon + manufacturers coupon = rock bottom prices.

Coupon users are poor:  This is simply NOT true, while some people who are not financially healthy use coupons, so do those making over $100,000 a year.  In fact, household incomes over $100,000 annually are twice as likely to use coupons as those households bringing in $35,000.  Think of it like this, wealthy people are not wealthy by spending all of their money, but saving what they have.  I firmly believe that a household that makes $35,000, if given the proper tools, may become wealthy, but it won't be over night or without a little work.

Clipping Coupons takes too much time:  WRONG!  Coupons today are everywhere and you almost have to go out of your way to avoid them.  In addition to weekly coupons in your Sunday paper, you can also find coupons in magazines, manufacturer’s websites, on the back of receipts, fast food packaging, social media sites (like Facebook or Twitter), in your e-mail and even on your cell phone!

The Store Brand is Cheaper:  While in some cases this may be true, because more and more stores are putting out store brand coupons, in most it is not.  Remember, the goal is to maximize your savings, use your coupon with a sale price, to get the lowest price.  If you compare the two, I think you'd be surprised to find which one is cheaper.

You can only buy junk with coupons:  That's a huge misconception, while there may be an abundance of coupons available for non-healthy food, there are also tons of coupons for frozen veggies, bagged salads, lean meats and other items you may need like cleaning supplies, diapers, pet food, etc.  You may have to look a little further, but the savings ARE there for you.

Coupons make you buy things you don't need:  OK, let's pause and laugh for a second, has a piece of paper ever made you do anything?  I think not, while it may make you want to try something you may not have normally, it isn't making you buy anything.  It is all our own decision what products we purchase you can avoid buying something you don't need or won't use.

Here are some great examples of saving with healthier foods and companies.  

 

Mambo Sprouts - This is a fantastic site! They have only organic coupons that you can print out.

Facebook – There are plenty of manufactures offering coupons on Facebook, pretty good ones too if I might ad. For example Del Monte is offering a coupon for $0.50 off one Fresh Del Monte Pineapple.​ Depending on your store coupon policy they will double that coupon making it $1.00 off the item. Vons Store doubles ONE like coupon per transaction, up to $1.00. 

Manufacturer Website- This is a great resource for coupons. For example, on the Earthbound Farm website you can find a coupon for $0.75/1 EarthBound Farm Organic Product printable.
 

Contacting Companies Direct - You can contact companies over the internet by going to their Contact Us section. If you kill them with kindness then slip in there a little something like “would you happen to have any coupons that you can send,” 9 times out of 10 they will send you some coupons.

Stonyfield – This is a great company that offer a rewards programs where when you accumulate a certain amount of point, you can redeem them for FREE yogurt. :)  They have coupons that you can print right off their site.

Sunday Paper - Yes there are coupons for junk foods but there are also really good coupons. One example is about a month ago, the one of the Red Plum inserts; there was a coupon for a FREE Good ‘n Natural Bar up to $1.19. CVS had them on sale for $0.99 so I received them for free :)

Happy Savings!

B & V Savings strive to bring you the very best (and most reliable coupons, samples and freebies around. Together we have saved our families over $10,000 in groceries last year. Our goal is to spread our knowledge and tools to help you save.