8 Reasons Why You SHOULD Use Coupons!
This morning, my inbox was full of emails from all of you about an article that appeared today in Yahoo’s Personal Finance section by Amy Fontinelle entitled “8 Reasons Why You Shouldn’t Use Coupons.” Although I am not really surprised that this article was printed (I have often encountered coupon skeptics), I was determined to write something in return. So here is my personal rebuttal entitled “8 Reasons Why You Should Use Coupons.” If you have additional reasons to add, please do so in the comment section below. I will also be emailing the author, Amy, my article in the hopes that she will re-consider her reasons for not couponing.
Amy, if you are reading this, I am personally inviting you to join me on a “Follow You Monday” adventure…you pick the date and the store and I will personally join you with my coupon binder in hand…I guarantee that I will make you a believer in the value of coupons! 😀
**Please keep in mind the sentences that are in bold below are taken directly from “8 Reasons Why You Shouldn’t Use Coupons”
(1) You have to buy a newspaper.
You do NOT have to buy a newspaper to be a couponer. You can snag coupon inserts from family, friends and neighbors who are not avid couponers. In addition, contact local coffee shops and restaurants and ask if you can come by every Sunday evening and recycle their Sunday newspapers; you can then take the inserts and drop the remainder of the newspapers off at a recycling center. And, check out this post here for ways you can snag multiple copies of coupon inserts for free. Finally, be pro-active. Contact your local newspaper and ask if they offer a discount if you buy several Sunday papers each week. Also keep in mind that many coupons do not come from the newspaper but instead are available online. You can access many high value coupons online on sites like Coupons.com, Smartsource.com, and Redplum.com. Even if you pay as high as $0.10 per printed coupon (due to ink costs), it is still worth it as you will save anywhere from $0.35-$5.00+ off the cost of an item.
(2) Clipping coupons takes time.
Clipping coupons does take time, but it is time well spent! According to an MSNBC.com article, the average savings per coupon is $1.44. If we assume it takes a minute to clip and organize one coupon, this means for one minute worth of work, you can save an average of $1.44. So if you spend an hour clipping 60 coupons, you will in essence save $86.40! I would also encourage all of you to check out my Follow You Monday video filmed back in February in Tampa, Florida at a Publix store…after coupons, we spent $3.45 out of pocket for $258.24 worth of items! Now, wouldn’t you agree clipping coupons is well worth your time?!
(3) Getting a newspaper invites lots of additional advertising into your home.
Couponers welcome advertisements because ads allow us to be more informed and savvy shoppers. Staying informed of all the latest ads in your area enables you to decide where to spend your time shopping during the week. In addition, advertisements enable couponers to take advantage of price matching which is available at large stores like Target and Walmart (price matching policies may vary from store to store). Check out my personal price matching story here that depicts how I succeeded in scoring Toy Story 1 and Toy Story 2 Blue Ray Discs for only $6.99 each!
(4) Many of the coupons will be for things you neither need nor want.
Although many of the items may be for things that you do not need or want, you can always find a use for these unneeded/unwanted items. For example, many Hip2Save readers will take personal care items that they snag for free (thank you coupons :D) and donate them to a local charity. Check out this video where I go to the pound and a local Women’s Shelter to donate my freebies. Or consider taking these items and making a nice gift basket for a friend…for example, I was able to put together a gift basket of household and personal care products (that I had snagged for free over the last few months) for a friend who recently purchased her first home. How great is that?!
(5) Coupons can tempt you to spend your grocery dollars on things you shouldn’t
Yes, coupons can tempt you to spend your grocery dollars on things you shouldn’t. SO can an empty stomach, a screaming child, a TV advertisement…the list goes and on and on. For the most part, couponers come to the store prepared with a shopping list in hand and a shopping budget in mind. Staying organized and focused prevents the desire to spend money on unintended items.
(6) The same coupons tend to be offered over and over again.
Thank goodness the same coupons are offered over and over again! In my mind, you can never have enough $3/1 Huggies coupons, right?! And, yes, I do agree with the statement that you often won’t use all the coupons you clip by their expiration date. However, that does not mean that you need to toss the coupons in the trash. Instead, you can put your expired coupons to good use. U.S. military families stationed overseas are able to use coupons on base for up to SIX MONTHS after the manufacturer’s expiration date! So start collecting those expired coupons and check out the post here for information on how and where to send your coupons.
(7) You might become a slave to coupons.
Yes, it is difficult to buy something without a coupon once you get used to using coupons. Knowing that you can get cereal for less than $1 makes it extremely difficult to spend $4+ on it, right?! For this reason, couponers know that when they find a great bargain, they take advantage of the savings opportunity. Couponers stock up on sale items, so that they never have to pay full-price for an item. Check out this stockpiling picture here from a Hip2Save reader.
(8) Shopping takes longer.
Organization is key! An organized couponer will not be in the store any longer than the average person. Check out my post/video found here for tips on coupon organization.
Thanks for this Collin! I read the Yahoo! article after another wonderfully Hip friend of mine posted a link to it earlier today. I was SO mad – it completely infuriated me. Thanks for such a well written, thought out response! You are awesome and this is yet another reason why I love you and Hip2Save!! Thank you so much – truly!!
Well Said!!
Well it just proves some people just don”t get it! You can explain it and they just hate everything to do with coupons…oh well more bargains for me!!!! Thank you for making couponing easier and cooler!!!
Spending a couple of hours per week price-comparing, coupon clipping, and planning is small potatoes because I save enough money to be able to stay home full time with my kids. We’re not wealthy, but because I make my husband’s paychecks count 3 or 4 times over, I get to be with my kids for their milestones, and you can’t put a price on that. Couponing is worth every minute.
I love this!!! Well put! I currently work full time and don’t have any kids yet but I am planning ahead big time so I can be like you! 🙂
Very well said! I would like to add that it teaches our children the value of the dollar, budgets, math, pre planning, and I’m sure other things I can’t think of.
absolutely… I agree completely! Seeing my 7 year old and the rest of my family become excited about couponing and saving money is super encouraging for me as well! Thanks Collin for all you do 🙂 On a side note, I think of it like this… at one time I would go to local Dollar Tree stores (not that there’s anything wrong with Dollar Tree stores) and try to purchase the things I needed there and then whatever I couldn’t get there I’d go to another grocery store or big chain one-stop-shop stores to get the remaining things we needed. Since couponing I hardly ever get to the Dollar Tree and typically find myself spending far less money for name brand products!
not to mention shows the kids how to plan meals, organize items, and keep a wel stocked pantry for any emergencies, and if you are like me and give back it totally teaches the kids the value of helping others while not putting yourselves in a negative position.
I am in the same position. Without coupons I would have to work full time. Instead I get to be passionate about my beautiful daughter and saving money! We have a wonderful lifestyle thanks to coupons and sales. It amazes me that people would rather use off brand items to save money instead of getting many name brand times cheap or free!
Good job Collin! That was a very well-written response to the Yahoo article. You made a very strong argument and your point was clear: Couponing is necessary and worth it! I will continue to coupon until I’m a millionaire!
AMEN!
I saw the article earlier today, but just laughed and said to myself….”she doesn’t follow Collin’s blog or she’d be singing a different tune!”
Awesome rebuttal…although if less people use coupons that means more on the shelves @ CVS for us 🙂
I can’t believe they would even print that article in today’s economy!
I saw this and thought, well, that’s their loss! More bargains for us Hip2Save girls (and guys!) 🙂
LOVE IT. My husband was a skeptic until I found your site and decided to get serious about coupons. I would usually spend $150 and save $1 or $2. Now I save over $30 on each trip. He still complains that he has too many of this or that but I say if I get it for free or pennies and we use it then I buy when on sale combined with a coupon. He is now asking me if I have a coupon for anything we are planning on buying. He saw a commercial for http://www.tryV8.com to get a $1 off coupon and told me I better get that. He is a convert 🙂 Thank you Collin for making couponing and saving my family money so much easier than I ever thought it was.
I thought the yahoo article’s resons were trivial. She could not find any compelling reasons NOT to save money. I have no idea why someone would try discourage and disvalue coupons.
Clearly, Amy Fontinelle never used coupons in her life. Thank you Collin for your response.
I use to think the samething about coupons a waste of time, until my hubby got laid off and I found you, I started learning from you and others on here and now I can buy things for little or no money at all. I also get all the freebies you post and the deals, I bought 4 Nivia body washes this morning for 1.00 a bottle. The extras I get I give to our local Crisis control…..
I personally thought this article and her arguments for her reasons not to coupon were very weak. Collin singlehandedly just shot down every point, and I can think of more she could have added! Sounds like maybe this writer’s never had to have a strict grocery budget or think about saving money, maybe???? No, couponing is NOT for everyone, but I recently heard that up to 80% of all shoppers use at least one coupon a week (please, someone correct me if that stat is incorrect— I’m sure it could be!). I just think that if someone wants to write an article about why you shouldn’t do something, it should be a little better informed, that’s all!
I’m sorry…but if Warren Buffet…one of the RICHEST men in the world say “if you’re not couponing…you better start”…everyone who is worth LESS than him should as well. I’ll go out on a ledge to say that the author of the article is worth less than a few BILLION dollars!
Collin .. well said! Some people are always looking at the negative side of things in life instead of the positive! When it comes to couponing, the POSITIVE out weighs the negative by a land slide. I just purchased $498.00 dollars of grocery, household and personal hygiene items for $184 at Krogers. A 67 % savings of $324.00! Now, who wouldn’t want to saving over $300?? It’s all about educating people … some want to learn and apply the techniques learned and some just will not! Oh well … their loss!
You go, Collin!!
Well said, Collin!!
Great response Collin! Can you imagine not using coupons???? That’s like refusing to pick money off a money tree! LOL! Since money trees don’t really exist, I will keep clipping and printing coupons. My husband tells people that I print money! It allows me to stretch our dollars. It saves us so much in fact that I am looking forward to being able to stay home with our new baby. After couponing with you for about 9 months, I have such a great stockpile of items that I was able to get for free or close to free that we don’t have to spend money on the majority of our staple items unless it’s now free or we are making money buying the item. My grocery bill has gone down from $100 a week to under $20 a week! I am also 1/3 of the way finished with my Christmas shopping and it’s only July. I have great gifts for my friends and family and I spent a fraction of the cost I would normally spend. Christmas won’t be a financial stress for me ever again! My neighbors are so impressed with my savings that they have suggested that I give classes on how to coupon and shop. I for one will never stop couponing! Coupons=cash and I am not in the business of throwing away cash! 🙂
Wow, I’m SO impressed that your spending under $20 a week. I’ve been couponing for 7 months and have gone down $100 a month on my grocery budget ($350/mo for a family of 4), but every month I keep trying to get it lower. And I know I can! It’s impressive to hear how little other people are able to spend (even taking into consideration # of people in the family, etc). Very cool!
Well-said, Collin! I read that article this morning and it INFURIATED me. It was so ill-informed and belittling, and obviously written by someone who had no clue about couponing, looked down upon couponers, and obviously didn’t need to use coupons to help her stay within her budget (as I do – couponing has been a lifesaver for me in these lean economic times!) Thank you for saying what needed to be said (and being much nicer about it than I think I could have been!) 🙂
So … maybe it does take me 5 minutes (give or take) longer while at the store to check and make sure I’ve covered all my coupons, that 5 minutes is so worth it! Who doesn’t have 5 minutes to spare? (By the way, I just got an 8-pack of Bounty paper towels at CVS for $1.34 with combining coupons and “bonus bucks” … it’s my best “score” yet! My husband and I are so thrilled!)
Thank you for posting a rebuttle. There are a lot of coupon skeptics and I say its their loss. While I can understand Amy’s perspective, she is ONLY considering hers. Couponing can be a lot of work and I think it depends on the individual on how much they are going to work to make coupons work for them. I think you had some excellent points and I will be sharing this with my family and friends… aka coupon skeptics. Thanks again for all you do!
I love you even more now! I really hope she takes you up on your challenge.
Yay Collin! I read this article this morning and thought it was absurd and funny. I am glad you decided to write about it. My she-hero!
That lady is a nut! This weekend, I drove up north to pick up my son, he had stayed 2 weeks with Gramma and Grampa.
For the first time, no kid, no dog – I did some “shopping” along the way up. I stopped at VG’s and Krogers, Fenton & Frankenmuth respectively – where they double to $1.
My entire OOP for the weekend (stopped on the way home too) was less than $34. I also have 2 rebates for $2.50 each to submit – so $29.
I used…..DRUMROLL PLEASE…..$247 IN COUPONS!!!!!
I was able to unload everything at my mom’s and let her and my dad “shop” the back of my van. I filled them up on shaving cream, Qtips, deoderant, toothbrushes, Miracle Whip, Oriental noodles, bread, and tons more. Still took a vanload home, but I also dropped off $400 in stuff to our local Salvation Army Food Pantry last week. That included mostly personal care items, razors and the like – that cost me next to nothing.
LONG LIVE THE COUPON!!!!!
I read that article, and I honestly think they were just trying to fill some time in, because alot of that stuff makes no sense at all. that said, the slickdealers mentality IS the less that know about something, the more for me!
“Instead, you can put your expired coupons to good use. U.S. military families stationed overseas are able to use coupons on base for up to SIX MONTHS after the manufacturer’s expiration date!”
For me, the above is the BEST reason to coupon. I clip as many as I find. I use a handful and all the rest go to military families. Why throw something in the trash that can be used to save money by our military families living overseas.
I hadn’t heard of sending expired coupons to military families overseas- how wonderful!! I’ll be sending mine for sure! I must not have the art down yet because I do spend more time coupon shopping than I do without coupons, but the savings is definitely worth it. Especially when a little extra time means cheap or free items that we need!
My goodness!! Not using coupons in this economy is CRAZY! Yes they take time, yes I go to more stores than before, YES I have more money at the end of my trip!! So many moms and saavy couponers have more time than money. I have an hour to clip coupons a week -which could save $100.00 bucks or more. I do not have time to go earn $100 and find daycare for my darling little ones. I hope you can take Amy out couponing! I have never bought a paper- my family knows to save them. The amount of free things I have scored have been well worth my time. I mean at times diapers for $2.00? Free Razors? Before couponing I used disposables and never wanted to change them because I thought they cost money. Now I have so many nice ones waiting in line to be used and I spent nothing on them. Good thinking Yahoo Finance. Obviously, none of them have been on a tight budget.
The AJC sends out a small paper on Thursdays to non-subscribers in the area. Inside are all of the coupon inserts for the upcoming week. Since most of my neighbors consider this “junk” they gladly allow me to pick them up from the driveway and keep the inserts and recycle the rest of the paper!
I do this, too! I can’t stand it when I see an Evening Edge out in somebodys drive way for days because I just keep thinking, “Don’t you know there’s COUPONS in there?”
Amy Fontinelle has a blog and claims to use the Couponmom method. I would love to know why she wrote this article.
I was just coming to post this. Me thinkith she wants the deals all to herself!
That is hilarious! Good spotting – like topchief2 had said above this article was probally a filler piece.
I have only been couponing for a few months now and LOVE it!! How could you not!? I make money every month too. This month I am getting back over $100 in rebates – and the month isn’t over! I will end up making over $80+ (so far anyway) and I LOVE that! As does my husband. I am able to stay home with my 5, yes 5 kids and able to feed our family on an average of $30 a week (give or take a few $’s) and that is amazing to me! I also started a coupon class/group that meets weekly and it’s been really fun to get together with other mom’s during the day. Our kids love having friends over too. Thanks for all you do. Collin… I LOVE hip2save!!
Thank you Collin! Clearly this person makes serious bank and does not see the need to save money. She should take a look at some of our spreadsheet budgets before posting something so false. I also think this person must have no self control. Its called smart shopping and even if you were not couponing, you would not just buy whatever. I couldn’t even read all of her false filth. It sounds like a person who never got a news paper subscription (which is cheaper then buying it from a store). She clearly does not coupon. I dont spend hours clipping. Like another person pointed out I can take my family of 5 on one income paycheck and I can buy so much more HEALTHY FOOD. More deals for us SMART SHOPPERS!
Thanks for your REWRITE on this! Much better now! Send it to Yahoo to print that!
Here’s a link to another article by this same author…
https://www.savingadvice.com/articles/2009/05/23/104615_how-much-10-common-grocery-items-cost-savvy-shoppers.html
She sure is singing a different tune here! I find it to be careless journalism and it comes off bad for whomever posts her articles. So Ms. Fontinelle, which way is it?
LOL, that’s funny!
WOW! I can’t believe someone wrote an article like that! Although, I have had many friends and family members stick their nose up to coupons, and then when I show them my receipts or tell them how much I save, they look at me like “how did you do that?!” I’ve turned so mnay of my friends/family members on to coupons, I don’t know who would want to live without them!! 🙂 Nicely written, Collin! You go girl!
Wow, that was one of the most unintelligent, poorly researched articles I’ve read in a long time. Your response is perfect Collin, this nitwit “writer” might be too thick to benefit from it but hopefully you’ll reach some of the new to couponing folks that read that and got discouraged.
Awesome rebuttal, I haven’t read the article (but will in a minute). I remember not using coupons and now, I can’t imagine not using them, following sales, and buying clothes on sale or at a second-hand store.
Some days it may take me longer to clip coupons and plan, but that extra time is well worth it. Dh brags to his coworkers how much I spent for $32 worth of items at CVS in May. This is what works for us and I’m sticking to it.
Thanks to learning coupon techniques and clipping coupons was able to use Bj’s coupons at Publix………….Bought 7 packs of 6 double rolls Cottonelle bathroom paper, 4 herbal essence shampoos, 3/10 pacs of mechanical pencils, 2 (20ct) glad odor shield glad bags and 2/ 4 packs of highlighters and my receipt rang up $2.08……..Love, Love couponing and my husband appreciates it very much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Go HIP2SAVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You rock!!!!!!!!!
I would LOVE to know a breakdown of just how you did this. Just getting the 7 packs of toliet paper at $2.07 would have blown my mind but you got tons of other things as well. Please do break this down!
from the bj’s back to school…..there is a $4.00 for cottonelle, and it was on special at publix for $3.49, also got from bj’s book a $2.00 herbal essence coupon, they are on special at publix for 1.99..
trash bags were 2 for $7.00, used 2/$3.00 coupon from bj’s flyer (pd 50 cents for each bx.)
the mechanical pencils were 3 for $3.00 had a Q from target for $1.00
the highlighters were b1g1 at 2.99 had another Q from Target
#6 is tooo funny! How on earth could having repeat coupons for brands I like be considered a disadvantage? Saying it’s a disadvantage if you like variety is an even bigger joke. Maufacturers put out their biggest coupons for their newest products, to get you to try them. Add to this the fact that stores put the newest products on sale for the same reason and you can try new products cheap or free. Case in point: Kellogg’s Cinnabon cereal. It’s new, so my store had it on sale for 1.99. Kellogg’s put out a manufacturer’s coupon for $1 off one box. I might not risk trying a new product at the regular price of 3.99 a box, but for .99 I’m not out much if my kids don’t like it. (They did.)
BTW, I’ve figured out how much time I spend on couponing, and how much I save. Based on that, I price my coupon “work time” at $25 per hour. Not bad at all.
I love this!!!
The Yahoo article isn’t that big of a deal. There were actually a bunch of great points made. Couponing isn’t for everyone which just make sense. Also, if people don’t want to coupon, GREAT. It just means that I’ll be more likely to find the items I want for the good deals if fewer people are interested. So let people not coupon because of the article- fine with me!
I have a couple of things to point out- #1 with a family of seven if it weren’t for coupons we wouldn’t eat nearly as well as we do (and we eat pretty darn spectacularly thanks to my couponing hobby!) #2. Since we’re saving so much time with our cell phones, blackberries, computers and other various doohickeys (the technical term, lol)- what a few minutes to recoup some of the money these fancy time savers are costing us? #3. For me, this is a hobby, a personal challenge, something that i derive pleasure and enjoyment from. Hobbies often aren’t particularly productive or useful, but I’m glad mine is. And finally, I think some people, who can’t figure it out or understand something feel the need to try and rain on it for everyone else.
Using coupons helps us to get items for cheap (or free!) that we would ordinarily consider a luxury. We have a nice stockpile of items we use often, and we are also saving money for a rainy day.
My husband was a couponing skeptic until I showed him a receipt from one of my shopping trips to Target. I had spent $19.67 and saved $222.45!!! He was so happy with my savings that he said we should frame that receipt. My savings are not always that dramatic, but this weekend at CVS, I spent $0.65 and saved $41.66!!!
I usually spend about 30 minutes per store preparing for a shopping trip. I shop quickly because I stick to my list, and I am good at avoiding impulse purchases. Hip2Save makes it possible for me to spend a small amount of time getting ready for a shopping trip that yields HUGE savings. This is a real contrast to the way I used to do couponing years ago, when I would clip every single coupon and hunt for every bargain myself. I love Hip2Save! It’s a great resource, and it helps our family save A LOT of money. Thanks for all you do, Collin!
So many times when I use coupons I hear other shoppers and cashiers say “Wow…you did really good….I need to start clipping coupons”. Maybe this article was written by and intended for those who feel guilty for not taking the time to clip. When I first got married I tried couponing and decided it wasn’t for me but I now know I was doing it all wrong. I didnt know you could combine coupons with sales, knew nothing about EBCs or RRs and back then there were no printable coupons. Since I started clipping again this past Feb. I have saved so much money! I can honestly say that I have more than cut my grocery bill in half and its like my husband says….it seems like our shelves are twice as full! I love couponing and I LOVE this site. Keep up the good work Collin!!!!
Love it! Great job Colin!
Couldnt have said it better! Thank you so much for that! I can’t belive someone actually thinks using coupons is a bad thing! Wow! I can’t imagine not using them now that I have gotten into it. Who doesn’t want to save money?!
I’ve found a lot of “anti-couponers” feel like they are better than people that coupon. I just read a comment by a PREGNANT woman that she doesn’t have time to go to “a bunch of stores”. Honey, now is the time to stock up on diapers, learn how to play the sales etc. The other day I went to 3 stores. 2 are in the same shopping strip so I walked. Total time: 1 hour. Money saved? probably over $100. (I got 4 reams of paper, for example, for $2.02. )
Great rebuttal, Colin.
Anyone else find #7 especially infuriating? “Knowing that you can get ice cream for $2.50 might make it difficult for you to spend $4 on it even though many times, it would be worth it to spend the extra $1.50 rather than pine for ice cream and cast longing glances at your freezer every night for three weeks until your next coupon arrives.”
Well now, here’s a thought, waiting to make a purchase until the price matches your perceived value of the item instead of succumbing to instant gratification?! If you cave for ice cream, why not that flat screen tv, or car, or house? I don’t think that’s an exaggeration, do you? Does couponing make it painful for me to pay full price for anything? Sure, but I’d also like to think it makes me disciplined.