I posted this several weeks ago but decided it was worth visiting again. Have you ever really thought how far $5.00 will go? After being a couponer so long, I guess I just forgot how much things actually cost. After giving it some real thought, I wondered, how do people get by without couponing?
For example, in this picture are some items I got from a small trip to Publix (yes, Publix, the expensive grocery store!)
Cost to me for these four items (excluding tax because it varies wildly around the country) was $3.93. Yes, $3.93 for the “expensive” mac&cheese, peanut butter and two cans of chunk chicken. And this wasn’t even that “extreme” of a trip. The peanut butter was on sale and I had a coupon. The other items weren’t on sale but I had store and manufacturer coupons to stack and both were expiring and I decided that even without a sale, with stacked coupons it was agood price.
So, there’s my $3.93 worth of groceries. Not even a full $5.00.
For the NON-couponer that walked in there with $5.00, do you know how many of the above items THEY would be able to get?
TWO.
These two items cost $4.64, which was as close as I could get to $5.00 without going over.
So for $.71 less I got TWICE as much with my coupons as the average person could get without.
For the non-couponer, all the items I purchased would cost them $8.68.
Now do you see the savings from couponing?
I pay more attention since I have using coupons than ever before, even saving a little is better than not sving at all. Love your site thanks for all you do to help us out!
I consider myself still rather new to couponing. I started paying attention to them last july and august was my first use of a few coupons. I consider myself as a fair coupon user. I did not realize how much i do rely on coupons until i needed trash bags and a couple other items i have only bought with coupons lately. When i saw what the price was without a sale or a coupon i was shocked. I told my son [i am trying to teach him a little about the saving you can get with coupons] that i am not about to pay that high full price. I would wait. The next week they came on sale. and i saved about $3 per box.. Did not have a coupon that time but i had to buy them. By trying to show someone else what the savings can be and having a few items stocked up [household/personal] has shown me that i save more than i realized
In response to Vicki’s post above……I have quit buying trash bags. I use reusable shopping bags everywhere except Walmart, because they act like they don’t know how to use them. So I use my Walmart bags for my trash. Yes, we do have to take out the trash everyday. But my trash man just requires my trash to be bagged-he didn’t say how! Now the trash is more manageable for my teenager to carry it to the can outside, & I don’t have trash stinking up my house waiting for the bag to get full (because if it’s not full, I’m not wasting a trash bag!)