Some people are great at using coupons. They get a weekly coupon book in the mail, and the next day they’re talking about having saved hundreds of dollars. Every time you try to use coupons, you either see no real difference, or you wind up spending more than you would have otherwise.
How do they do it? The fact of the matter is, using coupons effectively takes a certain amount of skill. You can learn that skill, but not everyone just starts off with it. As long as you’re willing to learn, however, you should be able to pick it up in no time.
First, make a grocery list. Part of using coupons effectively is using coupons to buy things you already were going to buy for things like cartridges. Don’t buy things just because there’s a coupon for it, that’s how you wind up spending more money. Fifty cents off a three dollar carton of ice cream would be a great deal unless you weren’t going to buy the ice cream in the first place. Then all it did was make you spend $2.50 you weren’t going to spend before. Making a grocery list will help you figure out what you need, and then you can go about looking for coupons for it.
Secondly, don’t get so attached to specific brands. If you need garbage bags, and you like one brand, but there’s a coupon on a different brand? Be willing to grab the different brand. It’s true that sometimes one brand of a product genuinely is better than another, but if your goal is to effectively use coupons, then you’ll have to be willing to compromise a bit. Instead of keeping to brand loyalty, think about the fact that another brand is being kind enough to offer you a lower price, just for trying them out.
Lastly, try to do all of your shopping in one go. This one is often the most difficult because shopping is a long, tedious task. However, doing it all in one go keeps you from going back for “just one more thing” and ending up with another cartload of stuff. Modern grocery stores are designed in such a way as to mentally trick people into buying more things. This is simply how stores work these days. So if you get all of your shopping done at once, you won’t have to go through the aisles and shelves a second time, trying to ignore all the food items you don’t really need but might randomly decide you want.
Following these three tips will help you to use coupons more effectively. It takes a bit of work, a bit of time, and a whole lot of attention, but you can truly save a great deal of money. Don’t give up hope on coupons just because they never work for you. Learn how to use them properly, and you’ll soon be walking out of the grocery store talking about how you saved hundreds of dollars with the right discount!