You’ve heard the excuses to keep spending more money than you need to.
You know which excuses I’m talking about. The “I don’t have time to clip coupons” excuse. (It might interfere with watching tv). Then there’s the “coupons are no good anyway, the food is all processed and unhealthy” excuse. Apparently those folks have never heard of Mambo Sprouts, or the great deals you can get in store on meat, produce and dairy when you shop carefully.
There’s the “you can’t really save money because those products are always more expensive” excuse. The “I only see coupons for things I don’t use” excuse. The “It’s a gimmick, the stores ought to charge less anyway” excuse.
OK, well, here are the answers to those excuses.
1. No time. Do you have time to work, clean, make money, prepare food? Your money is valuable, and your time is valuable. You have time to watch tv, wait in the car for your kids to be done with afterschool activities, commute on a train or bus, goof around with social networking. If you have a high school age child in track and field and you attend those events, you know a thing or two about waiting around for several hours. You have time. Time is money. If you don’t have time to clip coupons these days, you’re rich and don’t mind kissing your money goodbye.
2. Coupons are unhealthy. If that is true, the free dishwashing liquid and toothpaste in my stockpile are going to be the death of me. Unless you are totally committed to a macrobiotic diet, you probably aren’t eating everything that is “healthy”. There are coupons for things like bagged salads, cherry tomatoes, organic cereal, snacks found in health food stores, vitamins, diabetic supplies, nutritional supplements, and money off produce, meat, and milk when you buy certain items.
3. You can’t really save money because the products cost more. If the generic is half the regular price, but the manufacturer’s item is on sale, I have a coupon, and there is a rebate on the item, which do you think actually costs less? Which do you think I am going to stockpile so I don’t run out and have to buy it when it really is more expensive?
4. I only see coupons for things I don’t use. You’re not really looking. Before you throw out the ads on any Sunday, really look. If you don’t use dishwashing or laundry detergent, toothpaste, mouthwash, soap, rice, canned or frozen veges, coffee, fruit juice, then you really are unusual. we’ll assume that you bake everything from scratch and don’t use cake mixes, bisquick, brand name flour, yeast, corn starch. After all, if you don’t have time to clip coupons and never use convenience foods, you must spending a lot of time in the kitchen making your own cakes, sauces, salad dressings, breads, and canning your own foods (without using the occasional coupon for canning supplies). You might never use a diaper coupon because you use cloth, but chances are you are buying wipes, lotions, first aid supplies, antiseptic creams – and all those cost less with coupons on sale at a rebate friendly store like CVS or Walgreens.
5. It’s a gimmick, you’re better off shopping at the store that charges less. While it is true that some local dollar stores don’t accept coupons, they also don’t have the selection of products, and many off brands don’t measure up to the quality. Now really, aren’t you better off shopping at the store with the lowest price and using a coupon? Aren’t you better off when you can stack the in store coupon with the manufacturer coupon and walk away with the item for free or at least half off?
Many of these excuses are left over from the old media generated mommy wars days. With the current state of the economy, you’re not seeing too much coverage of the so called mommy wars since so many families are happy to have parents working at all. The old idea was that the “working” mommies were busy out making money and spending quality time with their families, while the stay at home mommies were spending money, clipping coupons, and feeding their kids junk food. That was a dumb idea then, and it still is.
Excuses, excuses, excuses. Who needs an excuse to waste money?
What You May Or May Not Know About Coupons
Combining Manufacturers Coupons and Store Coupons