Punny Money’s Grand Coupon Experiment, Finale
Author: Nick
Category: Money
Topics: coupons, food, frugality
It’s been a while since I’ve reported on our progress using coupons to save us money on groceries, and there’s a good reason for that. Okay, maybe not a good reason as much as a really bad one: we gave up on coupons.
The reasons I gave earlier for why I suspected coupons would not work for us are still valid. Clipping coupons took too much time and just isn’t suited to our two-person, generic-loving, produce-munching shopping lifestyle.
I tried my best. I really did. I bought newspapers every week, sometimes even if it meant a trip to the store on a day we didn’t need groceries. I poured over them, desperately trying to find coupons for items we use. At some points I was tempted to clip coupons for chips or TV dinners or other things we don’t typically eat, but this would’ve translated to spending more money than normal to save a little.
Several weeks went by where I clipped fewer than two coupons from the Sunday paper–not even enough to cover the cost of the paper, let alone the time I spent doing the clipping. That’s when I decided to call it quits and throw in the scissors.
I hesitate to call this experiment a failure because it simply proved the hypothesis I had going into it that coupons aren’t for everyone. And while I respect those for whom coupons are a saving grace on shopping days, I also encourage everybody to closely examine their grocery spending and make sure they aren’t just buying products because they have coupons for them. If you are, then you’re simply spending in order to “save.”
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6 Responses »
1.
Clever Dude
January 25th, 2007 at 9:48 pm
That’s why you just get the 4-pack of Spam and 8-pack of Spaghettios at Sam’s Club every 2 weeks and you’re set on protein. And then just invite your neighbors over and ask them to bring rolls. They’ll end up bringing giant rolls from Safeway and you’ll eat 2 of them, which is your carbs for the month.
2.
Mission Debt Freedom
January 26th, 2007 at 8:52 am
Excellent points! We are on a coupon trial ourselves, and try to only match coupons to things already on our list. Like you mentioned, it doesn’t always work that way!
3.
MossySF
January 28th, 2007 at 1:07 pm
Here’s a post from a successful coupon “clipper” who simply just buys the relevant coupons from coupon brokers.
http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2007/01/27/coupon-brokers-take-the-work-out-of-clipping-coupons/
4.
LivingAlmostLarge
March 1st, 2007 at 8:17 pm
I just posted on your first coupon article and I wrote in detail my list for a week for the DINK couple in a high COLA area who love generic, shop at costco for meat (once a week), and buy stuff from costco once every 6 months or 2 years.
I do not save money by couponing and coupon shoppers came to my site couldn’t help me save money. Why? Because of what I eat and DO NOT eat. I will not eat crap food to save money. I am very conscious about my health and what I put in my body. I will not go and eat hot dogs, prepackaged foods, chips, tv dinners, frozen foods, in my cart because it’s cheaper than my chicken breast, salmon, tilapia, steak, and pork. Or it’s cheaper than my lettuce, veggies, etc. And you don’t need to buy salad dressing you make it with basalmic vinegar and EVOO.
And make your own bread and pasta it tastes better. I like things fresh. I grew up eating like this and I might add we’re not fat. I could lose a bit to become super thin, but it’s not terrible. Our one indulgence is soda. Maybe part of the weight problem in the US is due to the fact people eat out a lot, and coupon shop for prepackaged gross food.
By the way our families live a long time eating the way we eat. Long meaing 90+ years old. So perhaps watching what you eat is worth it.
5.
Peete
April 21st, 2007 at 1:03 am
Greetings:
I am glad to see that I am not the only person that does not seem to have much luck using coupons. Like you we fall in to the “Why Coupons Don’t Work For Some People (Like Us)” category.
MossySF–the article link you mentioned might be a good solution for us. I’m glad you left it,,, I’m definitely going to check it out.
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