This was one of the questions I was asked tonight at a coupon workshop. I'd just gotten gotten through displaying a dozen examples of how I'd combined coupon savings with store sales and store coupons, and some of the shopping sprees were pretty impressive. Paying $9 for $190 worth of Covergirl make-up? Awesome. Saving more than $60 on another receipt and paying less than $40? Those are my favorite trips; when the savings exceeds the cost. How about last week's trip to Hy-Vee when I was PAID to take the Jello out of the store? Cool beans.
But seriously, folks, was that really a "savings" if I wasn't going to buy the make-up in the first place? Did I need 15 boxes of Jello? Did I save $180 on make-up or did I spend over $7 in tax alone for make-up I probably wouldn't have purchased if I hadn't had a hand full of $8.00 off two Cover girl product coupons? That's where the "funny math" concept comes in, and we all do it, especially the long-time couponers. No doubt I will use those lip glosses as stocking stuffers for my girls and most definitely it was a thrill to pay so little for so much, but honestly, can I say I saved $180 on makeup, if it wasn't something I was going to buy in the first place?
The 15 boxes of Jello cost me $3.75, after coupons, and a catalina coupon for $5 on my next trip popped out of the register. I have 15 boxes of Jello and a $5 coupon, but I still paid $3.75 for Jello.
Or maybe we buy an $8.99 razor at Walgreens, use a $4 coupon and get back a $4 register rewards coupon and we tell ourselves Hey, I got this razor for just 99-cents!!! Well, not exactly. We still paid $4.99 but we do this funny math in our head when we see the $4 register reward come out of the cash register, subtracting it immediately in our head and thrilling at the thought of a 99-cent razor, conveniently forgetting that we just shelled out a $5 bill and we have to use that $4 catalina coupon in the next two weeks.
So, how much do I actually "save" with my coupons? I've never actually figured it out, but I do know my coupon savings at a store like Walgreens is much more impressive than my average savings at the grocery store. Without access to double coupons, I sometimes save less than 10% at the grocery store. Once in a great while, I don't use any coupon at all. Gasp! The horror! Occasionally, depending upon the sales and the recent coupons, I can save up to 50%, but if I really put some planning into a trip, and the coupons have been exceedingly high-value and the sale prices are really super and the stars and the moon align...well, I have had my share of super savings at the checkout. I am satisfied if I save $20 on a $70 grocery tab. I am thrilled if I save more than I pay. Once in a while I get tired of clipping coupons, watching sale ads and matching up the coupons. Just when I think this couponing hobby isn't worth the time and trouble, some wonderful sale appears like magic and I find myself digging in my coupon file again. Because I like free. I like cheap. I like playing to win the grocery game.
Bottom line: I don't know how much I save. It varies. It depends upon the sales and the coupons available. It depends on how you do the "funny math." Sometimes I load up a cart with products I am buying just because they are free and I wouldn't have bought otherwise. Other times I grit my teeth and pay full price for a product.
But I do know one thing: There is nothing like the feeling, the self-described "high" a couponer gets when all goes as planned on a shopping trip and they walk out the door of a store with a bag full of free merchandise or a cart full of groceries they got for half price with their coupons.
That feeling is priceless.
And there's nothing "funny" about that math.
No comments:
Post a Comment