Be Cautious with Coupons

Oh, coupons, how I love them. If used correctly, they can be your best friend; however, if you're not careful they can cause you to spend more than if you bought a generic alternative. I break my coupons down into two categories: grocery coupons and department store coupons. Let's start with department store coupons.

Department Store Coupons:

These are the coupons that I love to hate. Here are some tips for using department store coupons:

1. Use credit card "special rewards" coupons with extreme caution. Try not to use the ones that only give you a discount if you use your store credit card. For example, say you get a Macy's coupon for 10% off when you use your Red Card. This is great if you pay the bill off diligently at the end of the month; however, if you decide to let this purchase linger for even one month your discount has dissipated because of finance charges on your card. If your coupon is for 10% off your purchase, but then you pay 25% interest on it, you've lost your discount and have even paid more than the item would have originally cost in many cases.
2. Combine coupons with clearance sales. Scope the clearance racks. They're located in the back corners of store departments and often, if you have time to look, have some great merchandise. Use your in-store coupon that doesn't require a credit card purchase to combine discounts. If a purse was originally $100 and is 60% off on clearance, you wil pay $40 for the purse. Combine this with a 15% coupon and you'll pay a mere $34 for the purse.

Grocery Coupons

1. Use your grocery coupons at stores that double or triple them. I have a 40 cent coupon for Palm Olive soap that costs $1.99 a bottle. I pay only $1.19 if the store doubles my coupon, and only 79 cents if the store triples my coupon.
2. Combine grocery coupons with sale prices. The Palm Olive in the prior example is on sale for 99 cents. Subtract my 40 cent coupon and I pay only 59 cents for it. If my coupon is doubled I pay a whopping 19 cents. If my coupon is tripled I just got my soap for free!
3. Before using your coupon, figure out if a generic brand of equal quality is less expensive. If I'm buying tin foil and Reynolds brand is $2.49 with my coupon, but ShopRite brand is still $1.99 for the same size and quality, I'm going to go with the brand that saves me 50 cents! The same is true when you are buying fashions and accessories. When I go to Macy's and I have the choice between a plain black Guess t-shirt for $39.99 + 10% off or a Everyday Value t-shirt of comprable style and quality for 19.99 without a coupon, I'm going to opt for the less expensive option and then buy myself a bracelet at Forever 21 as a reward for my thriftiness.

The lesson here, fellow shoppers? Be cautious with your coupons. Comparison shop and look at the fine print in order to avoid spending more than you should.