Coupons, Good and Bad

Sunday's coupons and grocery store ad

  Coupons can be a very big help for anyones budget, BUT they can also be a very bad thing for your budget. Use your coupons wisely. 

Sources for coupons. 

• Check your store ads, they often have printed store coupons in their ad and are more likely to be on things you will use. Sometimes, what ever day of the week your grocery store ads come out the paper will have coupons to go with the items in the various ads.
• Sunday papers are often our best bet for coupons. Coupons in stores on the shelf by various items are another place to look. I also, always check the shelf by the item I am buying to see if there is a coupon for a similar product I could use instead. 
• I find that I get very good coupons that are printed out with the cash register receipt when I pay for an item. These can’t be used till the next time, but will usually be on an item or similar item to the item you just bought. Cereal companies do this quite often. 
• Be sure if you buy an item with a coupon attached that the clerk removes it and deducts it from your bill. 
• Magazines and online from Major food companies such as Kraft and Pillsbury are another good source. If you have a product you use often, check out their web sites.

  Another problem of course is remembering to take these to the store with you. Most of us have our own method of remembering to do this. I try to sit down with the store ad and make out my list for the week and then go through my coupons and pin them to my list. I then put both in an envelope in my purse where I have kept other coupons I have picked up out of papers and magazines, etc.

That said, the coupon is only of any value if you are using it to buy an item that you will take home and use. I find that I use far less coupons now that I do not have teens at home, and I try not to use any just because it says Buy Ten and Get Ten Dollars Off. If I don’t want ten of any items and won’t use those ten items I have just wasted any savings I might have gotten. 
If you don’t use it, don’t buy it. I can't stress this enough. If you are not going to use that item, you have just wasted your shopping dollar and then will end up giving the item away or throwing it out. 
 There are times when the coupon will be for a new item, in fact some companies send them by email and you can try a new product free. Than if you don’t like it you aren’t out any of your precious shopping dollars. 

  I shudder when I see articles and TV shows about coupon clippers and hoarders. What a waste of your money and time. Are you really going to use all of those items before they are out of date? Do you have the space to store them properly? These points need to be taken into account before using that great coupon or it isn’t a great coupon at all. Our older sister was a hoarder and I often wondered just what she was going to do with all of the items in her pantry.

  In this day of rising grocery prices and shrinking incomes we all need to learn what our parents and grandparents knew, Shop Wisely!