Are you cutting less coupons? Via Shutterstock
The number of coupons used by consumers last year dipped 17 percent, reports Time Moneyland. It’s not that we’ve suddenly become richer or that there’s less coupons to be found. There’s actually a lot more coupons, but not for the products we want. I’ve seen my coupon use decline. Have you?
Below I share five reasons why I’m not a diehard coupon user.
- Coupons are only available for processed junk. I’ve NEVER seen coupons for fruits and veggies (that aren’t swimming in syrup). Have you? This is the main reason I’m not clipping coupons. I’m not a health-nut, but I am trying to stay way from processed food as it can end up costing me when the medical bills start rolling in.
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Coupons are meant to hook you on new products. Manufactures give out coupons because they know they’ll reach new customers that way. Once I’m hooked, I’ll be tempted to run out and buy their product at full price. I have very little self-control.
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Coupons encourage over-buying. Most of the coupons I find stipulate you must buy several boxes of the items to get a few cents off. Not a great bargain, in my opinion.
- Time investment vs. saving is low. It takes time to clip and scour weekly adds to match them up to get awesome savings. As I see it, I could be making money instead of clipping. Is clipping coupons worth your time? Here’s how to figure it out. Simply, add up your coupon savings and compare it to the amount of money you could be making. I do keep an eye out for particularly good deals when I write our weekly grocery coupon match up for 14 stores posts.
- You must pay for coupons. To get coupons, you must buy your Sunday newspaper. I gave up my weekly subscription a couple years ago. You could also use printable coupons, but many stores in my area don’t take them. If you have time, here’s one way to find coupons you actually want to use!
To clip or not to clip?
I’m not trying to discourage anyone from clipping coupons. If they work for you — that’s great! I’m just in a growing group of people that are putting the scissors down. I’d love to hear whether your coupon clipping habits have changed over time and why!
Have you noticed there are fewer grocery coupons and more non-food coupons available?!
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Welcome to Bargain Babe! I’m Mara, and I’m so glad you’re here. I am an obsessive bargain hunter and penny pincher, and I am determined to live a full life without EVER paying full price.
It’s like discounting (no pun actually intended) everything this site is about! I imagine you’re going to get a lot of push-back here.
As far as buying the paper, it’s only $0.50 per week (yearly deal) and I get about $5.00 worth of coupons, sometimes more, each week. Smartsource.com, Redplum,com, Coupons.com, etc, all free. I’ve never run into a situation where stores don’t take them (and I think we live in the same neighborhood?)
Some of the coupons are for “overprocessed junk” but there are also Olay Daily Facials ($3.00 off) and RoC (which can be expensive – stack these with Ulta and you have a real bargain). These are just a couple of coupons in my wallet along with Yoplait, Glade, Kroger bagged apples, Kroger organic herbs, Tidy Cat litter and more.
We eat very healthfully in our house and can often find coupons that help that out (Morningstar Farms, Laughing Cow, etc.)
Besides, every once in a while you need just a little overpriced junk. My partner won’t eat any peanut butter but Skippy despite his efforts to eat well.
@Lysa Push-back? I’m writing about MY experience with coupons. I’m NOT trying to get readers to stop using coupons. I now people are passionate about coupons, but I’m simply agreeing with the Time Moneyland article that states coupon usage is declining. It’s great if the coupons available work for you (I’m quite jealous, actually!). But from the items you mentioned, I’ve never bought any of them except RoC and MorningStar. I’m also not giving up coupons completely. I did mention that I still pounce on really good coupon deals… for items I actually use. I blame shows like Extreme Couponing for changing the coupon rules! BTW, I’m pretty sure we don’t live in the same neighborhood.
@Lysa and @Yazmin I have to agree with Lysa here. On a site devoted to saving money on everyday stuff, you certainly are going to get a lot of responses from coupon fans. Why worry? To each their own. You’re merely pointing out how your coupon usage has changed.
In a lot of places, the Sunday paper is super cheap (I’m guessing the LA Times is at least $4 on Sunday?) making it possible to get your money back with just one coupon redemption. That’s a bargain in my opinion.
Most of the coupons are for processed foods and new products that companies are promoting. The trick is to find the coupons you DO want, whether they come in the Sunday paper or not. Even if you only find one coupon in the entire paper, it is usually worth it to buy the paper.
As for the time it takes, I flip through my coupon insert while having a snack or eating breakfast. I love to read something – anything – while eating at the table. It takes me 3 minutes, if that, and I tear our whatever I want. No extra time spent.
What I find more valuable, however, is to circle items in the grocery flyer that we buy, THEN go online to see if there are coupons published or available for purchase that match those sale items. Stacking pays off!
@BB Not worried, at all. The point is to get the conversation started, right? I have found myself spending more time with the grocery flyers we receive. I’m lucky to have several ethnic store near me so all I have to do is compare prices and find the lowest. I’ve also found myself doing a lot more shopping at the farmer’s market so no coupons needed. Plus, I have my garden!
The LA Times weekend edition, on Saturdays, with coupons in it, costs $1.50. NOT anywhere near $4. And we’d buy it anyway, just to read it.
@Paula Wow! Just $1.50 for the Sunday LA Times? I pay well over $4 for my Sunday NY Times. Thanks for sharing what the LAT actually costs. This makes it even easier for coupon clippers to make their money back!
I don’t clip as many coupons as I used to because most are for products that I don’t use. When I do find good ones for products that I use I clip them and look for sales to boost their power. The expiration dates have gotten shorter so that if I’m not planning on using them within the next 4-6 weeks I don’t bother cutting them out.
I subscribe to the newspaper because I’m old fashioned and like reading the paper, I don’t buy it for the coupons but I do look at them.
I also signed up for Coupons to Troops, an organization that matches you up with an overseas military family that can use your expired coupons up to 6 months past the expiration date. I save up the coupon sections and send out a package of coupons every couple of months to the adopted family. You pay the postage but the families can use the coupons and it is a good cause. Their website is couponstotroops.com
@Myke I have also noticed that expiration dates are shorter. Wonder if that’s a tactic by the manufacture/stores to keep consumers from stacking coupons? I’ve written about sending your expired coupons to troops in the past so I agree that if you get your hands on coupon you won’t use it’s best to pass them along.
@Myke That’s great that you send expired coupons to an adopted military family overseas. You have a good heart!
I’m sure the shorter expiration dates are to cut down on coupon redemption. I guess manufacturers’ are tightening their bottom line just like the rest of us!
I’ve seen a lot of coupons for fresh produce, a small percentage of ALL coupons, yes, but still coupons worth having. These have been for fresh fruit and for fresh veggies.
If you cut coupons when you wouldn’t ordinarily be working, or you DON’T work, you are saving more money by doing so than you otherwise would be making ($0.)
You do not have to pay for all coupons, if you don’t count your internet connection. There are digital coupons available from many grocery stores that load directly to your card (like Ralphs, you can also find them at places like shortcuts.com.) Seriously, you should have done more research before writing this article. It’s just insulting to have someone write an article like this on this website, which encourages the use of coupons, and who really doesn’t know as much as all the readers know about coupons. This article doesn’t offer any useful advice to me. Yes, to each their own, but why post this article here?
@Paula Why not post this article here? It’s about how coupons are evolving and how this can affect your savings at the grocery store. I shared my coupon experience to encourage you to share yours. I’d love to learn where you’ve seen a lot of coupons for fresh produce? I’ve found them for frozen veggies and fruit, but never seen them for fresh produce. Like I mentioned, I haven’t given up ALL coupons. I’m just using less of them — which is exactly what Time Moneyland is saying about the general coupon usage. I’ve found they’re not as good as they were a few years back. I am relying more on other tried and true tricks to saving money at the grocery store like buying store brands. I’m aware you don’t have to pay for all coupons — I mentioned this in the post.
@Paula I feel the same way about people who calculate their hourly rate and then use that to justify spending money on their off-hours. I always want to shout at them – but you don’t EARN that rate when you’re not working. (I try to remain civil :)) You said it best:
I suppose you are right. That Yazmin’s post didn’t offer new ways to save, but I also think it’s important to have discussions like this one – about the challenges of saving money, including using coupons, and the trends we are seeing with coupons. Who knows? Maybe all of the reader comments will convince Yazmin that she is missing out and should starting couponing again!
I have to say Yazmin I also have cut back on couponing, we are also eliminating the prepackage foods eating as healthy on a budget as we can and that is a lot of work. I do still look for coupons for the items we use, but time was another big factor for me. I find coupons at the stores website while I am checking out their ads and clip some there. The biggest time saver and help for me is blogs that match up the store ads to the coupons on the web or in Sunday’s paper, if I see something there I will look for coupons or most the time it has a link to print the coupon. I have found I save more money meal planning with the store sale’s. Oh yeah I have been getting produce coupons from Earth Farms website, loving that and Whole Foods also have coupons on their website.
@Lori I agree! Meal planning has helped me save lots. I’ve written about saving money at Whole Foods and looking for their coupons was one of my suggestions. Take a look –> http://bargainbabe.com/2011/04/05/how-to-save-money-at-whole-foods/ When I don’t get to their site, I just pick up their newsletter when I walk in to the store. I clip (actually, my sis clips) the coupons as we shop.
@Yazmin Thanks for the link about saving money at Whole Foods. We just started going about once a month, its an hour drive for us, great tips I will be using.
@Lori Sounds like you have made couponing work for you and your healthy eating budget. Nice work! We are buying more of the organic generic brand sold by Stop & Shop, our only choice for groceries where we live. I’ve never seen coupons for Nature’s Promise, but they often have sales, and Stop & Shop mails us coupons for $5 off $50 occasionally.
@Myke ~ Your first sentence is exactly why I don’t clip as many coupons these days.
@Yazmin ~ While I still look at the coupon sections of my Sunday paper (Daily News), I now check a couple of online coupon sites. Thanks to BB (Ctrl F), I can quickly search specifically for what I use. I also will load onto the stores card desired items from Ralphs or CVS.
@Diane I also like to load eCoupons to my rewards cards! I prefer this over clipping coupons (from the newspaper) as I can easily do it on my phone while I’m shopping. Plus, there’s no chance of me misplacing any of them. The coupons I do scour for are for cereals. As you may have noticed, our printable coupon post has many of them so I don’t waste time looking for them.
@Yazmin and @Diane I believe electronic coupons that you automatically load onto your loyalty card are the future of coupon clipping. Our society is becoming paperless!
@Yazmin ~ One caveat for cereals: Costco’s prices sometimes are better than certain cereals in stores, even those with a coupon, e.g., regular/original Cheerios (yellow box). Of course, you get a greater quantity, but the unit price tells all. Speaking of Cheerios, General Mills will NOT provide coupons to its consumers if requested to do so on its Website. You have to clip ’em. I’m curious what you think about that practice, Yazmin.
@Diane Costco’s cereal prices tend to be better, but their selection is not as big so you have to settle for what you find. As for General Mills, like I mentioned to Lysa (above), I blame the extreme couponing shows for all these coupon policy changes. There are still some companies that will send you coupons when you send them a letter raving about their products, but I’ve also found more and more companies are replying with a thanks. I’m guessing it’s because there’s a lot more people asking for coupons and companies want to protect their bottom line. If you want to score coupons this way (by writing letters/emails), send them to new companies (which are looking to reach customers) and it still works!
@Paula ~ Two comments: (1) I have read and re-read your comment that began: “If you cut coupons when you wouldn’t ordinarily be working . . .” BB understood and agreed in her comment, but I don’t comprehend what you are saying. Would one of you explain it to me? (2) I took a look at shortcuts.com. I note there are “sign in” and “sign up” links. So it’s necessary to join? I haven’t spent enough time to see how a coupon is loaded onto a particular store’s card, but that will have to go on my “to do later” list.
@Paula and @BB ~ For what it’s worth, I THINK the Sunday Los Angeles Daily News is $1. I’m not sure since we subscribe. (BB, are you in contact with anyone there who could say?) So–lots of coupons at a lower price. However, that newspaper has become anorexic over the years. The economy has not been good to it.
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