I just recently, started using coupons again. When I first started using coupons it was right after the first TLC Extreme Couponing show aired. I watched it and was amazed with all the money these people were saving. I had to do that, BUT what I didn’t know at the time, was all that, is pretty much fake. Let me explain to you why!
Yea, sure one can save that on their grocery, we all seen the the totals these people were paying and what it was coming up to… BUT they wasn’t telling you how much they were paying for their coupons.
Pretty much when you see something stating an item is free, it is not free… You still have to pay the taxes, you still have to purchase your coupons, whether you purchase from a clipping service or from your local paper. If you purchase whole inserts, you are having to clip the coupons yourself, then you sort and file. After you are all done with that, you have to go online, and figure out what is the best deal and where. You make your list, you have to drive to the store and do your shopping, hope the product you want is in stock. All that is your time, time cost money now days.
Therefore, if you are one of those that think you will get all sorts of items your family needs for FREE this is incorrect information. Let me explain a little something to you…
Say Walgreens is having a sale on Body Wash, you see a few days before the sale that you can get it for FREE! You hit up the clipping services, because you want to stock up, my favorite for singles is kuntry klipper. You purchase the ones you want, they’re $4.99 for 20 coupons, since it is over $4 you get free shipping.
Now you have just paid 0.25 cents a coupon… So as of right now that free item is costing you .25 cents. Now we have to take into consideration, how much the product is, and how much your sales tax is… Here our sales tax is 9.25% on everyday items, and 7.75% on food.The body wash that will be free is 2 for $7.00 and you have those coupons you purchased online, so you need 2 of them, that is .50cents. If you use both of those coupons you will receive $4.00 off, so now you are down to $3.00, but since you purchased 2 of them, Walgreens is going to give you $3.00 in register rewards for your next visit, this would make the total you owe Walgreens $3.64 they will give you $3 coupon for your next visit, so you just got 2 bottles of your favorite bottle wash for $0.64 SCORE, but wait… what about the 2 coupons you paid .25 cents each for… that makes what you paid be $1.14 which equals .59 cents a bottle for your body wash! If for some reason you do not use all those coupons you purchased, that makes the body wash you thought you was getting for free cost more per unit.
You also have to remember, that total does not include the time it took you to figure out all the numbers, so the item was not really free but super cheap! Now let’s say you forget you had those register rewards to spend on your next visit and they expired… that would mean you lost out on the $3, making the body washes for both $4.14 after taxes, and your coupons.
I think one thing people do not take into consideration is the actual cost they are paying in what we will call those “hidden” fees.
Also, in my area we lack coupons in the Sunday paper, so it is cheaper for myself to order whole inserts online. My favorite place to order full inserts from is Coupon Beat. Her prices are fair, and delivery is done in a timely manner. To be clear on clipping services you are not purchasing the coupons, but their time, like I said before time is not free.
Before everyone starts saying well, I used register rewards from my last transaction I got so I only had to pay a few pennies for all my purchase, hmm how much did you pay for your last transaction to get that register reward? How much did those coupons you use cost? What about your time, do you work for free now? If so you can come work for me! I am just saying the hype on getting free products is just a hype, because you do in fact pay for the items you get, you are just paying a smaller amount.
Disclosure: This is not a paid post, nor did I receive anything from posting it, both clipping services I purchase coupons from, so I know them to be honest services. I also wanted to make it clear to those who think they are getting free product, that they are indeed paying for the item, just at a lower cost.
About Jammie Morey
And that’s why I don’t have time to play with coupons right now. You already wore me out, lol.
LOL I ain’t the one who got you prego, so don’t blame me for that! hah
I didn;t know that folks paid for coupons and that there were clipping services out there. I usually clip my coupons in the paper. I see the deals at Walgreens and the other store.. but we live about 40 min away and it is not saving me driving just to get those few deals. It is rare that I get a coupon for a free item, but I do like saving my pennies on the items I use.
Thanks for the information
I go through 2 different ladies… In our paper we are limited… So I get them from online instead of purchasing the paper… Now if there was more then one insert in the paper it would be cheaper to get the paper. Walmart will price match any store as long as you have the paper… so if walgreens had a sale on something you could take the sales ad and your coupons to walmart and get the same deals sort of… You wouldn’t get the rewards that Walgreens offers… but you could still get some deals :)
Thanks for the comprehensive review. It’s sort of like giveaways I’m really “serious” about entering. The time I spend might be the same as the money used for purchasing it in a store or on an auction/classifieds site, but it’s more fun to win it. You have to weigh the pros and cons.