Monday, May 23, 2011

Frugal Tip #43 Beware of Special Offers

Earlier this year, I started posting a more in depth look at each of the frugal tips. Over the next few weeks I will publish the frugal tips that I have collected. Please note that not every tip will work for everyone. Chose as many of the tips that will work with you and your family and start implementing them. Today we will proceed with Tip #43 Beware of freebies and coupon offers, they might end up costing you more.

Many people love to get a freebie. So much so they may make a special trip to a store, just to pick up a freebie. Such as during our own Freebie Saturday this past Saturday. One of the offers was for a free bottle of shampoo by going to Nordstrom's. One person even commented how that was a waste of gas just to drive to Nordstom's and get your free bottle of shampoo. She of course, no matter how cynical the comment may have sounded was correct. It is my hope that any getting the freebie from Nordstom's was already going to be there or near there and only worked it into their schedule. If they were making a special trip they in fact was wasting energy by paying more in fuel for the previously unplanned trip then a bottle of shampoo could otherwise be bought for.

Likewise the same goes for coupons. That coupon may look like a great deal and I do encourage you to use coupons. However, you must do so smartly. Here is what I mean. When you use a coupon the final price must be less (cheaper) then what you normally would pay for that product. For example lets say you normally buy a store brand of canned vegetables for 99 cents, but you have a coupon for brand x that is 25 cents off. If the final price of brand x (after the coupon) is still more then 99 cents then that is not a good deal. In that case the coupon should be passed up at least for another week.


In fact the best time to use a coupon (to maximize savings) is buy a sell item with a coupon. However, still compare prices. The couponed item still needs to be cheaper then what you normally would pay a similar product. The coupon is to save you money. If you spend more to get a different brand, just because you have a coupon then you aren't saving anything. You want coupons to help you out. You want to be the thriftiest you can be.



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