Coupon Economics: Getting rich with grocery coupons

Using coupons is not just about saving money at Walmart, J.C. Penny, or at your local grocery store. Having a coupon mindset goes much further than that since it means living a lifestyle that is centered around saving on almost everything that is purchased. In this day and age of continuous rising cost of living, that do indeed counts for something.

The other day I went to Weis, a grocery store in my neighborhood. At the checkout counter, the lady in front of me had a cart filled to the brim with groceries. She was also holding a bundle of coupons on her hand - it looked like she had a coupon for every item in her cart. And I said to myself, “Oh my God! I’m going to spend the rest of my life standing here today, waiting for this lady’s coupons and items to be checked by the clerk.” But it wasn’t as bad as I thought. As I watch the grocery clerk scan the lady’s grocery, I saw that the lady bought items worth $345.76. Then she handed her coupons to the grocery clerk and, after she scanned them, the lady’s bill came down to $188. My eyes nearly popped when I saw this. Did this really happened, or was I dreaming? Well, I knew I wasn’t dreaming when the lady handed the grocery clerk nine $20 bills and eight $1 bills. That really got my attention, and I said to myself, “Why was I born handsome instead of rich?”  Indeed, it was that moment that I realized how powerful grocery coupons are.

Stooping to conquer

I will start with the most basic question of all: is all that tedious coupon-clipping worth it? As I found out from my experience with the ‘coupon lady’ the last time I was at Weis, the answer is yes. I am convinced that it is a good thing to spend time scouring for and sorting those 65-cent-off rectangles rather than spending almost half of your paycheck at the grocery store. Why, even millionaires clip coupons as part of their saving strategies. As a matter of fact, the idea that many millionaires live frugal lifestyles and do clip coupons was the basis for the book The Millionaire Next Door¹ – a 1998 bestseller written by Thomas Stanley and William Danko. In that book, the authors noted that people with high income, specifically the millionaires, do cut coupons and do also stick to their shopping list so as to save money and have more money to do things they enjoy. In a similar book, namely The Millionaire Mind,² Thomas Stanley narrated more surprising truth about millionaires: many of them actually live frugal lifestyles. For example, a lot of millionaires choose to repurpose their furniture rather than buy new, and have their cars fixed rather than buying new ones. According to the book, the millionaires always look at the big picture. For them, clipping coupons or living a frugal lifestyle means saving more money to re-invest to create more wealth. This naturally explain why many of them do meal planning and prepare shopping lists that match their available coupons.³

First – and last – pay attention

So, if rich people use coupons, why then do so many low income families don’t use them? The reasons a lot of them gave are really absurd: They are too embarrassed to use coupons because they think using it will either define them as cheapskate, make them look poor or cause cashiers to scoff, or simply because they are too busy. Hence, in general, only a small percentage of shoppers (about 1 percent) redeem coupons. As Ms. Montaldo, a writer for The Balance, a personal finance publication, put it:

U.S. Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) marketers reportedly distributed coupons valued at $470 billion for products used daily like food, beverages, clothing, tobacco, and household items. The average coupon had a face value of $1.54. Only $4.6 billion coupons were redeemed. Coupons valued at $465 billion went unused.⁴

The fact still remains that shoppers who use coupons religiously can save significant amount of money, sometimes as much as $60 per week depending on the size of their shopping list and their level of coupon involvement. This can add up to $3,120 a year. Does this catches your attention? I hope it does.

Gains foretold

These days almost everyone claims to be too busy. It is indeed true: a lot of people are all on the run keeping up with the kids, education, jobs, maintaining their homes, you name it. This also means that snagging an extra time to relax can sometimes be a challenge. So, it is not surprising that the thought of adding coupon clipping to their schedule seems impossible to some people. This, however, does not mean that finding and using coupons cannot be streamlined or made easy. What many people don’t know is that using coupons does not always involve coupon clipping: they can save while shopping in their local grocery store by simply handing a cashier their customer card and having any applicable coupons automatically deducted from their grocery bill. But, to do this, they will need to apply for the grocery’s customer or reward card first.

Using online resources for printable coupons, such as coupons.com or SmartSource.com, are also super convenient. Not only that, one can get good deals by searching for printable coupons on the websites of most malls and outlet stores. The good news is that websites with printable grocery coupons abound, and they are simple to search and use. By doing a quick search on the internet, one can easily locate coupons for national stores like Walmart, Walgreens, Macy’s, and so on. Some stores even go beyond that: shoppers can find information about discounts that credit cards are giving by simply shopping in them. Online shoppers can now rejoice because there are now thousands of coupon codes listed daily for extra savings so long as they buy things online.

Here’s my take: you can save a lot of money by using coupons. Using coupons is not just about saving money at Walmart, J.C. Penny, or at your local grocery store. Having a coupon mindset goes much further than that since it means living a lifestyle that is centered around saving on almost everything that is purchased. In this day and age of continuous rising cost of living, that do indeed counts for something.

References

¹Stanley T.J., Danko W.D. (2010). The Millionaire Next Door: The Surprising Secrets of America’s Wealthy. Lanham, MD: Taylor Trade Publishing.

²Stanley T.J. (2001). The Millionaire Mind. Kansas City, MO: Andrews McMeel Publishing.

³Montaldo D.L. (2017). Why Shoppers Should Use Coupons. The Balance. Retrieved March 31, 2017 from https://www.thebalance.com/why-consumers-should-use-coupons-939628

⁴Ibid, para. 6