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If you’re an avid saver and you like to use coupons and all kinds of deals to keep things frugal, then you’re probably the kind of person who wants to never waste money. But, did you know that couponing and weekly savings can potentially cost you more money than they save you? It’s true!
How can you lose money by saving? Read on to find out.
Picture a hypothetical scenario. You pick up a weekly coupon ad and see that your local grocery store has a really good deal on yogurt. It’s over half off! You think to yourself, “wow, I can’t afford to not buy yogurt at this price.” So, you rush down to the store and buy tons of yogurt.
A few weeks later, you’re throwing out some of the leftover yogurt, remembering that you never eat the stuff anyway. “Why did I even buy all of this stuff?” you wonder, cleaning out your fridge. Think about it for a moment: did you really save any money?
If coupons and deals are getting you to spend money on things you’d normally never buy, they’re not saving you anything. Coupons and deals are only worth it when they’re occurring in conjunction with items you were already planning on getting.
Spending less money on something is still spending money. Just because something is on sale doesn’t mean it’s not costing you anything. The only real way to save money is to not spend it and to instead put it into a savings account.
There is no way to save money by spending money. The two things are mutually exclusive. There are ways to get discounts on things you were already planning on buying, though!
There is a right way to use coupons. When you’re planning your grocery trip for the week, check out the week’s coupons and use the ones on the items you already stock your kitchen with every week. You can even plan which grocery store you’re going to visit based on which ones have the best deals on each item on your shopping list!
Even if you need to stop in a few places to scoop up the best deals, this is the ideal way to use coupons. Following the deals, wherever they may be, is how you sidestep the aspects of couponing that will see you spending more than you normally would.
