Keep Your Money :: Tip 2-Coupons are Bad

Keep Your Money :: Tip 2-Coupons are Bad

So this might sound contradicting, but hear me out and you will see what I mean.

Have you ever watched the TV Show "Extreme Couponing"?  I have; and after watching a few episodes I decided that I wasn't going to be extreme, but just start using coupons because it is free money, right...?

It seemed to be a good idea at the time because I am pretty much in charge of all of the groceries and the finances in my marriage, so why not try it.  This is what ended up happening:  I went grocery shopping like normal (with the coupons) for about 3-4 weeks and at first I was so excited because at the bottom of every receipt it says You Saved: (fill in $).  I was pretty excited for the first couple of weeks because I went from saving around $10 to saving close to $20 each trip.  So, like most of you, I was feeling pretty good about myself.  Then it came time to actually enter my checks into my Quicken software.  This is when the real light bulb came on.

As I was entering my checks on the computer I realized that the amounts I was writing the checks for were more than in the past.  So, what happened?

I was focusing on the wrong section of the receipt.  The section I needed to focus on was the actual total not the amount I saved.  And even with using coupons and going on Wednesday's to get them doubled, I was spending more because I ended up buying things that I don't normally buy like chips, canned soup, and even more random stuff that I rationalized in my head that I would use eventually or thought I needed.  As soon as I stopped using the coupons, I started spending less.

It's kinda like going to Kohl's...And all you ladies that love Kohl's can relate to this.  When you check out and they had you your receipt, what do they do...?  "You saved..." and then they circle the amount you save making you feel good about how much you saved.  But really, it doesn't matter how much you "saved", it matters how much you spent.

The moral of this story is don't get sucked in by sales and deals if you don't need what they are offering you.  Trust me, I AM a bargain shopper, I AM always looking for sales, but now when I do it, I look for sales and deals on what I know I am going to buy anyway.  Leave the Couponing to the professionals ;)

How many sales have sucked you in and then you had buyer's remorse when you got home?  Please share!