Coupon Myth: Buying in Bulk Saves You Money Every Time

by Briana Carter on August 10, 2009

One question I’ve been asked numerous times is if buying in bulk saves more money. One of these days I’ll do a more “official” study but just glancing at unit prices at the warehouse stores and on the bulk aisle at the grocery, I say more often than not, you save buy NOT buying in bulk on certain items. Part of this is because you are unable to use coupons at the warehouse type stores or are only able to use one coupon on multipack items.

For example, we had a short shopping trip today and wanted to pick up some toothpaste because as much toothpaste as we have in our stockpile, we really prefer Crest Pro Health over all the other brands. While, I would normally wait for a sale, I felt we could a splurge a bit on the toothpaste which we both prefer.

Sounds hilarious, SPLURGE on toothpaste.

However, I still did want to get the best possible deal even without coupon, Extra Bucks, or some other kind of savings. We knew we wanted to purchase two tubes, so we started to reach for the two pack – $7.08 for (2) 6.0 oz. Crest Pro-Health or $3.54/each. These caught our eye first because they were at our eye level.

Then we looked up, and we could buy the exact same product separately for $3.00 each – exact same product except NOT prepackaged.

Lesson Learned: Look up and down before grabbing the first item that catches your eye! We save $1.08! While, this may sound like a little a $1 every shopping trip could add up! In this case, buying in “bulk” would not have been beneficial to our pocketbook.

Have a coupon myth you would like debunked? Email me at bargainbriana@gmail.com.

Coupon Myth: No Coupons for products I use

by Briana Carter on June 17, 2009

The first comment on the recent Indy Star article is what I consider a coupon myth. Hopefully, I can clarify some common coupon myths with this new series: Couponing Myths Debunked.

The biggest problem I find with coupons is that most of them are for products I will never use or even with the discount the item is still more expensive than the generic or store brand.

This is a common misconception about couponing. There are coupons out there for a variety of products. Maybe not everything you use if you are brand specific or have special dietary needs. Eventually, though, if you are patient, a coupon will come around.

For example, many people think coupons are only for junk food items and convenience items. Yes, there are many coupons out there for those items but there are organic coupons and coupons even for produce. Examples: .50/1 Dole Golden Pineapple printable coupon, a recent $1 off Target Strawberries coupon, Stonyfield Farms printable organic coupons, and Whole Food deals.

I always buy name brand products for much less than generic products. I don’t just use a coupon because I have it. I combine a store store with a coupon and this allows me to maximize my coupon.

For example, this week at Meijer, Kellogg’s cereal is on sale for $1.79. I will combine a $1 off 1 Kellogg’s coupon from a previous week’s insert (Red Plum from 6-7-2009) and will only pay 79 cents for a box of cereal after my coupon! In contrast, if I just used that coupon recklessly without a sale at regular price around $3, I would still pay $2 for that same box of cereal.

When there aren’t any coupons for your favorite products, what do you do? I suggest visiting the manufacturer’s website and browsing around. Sometimes you will find coupons directly on their website. If you don’t, email them and ask if they have any available or if they can direct you to coupons. Sometimes just by asking, they will send you some coupons in the mail.

For those of you who think there are never coupons for the products you need, what kind of products are you look for? Let me know as I LOVE a challenge!

Have a coupon myth you would like debunked? Email me at bargainbriana@gmail.com.