How do you judge if it's a good deal or not?

[motherto3angels]

I'm in MD, and well lets just say things are not cheap here. I can not figure out how you can juge what is a good deal and whats not. I see lots of things on sale I have coupons for but once I do all the math I'm not saving much from the original deal. So my question is...do you have a rule of thumb on what is a good deal and whats not?:shrug7:

[pwetypweas]

You need to look at what's good for your family. If it's something you guys normally use and like any deal when you're starting out can be helpful. If it's just something you're buying because you have a coupon, not that you'd normally use, then unless it's free or uber cheap I don't recommend getting it. When you're starting out look for deals on what is good for your family. Then once you're comfortable with couponing you can start stockpiling things that you can use. It's a slow process when you begin but every little bit you save is helpful. Once you've been at it a while and have a stockpile built (say a year) you can start putting a max cap on what you'll spend on certain items. For example, I won't pay for deodorant or toothpaste - tax is my max there. Now shampoo - I'm not picky so I buy whatever I can (Pantene, Sunsilk, Herbal Essences, etc) for .33/bottle or less for me (pre-tax). My husband ONLY likes Pert Plus so I will pay up to $1/bottle (big bottle) for Pert (although less is always better!). So you see, don't look at people who are saving 80-90% consistently as the ONLY way to go when you start out, 20-30% is a great first goal, then work towards 50%, etc.

[kval07]

Know your rock bottom price. After shopping for so long, you get to know what the lowest sale price is for items you buy. Use your coupons when items are at their lowest price in your area. Don't buy anything if it isn't on sale, unless it is an absolute necessity. I did this before I even discovered coupons.

[pasharain]

It's all about comparing prices. I do not keep a price book like some do, but if you get to know the prices of the products you buy most often you will be able to more readily spot a deal. Milk for example, if I normally pay $3.99 for it week after week, when I see it for $2.99 I know that's a reasonable savings.

Perhaps my first suggestion was obvious, but another is comparing sales flyers. If two or more stores have the same thing on sale, compare that to what you pay at the store where you primarily shop to determine if it is a deal.

Also set what I call a "stock up" price on things that you use regularly, but don't go bad quickly, like deodorant for example. The deodorant I use is pretty much always $2.35 a stick at Walmart (the store I primarily shop). Recently, it was on sale at Walgreens for $2.25 (only $.10 cheaper), but I had coupons for $1.00 off each stick, making them $1.25. Therefore, I stocked up.

I also check the HCW boards for trades or buy coupons from a clipping service or ebay if I want to stock up and don't have enough coupon from my usual methods of getting them.

Hope that helps a little.

[mama22qts]

You've gotten great advice thus far. I will add that if you don't know what you've been paying for your items, take note the next time you do your normal every day shopping. For the most part, the items on the front and back page of the grocery store ads are more likely to be loss leaders (the deeply discounted items) than anything else in the ad. If you find a coupon that you can use with the sale price, you'll save a good bit.

Since you haven't been doing this that long, you might want to just stock up a little on the first few items you buy, until you really have a handle on what a good price is for the things you buy.