The coupon/savings debate

[yelhsa439]

My stepmom and I both love to coupon. We talk about deals, trade coupons and keep an eye out for deals for each other. We are usually on the same page....except for when it comes to this one subject. So I am asking everyone this question: How do YOU calculate your savings from coupons? I will share my thoughts and her thoughts...but I am curious to hear some of your thoughts first. Thanks!

[amylynne01]

I have a handy dandy spreadsheet that calculates it for me. Basically, it takes the savings from sales and coupons divided by the shelf price. So for example, I buy $10 pre-sale worth of stuff. It was on sale for $8, so $2 savings, plus I used a $2 coupon for a total of $4 savings. $4 savings divided by $10 shelf price gives you 40% savings. I do not include sales tax because food is not taxed in my state, and there is no sales tax in my neighboring state.

[yelhsa439]

Well....that's how my stepmom does it. She then puts the saved money into a seperate account for "special" purchases. But to me.....I don't see it the same way. If you walk into a store and you can get laundry soap for .99 a bottle....so you buy 5 of them.....she then takes the (I'm making this number up) $20.00 in savings and puts it in her savings account. Well...to me....you didn't actually save that money YET. You have no reason to buy 5 bottles of laundry soap at that very moment. You might actually need 1 of those bottles.....so at that moment...you saved $4.00 on the one bottle and the rest of the money you actually didn't NEED to spend. To me....I make a stock pile and then when I actually dip into my stockpile and use something from it...that's when I actually saved the money. I'm not sure if I made any sense there...but I tried! lol

[amylynne01]

See I think of my stockpile a little differently. I save the money at the time of purchase. When I use something from my stockpile I think of it as free because I already spent the money previously. I do not put the money I've saved in a separate account because I need that money elsewhere. Couponing allows to move money from my food budget to say paying off student loans.

[isis]

Well, if I buy 4 bottles of laundry detergent, I am saving $X amount at this moment. It doesn't matter when I pull out bottles 2, 3, or 4 as they have already been purchased and I saved buying them on sale w/coupon. That is how stockpiling works, buying now so you don't have to purchase full price later.
I also don't put what I save from each grocery run into my savings account. I started something new this year b/c I have a grocery budget that I have to stay within, whatever I don't use at the end of the month, that goes into my savings, b/c I stayed under budget.

[amylynne01]

I also don't put what I save from each grocery run into my savings account. I started something new this year b/c I have a grocery budget that I have to stay within, whatever I don't use at the end of the month, that goes into my savings, b/c I stayed under budget.

Ditto! This is what I do. It motivates me to spend as little as possible.

[GreatFun]

I think both methods are flawed. If the laundry detergent is regularly $5.00, at whatever store you got your deal at, but it is regularly $4.00 at Walmart (or some other store in your area) then you really have to use the $4.00 as your "regular" price because if you needed detergent and you didn't have any coupons/deals then you would buy the cheapest detergent (maybe even a different brand then the one you have a deal on) at the store with the cheapest price.

For example, we often get shampoo and toothpaste free or better than free at CVS or Walgreens but we know that the regular non-sale price at these stores is OUTRAGEOUS and we would never pay that price. So if Colgate is regularly $3.99 at CVS but on sale for $3.00 with a $2 extra buck back and you have a $1.00 MC, you can't say "oh I got the toothpaste for free but it's usually $3.99 so I saved $3.99" -- you have to say "Oh I got the toothpaste for free but it's regularly $1.50 at Walmart so therfore I saved $1.50."

To really drive this point home think about this joke that goes something like this:

A man walks into his house huffing and puffing. His wife says, "Honey why are you so out of breath?"

He says, "Dear, you will be so proud of me. I saved $5.00. Instead of taking the bus home, I ran behind it all the way home instead and saved the $5.00 bus fare."

His wife says, "You idiot! Why didn't you run behind a taxi cab all the way home?! Then you would've saved $20.00 instead of a measly $5.00!"

The point is that most of us here would "take a bus" not a taxi if we couldn't get the taxi ride for free with a coupon -- so when we take the taxi, free with coupon, we didn't save the taxi fare, we saved the bus fare.

[clippyclippy]

I don't have it in my nature to buy anything at shelf price if I can help it, so if I were to calculate savings, it would be strictly coupon savings.
I can generally say that I save at least $600 from what I used to spend. I reduce our food/household budget accordingly and apply the rest of the money elsewhere.
So I guess I don't even get into this debate!

[amylynne01]

While I agree with your statements, I honestly don't know what things cost anymore at big box stores like Walmart and Target! I have a Walmart very close to my house, but I go there for art stuff for my girls, stickers, toys, etc - never food or HBA. I know my buy price, and I look for that. So it's hard for me personally to compare my buy price to what it would cost at Walmart.

OP, I guess in the end, there are so many ways of doing it, and there is no right or wrong way to think of it. Just save money, and you're good!

[MaMaHaHa]

I budget a set amount of money for "Soldier-Shopping," and a set amount for home-use items (groceries included) each month. I simply keep a running total of both (what I actually paid and what I saved) and try to stay under-budget. I like the Kroger and Target receipts best...they have good details of what you saved. Most trips are in the 50%-80% off range. And, if I didn't have to pay tax...I would do so much better-down here you pay tax on the pre-coupon/discount price. Hmmm...I wonder if you could take tax off as a charitable deduction on Income Tax???

Thus far, I am remaining way under-budget.