Treating coupons as advertisements helps you be a smarter couponer. Advertisers want you to clip their coupon, store their coupon, and use their coupon to buy their product at a discount. I love coupons – but I treat them as advertisements. Some coupons give you small discounts, and other coupons allow you to try a product for free. I tell people that sometimes they need to just throw that coupon away! I’m especially thinking about the “Save $ when you Buy $$$$$$” when they tempt you to spend more money than you need to or have budgeted. Just remember that you aren’t “saving money” by using those coupons, you are “spending less money”. Only you can determine if you are truly getting a good deal, or just being tricked into thinking you are.
What are your tips for being careful about the coupon advertisements and not buying something just because you have a coupon for it? I’ve got more to inspire you at “Stay out of the store and throw away that coupon!“.
That’s good advice. I’ve said the same to some of my friends who, unfortunately, refuse to think that deep.Heather, I have a giveaway going on that may interest your readers. If you feel it’s appropriate, then please let them know. The List Caddy is a sturdy list, coupon and pencil holder that snaps onto shopping cart handles and attaches to refrigerators for easy list and coupon management. At $4.99, it pays for itself the first time a shopper remembers to actually use his/ her coupons. I’m giving away 3 List Caddies at my Mommy Reviewed blog. Thanks!
Don’t forget that you can do a few more things with those coupons you would throw away:1. Mail them to military families overseas. They can use expired coupons up to 6 months after the expiration date.2. If you know beforehand you don’t need them why not donate them to your church or a local group.3. Or you can coupon swap online with someone who may actually need that coupon.
Yup. And when companies decide that only Windows users who are willing to install their horrible spyware are allowed to have coupons, I consider that bad advertising, and I add them to my list of companies that I will not buy from. Especially when they first collect your home address and email address, even though they’re not sending you anything.