I love a grocery shopping trip when I get to use a bunch of coupons. However, if you’re not careful you can end up wasting money on things you don’t really need to buy at all… just to make use of the coupon. The trick is to only clip coupons on things you were already planning to buy anyway.

Coupons aren’t just out there to save people money for no reason. They are part of a marketing strategy for that brand or company. Companies use their coupons to get people to buy more of their items than they were planning to buy in the first place, and give them $1.00 off as a reward for spending. Companies also use coupons as a way to introduce new items to their customers. It feels easier to spend the money to try something new if you think you are getting a good deal on it.

I’ve learned to not let myself get distracted by coupons for things that I don’t actually need. The goal of using coupons is to save money, not find more ways to spend it. Even when I do have a coupon, I try my best to still wait until the store puts that same item on sale. I’ve found that I can often save more money waiting for a buy-one-get-one sale than I do using the coupon. The best deal comes when the store has the item on sale and I can use a coupon too… the most value for my money.

It seems almost counter intuitive to save money by buying things that you don’t need yet, but I think that it works out best that way. It takes a while to get ahead of the curve, but once you start following the sales you get an idea of when a particular item will be on sale again. That way you can buy extra so that you don’t ever have to buy it at full price. The other tricky thing is not being afraid to let good coupons expire. You have to evaluate if a coupon is really the best value or if a store sale will save more money. Not every coupon needs to be used… only those which are most beneficial!

What strategies help you save money at the grocery store?