A lot of people tout the benefits of coupon clipping, especially from the Sunday paper. We wanted to see just how much money could be saved without spending all day clipping and planning.Ryan and I hadn’t been using a lot of coupons, or at least not on a regular basis. We would use coupons we found for things we already bought, but most of what we bought was generic “Wegman’s Brand,” that didn’t have coupons.
We decided to conduct an experiment – Is coupon clipping worth it? Can we get brand name products for less than store brand using the coupons we have?
The first part of the experiment involved figuring out exactly what we buy. We both sat down and made a list of items we purchase on a regular basis; everything from bread and milk to ketchup and olive oil. We also wrote down the brand we normally purchased for each item. (Wegman’s cereal, Olivio butter, etc) At the end of the list (it was quite extensive) we had under 10 items that were not generic.
Now on to the hard part. Is coupon clipping and buying name brand items really money saving? We went out and bought a Sunday paper and skimmed all the coupons. We also went through all our old coupons and tried to find doubles for the same item. For example: we had 2 different coupons for Uncle Ben’s rice, one from last weeks paper and one from the manufacturer’s website. Test coupons in hand we headed out to the store.
It turned out that for a lot of items, including Uncle Ben’s rice, one coupon wasn’t enough. The store brand was so much less expensive that even the best coupon we had didn’t make the prices equal.
The buy 2 save $1 coupon effectively brought the price down by $0.50 per box, but it was not enough to make it cheaper than the store band equivalent of the same item. The real savings came when we doubled the coupon, and got a second $1 off.
One disconcerting thing I noticed while writing down comparable prices was the difference in size for some items. Wegman’s peanut butter was $1.49 for 18 oz, Peter Pan was $1.99 for 18 oz (+$0.50), but Jiff was $2.19 for 17.3 oz! (+$0.70) Not only was it the most expensive, but it also was almost a full ounce smaller than the other brands. This happened with more frequency than I expected.
So this wasn’t a normal grocery run – we only bought targeted items where we had double coupons. But the practice could be applied to normal trips as well, and the potential for massive savings is there.
Results:
- Time: The key to coupon clipping is speed; you don’t want to spend the entire day searching for coupons before you even get to the store. Buying store brand items is the obvious and fastest way to save at least 15-30% on every item. Experiment at your own risk, you may save some dough.
- Sources: The Sunday paper might be a good idea, but there are also free websites that offer coupons daily, plus manufacturers websites. It may not be worth the subscription or sorting through all that extra news stuff that comes with it. : )
- Check out coupons.com (there are others but it’s easy to enter a spam zone, do not pay for anything), simply select the items you want and print. It usually takes 2 coupons or a coupon and a sale to bring the price lower than store brand items or to make them virtually free. Wegman’s offers to double manufactures coupons and some stores accept up to three for a single item. Check ahead of time or just ask at the register, don’t feel bad handing over a stack of coupons, they are offered to get you to buy the product and it worked.
- Also try manufacturers directly by searching their websites. We have gotten several great deals that way, including Uncle Ben’s rice and Organic Valley Milk.
- Don’t forget about our good friend eBay . If you have a name brand item that you love and buy every week, it might not hurt to buy legitimate coupons from others who collect and sell them. For example: We can buy 20 $1 off milk coupons for $0.79 + $0.89 shipping. Watch those expiration dates. It’s kinda fun.
We will start looking for coupons a little more often, and will definitely check online for printable coupons before we head out to the store. We usually stick to a pretty basic routine but if we can buy something good for next to nothing or free we will throw it in the cupboard – just make sure you don’t buy extra things just because they are discounted a little.
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{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
I got this also with a peanut butter. Most times the coupons are not enough to bring the brand price down to the generic but I got a coupon for Jif peanut butter that made it cheaper than the store peanut butter for the same size!!!!
You might also take a gander at RedPlum.com for coupons. They seem to have good ones too!
I'm on a pretty aggressive/strict budget and routine so I find that coupon's didn't really save me much as they don't usually cover the foods I buy. The store does have sales sometimes on my normal food list.
I also buy mainly generic when possible.
I also consider it saving $ on not buying a paper as I just read online.
It's kind of sad that one coupon isn't enough to bring the price down to the store brand. I am sure that a lot of people buy products simply because they have a coupon and don't even think about it.
Thanks for the suggestion, Kris. I hadn't heard of RedPlum but will definitely check them out.
You sound like you are in the same situation we are. It is really important to only use coupons for items you already buy normally or for items that are free. We also don't really buy a newspaper (we read everything online) and I don't think we are going to buy it from now on – there aren't enough coupons we would use to justify the price. (this was an exception for the test)
I'm not sure what you buy, but we originally thought that most coupons didn't cover what we bought and found more than we expected that did. (Such as the rice) There are a surprising number of coupons for every day items on the manufacturers websites and coupon sites – you might be able to cut costs more than you expect with a little searching.
I found you through Donna Freedman's blog. I'm so glad you wrote this article. I've bought store brand for years because of the above reasons. I only buy name brand if the deal is exceptional or I have an extremem savings coupon. Kudos!
Thanks,
Kelly in OH
Hi Kelly, thanks for the stopping bye.
Yea, we were surprised that even with one coupon name brand stuff wasn't cheaper.
Have to say that you, and most people, think of and use coupons incorrectly. You don't use a coupon on a non-sale item. If there's a coupon, that means there's a marketing push, which means there will be sales. Hold out, and when that item goes on sale, especially a buy-one-get–one sale, the coupon will often make it 75-90% off. When that happens, you buy the national brand and use the coupon. If it doesn't happen, you stick to the generic. It happens a LOT, though. With organics, even.
I understand the decision NOT to use coupons, because it can be time consuming, and perhaps a chore for you, and more worth it if you have 5 mouths to feed and only one income (ahem). And there's a learning curve to understanding them. But if used correctly, they DO work, and work in amazing ways. (and I post this with all respect, because i LOVE your site, respect your investigation, and understand your post completely – just want to present an alternative view)
This will explain it: http://gvilledeals.blogspot.com/2008/05/stockpile…
And this: http://gvilledeals.blogspot.com/2008/10/how-your-…
I definitely see how using coupons could be extremely beneficial. What I concluded from this study was that it wasn't worth it until there was a sale and/or you had double coupons to apply – not that it wasn't worth it ever. It just takes more effort and observation to really make them pay off – as you said.
It sounds like you really have the whole coupon thing down, and saving 70-90% is huge! We use them occasionally but haven't gotten a routine down yet. (we're still in the learning curve period)