The Power of Couponing

Sounds silly, doesn’t it?  I never really understood the power behind couponing until I watched the show Extreme Couponing on TLC.

Let me start off by saying, I’ve always liked a good deal.  I think that stems from my mother-in-law who is an accountant.  For the last 30+ years she has been able to see the mark-up value on certain items.  For example, some diamonds are marked up 500%.  That just makes me sick.

Am I am extreme couponer?  No way, not even close.  But I do take the time on Sundays to collect the local newspaper coupon inserts and clip them.  Why not?  30 minutes of my time usually saves me at least $40 at the grocery store.  I have learned to match up the store ad prices and the weekly coupons to really maximize my dollar.  Anything I don’t use that I can get for free I purchase anyways and donate it to our local food bank.

Recently Walmart update its coupon policy to allow overage.  What is overage?  If the coupon value exceeds the value of the product, they have to give you the difference back in cash.  For example, I had a Similac Formula coupon that was worth $5/1.  I purchased the Ready-to-Feed Similac Formula that was prices at $3.84 and Walmart paid me $1.16 in cash.  Now that’s a powerful coupon if you ask me!

If you look at my most profitable Walmart trip  below, you can see that coupons really are powerful!

Items Purchased on 4/12/2011

4 Gain Dish Detergants

7 Similac Ready-to-Feed Formulas (Donation)

1 Toy Story Operation Game

2 Packages of Ziploc Bags

1 Reynolds Tin Foil

1 Girls Cardigan (Donation)

1 Womans T-Shirt (Donation)

Total -$1.31.

That’s right!  Walmart gave me $1.31 back!

Note: I promise the next post will be a more serious topic about power!