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When Coupons AREN'T a Good Deal
by Lana Dorazio - dorazio@pobox.com

Description: Using a grocery price book can sometimes save you more money than using coupons.

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Don’t get me wrong, I like coupons. I’m actually a member of a coupon website that helps me to match up my coupons with the best sales of the week! It’s a wonderful saving device. However, there are pitfalls to coupon shopping that people fall into. If you are a diehard couponer, you might want to rethink your strategies for a more relaxed and timesaving alternative to couponing.

How do you know that, in using a particular coupon, you are getting the best deal possible? Unless you keep your own record of prices for items you buy, or unless you have the memory of an elephant, you don’t know. If, for instance, you have a coupon for a fabulous counter top cleaner that will save you $.75, reducing the price of the cleaner from $2.99 to only $2.24, are you really getting a good deal? You won’t know unless you have a basis for comparison.

If you knew that you could get the same amount of counter top cleaner at a discount store for $.99 how do you feel about using that coupon now? How about if you knew you could mix together the same amount of ammonia and water for a great cleaner for only $.25? Would you rather spend $.25 or $2.24? You be the judge.

The idea behind using coupons is to save money. In order to know if you are saving money, you must have a basis of comparison. This is where a well-documented record of prices comes into play. This record is called a pricebook. The Dollar Stretcher has many articles to help you create your own pricebook from scratch or you can start with mine by visiting http://www.grocerybook.com.

In short, you need to always evaluate other options before using a coupon. You might be excited because your grocery store is doubling the value of coupons and it seems like you can’t go wrong. You must still look at the final price and calculate if there is yet a cheaper way to find that product.

My experience as an expert grocery shopper has led me to conclude that coupon shopping can be very beneficial, but at the same time, it can also be very misleading--if you don’t use a pricebook. Keep thinking and you will save thousands grocery shopping!

Lana Dorazio lives with her husband in the beautiful desert of Peoria, Arizona. Her personal grocery shopping success inspired the book "Save Thousands Grocery Shopping...and Cook Great Food" sold at GroceryBook.com. Check it out today to learn how shoppers everywhere are saving more time and money than they dreamed possible!