The True Cost of Cutting Coupons

Posted by nate
March 10, 2009
The Sunday Paper
Image by Photo Gallery via Flickr

Ok, so I’ve been told by people, media and blogs that a great way to save money is to clip coupons!  I recently got a call from the local newspaper trying to sell me the sunday edition of their rag claiming a cost savings based on the coupons I’d get. “$200+ a week in savings.”

I don’t want to miss out on saving more money, but I want to make sure I maximize my time and savings.  So… I went to a grocery store and picked up an early edition of the Sunday paper, to see exactly how much I could be saving!

Actual Savings vs. Implied Savings

Here is how I calculated my actual savings.

So, after a first pass of coupon clipping… here is what I have.

At first glance, sounds like I made a score!

But you’ll notice the majority are not even edible (unless you count the restaurant coupons)…

The Benchmark

We shop at Costco for a large number of items and use it as our benchmark.  We don’t have a lot of time to run around and pricecheck every store, so if it is cheaper than Costco, we get it.

The Shopping  Experience

We have 2 major grocery stores in our neighborhood and 1 major drugstore chain.  Because there isn’t a huge difference in the cost from one grocery store to the next, I only went to one grocery store and the drugstore for a price comparison.  Neither grocery store offered double coupon deals.

The Saving Method

First, I went to the grocery store and drugstore to jot down the price, size and the final cost of each item.  I am not brand loyal, so I would compare the cost of the item to the Costco equivalent (i.e. I have a coupon for $1.00 off 2 Right Guard deodorants, Costco only sells Gillette,  I will go with whichever is cheaper).

My Saving Results

So here is what I was left with.

As you can see, most of these items will last for quite a while, justifying a bulk purchase as Costco sells them.

Here is a breakdown of costs

Coupons Costco
Coupon Deals Oz Cost per ounce Costco Cost Oz Cost per ounce
Hand Soap $2.64 7.5 $0.35 $7.99 160 $0.05
Deodorant $3.48 2.6 $1.34 $9.99 15 $0.67
Gum $2.19 3 $0.73 $9.99 12 $0.83
Shampoo $8.49 11 $0.77 $9.29 40 $0.23
Body Wash $10.98 36 $0.31 $12.99 70.8 $0.18
Cuties $5.99 5lbs $1.20 $6.49 5lbs $1.30
Total Spent $33.77

$56.74

Here is the Costco Cost based on the OZ equivalent of the coupon deal

Coupon Deal Oz Costco Cost Per Oz Oz Total
Hand Soap 7.5 $0.05 $0.38
Deodorant 2.6 $0.67 $1.74
Gum 3 $0.83 $2.49
Shampoo 11 $0.23 $2.53
Body Wash 36 $0.18 $6.48
Cuties 5 $1.30 $6.50
Total $20.12

Savings Conclusion

I save $13.65 by not using coupons, plus time I would have saved searching and clipping… (I would have saved $.50 if I bought my Cuties at the grocery store, but I didn’t want to make a trip back just for $.50, so I factored that into my overall savings) and I’m out $2.00 for buying the Sunday Newspaper.  Plus, now I have all this newspaper to recycle!

I keep my eyes open for a good coupon deal and use coupons.com before I go shopping to see if there are any additional savings for items I am planning to buy.  But as far as my little experiment goes, hunting and searching for coupons seems to be a bust as far as actual savings.  Maybe I’m doing something wrong?

Do you use coupons?  How have they saved you money?  Is there a different approach that I could be taking?  Right now I think coupons are a waste of time… maybe I’ll be convinced otherwise :).

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Comments
Comment by Randel on March 10, 2009 @ 6:09 pm

I am impressed with the thoroughness of your research. I have long thought that the time to search and cut the coupons and the time to find where the items are available is more costly in time and effort than the actual money you save. Thanks for the confirmation!

Comment by Susan on March 10, 2009 @ 7:13 pm

I like your strategy. Coupons are not made to help us save money anyway, they are there to get us to spend money. It takes too much time and for me it just adds clutter. Why do I always seem to stumble on the coupon I need the day after it expires? I am enjoying this new blog Nathan.

Comment by Doug E on March 11, 2009 @ 5:19 pm

I understand that some coupons are in the circular to bring about brand awareness only. The companies know that the product is not sold in the region. It’s meant to bring about interest in the consumer; they then go to the store and request the product at the store. Ideally, either the store will order the product if they get enough request or the customer will find a place that does sell them.

Comment by Nancy on April 5, 2009 @ 2:29 pm

I like http://couponsearcher.blogspot.com. What I do is use that site to search for everything I want to buy before I go shopping and it saves me tons of money. Can’t beat that! And best of it is it saves trees! I only print what I want to use.

Comment by Olivia on May 25, 2009 @ 3:03 am

In our area we can view sale flyers on line. (No need to travel there first.) I compare those items with my price book listings and coupon box to find the best prices. Since we stockpile many items when the prices are loss leaders, this works. Two of our local stores accept and double coupons for items in the “dented” cart, so if I’m in either of those places I take a peek. For the past several years I got coupons free from my mom. Shopping Sam’s Club and Costco would involve a lot of travel so that isn’t as cost effective for us.

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