How I Use Coupons for Grocery Shopping

About a year ago now I wrote a series of articles in my Adventures in Couponing part 1, part 2 and part 3.   Back then I had a free subscription to the local newspaper for a few weeks so I tried out clipping coupons.   The end result was that I saved only $13 total which wasn't really enough to pay for a newspaper subscription.

Since then I've continued to use coupons in a more limited fashion while grocery shopping.   Basically I collect any coupons that I can find that we might use.   The other day I had a $2 coupon and a 75¢ coupon and saved $2.75 in one grocery trip.  

1 ) Easy and free sources for coupons.

I don't go too far out of my way to get coupons.    We no longer get the newspaper so we don't have access to those coupons.  But theres still several source of coupons, some are simply handed to me...

Cash register coupons - these are coupons that are printed out for me at the check out.   They are targeted at us based on our purchase history in the store.   Most of them are for products we use but they are often not brands we want.   Sometimes they are the exact brand we want and buy so they can be a no brainer.
Promo coupons from our rewards card - About once a month the store we shop at sends out a mailing to our home with coupons targeted at us.  Sometimes they can be great deals and they are often for brands we already buy.
Coupon circulars in the mailbox - While we don't get the newspaper we still get coupon circulars from companies like RedPlum in the mailbox.   When I get these I take a minute or two to flip through them and grab the coupons for brands and/or products we use.
Newspaper ads in store - Our grocery store has their newspaper ads available in the store so you can still get their store coupons without the newspaper subscription. 
Coupons loaded on rewards card - Our grocery store also has a mechanism online where I can load manufacturers coupons to our rewards card.   Then when I'm checking out the coupons are automatically credited without the need for me to clip and redeem a physical paper coupon.
Online Printable Coupons - This is a good source that I don't actually use myself.   There are many websites that you can get free coupons from to print out.   One reason I haven't done so is that the manufacturer coupons are often redundant so I see the same offers in the mailbox or via my online rewards card.  One minor downside to online printable coupons is the cost of paper and ink you use to print them out.

2) Spending minimal time.    I don't spend much time saving and organizing coupons.   I have been simply stashing any coupon we might use in an envelope.    Then when I am in the store I'll skim through the coupons to see if anything matches my shopping list.   Added all up I probably spend 5 minutes or less per week to collect and use my coupons.

3) Targeting items we use or might use.    I only save coupons for items we normally buy or ones we might buy.    I am not too flexible on our coupon use.  We do not change our purchase habits much in order to save money via a coupon.    For some brands I'm flexible but for others I insist on specific brands.   For example I am flexible on facial tissue and will buy Puffs or Kleenex based on whats on sale so a coupon for one or the other may sway our choice there.  On the other hand I only buy a specific brand of dental floss called 'satin' because its what works best for me.

4) Limit myself to one  store.   I do not drive around town visiting multiple grocery stores to chase coupon bargains.  In my Adventures in Couponing experiment I only saved a few dollars per week maximum and that was with the use of newspaper coupons.  I figure that driving around to multiple stores would cost more more in gasoline and time than its worth for the marginal increased savings I'd get.   If I put in a lot of time and maximized my return on coupons then it may make sense to make trips to specific stores, but as it is my minimal effort system doesn't warrant it.


I probably save $1 or $2 every couple trips to the store this way.   Thats not a lot of money but it is pretty good return for 5 minutes of easy work. 

If I wanted to spend more time then I'm sure I could save a bit more money.   I could also save more money if I wanted to be more flexible in our purchases.  


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Best of blog posts for week of May 4th

Every Friday afternoon I share some of the more interesting or notable posts that I have seen in the personal finance blogs and other sources for the past week.

DoughRoller shares A Rare Glimpse Inside the FICO Credit Score Formula

Bargaineering tells us How to Decode Your Car’s VIN Number

ConsumerismCommentary thinks that Art is Not a Good Investment

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Percentage of Homes with Pets over Time

There are a lot of pets in the US.   The other day a commenter on another blog said that they thought the rate of pet ownership was going up.    So I decided to research that and quickly found some data on the Census bureau.   I found a document with figures for 1981 to 1996 and newer documents  with the 2001 numbers and with more recent year 2006 numbers.  

The census data shows dogs, cats, horses and birds separately.  It doesn't discuss what % of homes own any pet.  The range must be between 40% and 70% based on how many of the dog an cat owning homes overlap.   Its hard to know how much overlap there is between homes with dogs and cats or other pets.   I'd bet that there is a fair amount of overlap between the figures as there are a lot of homes that have both a cat and a dog.   But there are also a lot of homes that have only one or the other.    I am guessing that something around 50-60% of homes have a pet of some sort.   I'm going to show the data for dog and cat ownership below.   The % of homes with birds and horses is around 4% and 2% respectively and if you want more detail you can visit the Census links above.

Put it all together and we can see the trend over the past few decades :

Here are the #'s in table format :

	dog	cat
1983	42.5%	28.4%
1987	38.2%	30.5%
1991	36.5%	30.9%
1996	31.6%	27.3%
2001	36.1%	31.6%
2006	37.2%	32.4%

This is the data for all homes.   The % pet ownership rates also vary based on income levels and the # of people in the homes.

Here's the data broken down by income and size of household for 2006 :

	dogs	cats
Under $20k	30.7%	30.1%
$20-35k	37.3%	33.6%
$35k-55k	39.8%	34.1%
$55-85k	42.8%	35.5%
over $85k	42.1%	33.3%

	dogs	cats
One person	21.9%	24.7%
Two persons	37.6%	33.4%
Three persons	47.5%	39.1%
Four persons	51.9%	38.5%
Five or more	54.3%	40.0%

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LED Bulbs are Still Too Expensive

fivecentnickel recently asked Is it Time to Switch to LED Lightbulbs?  My answer to that question is 'no'.

In short, LED bulbs are still to expensive.  Nickel pointed to one bulb for sale on Amazon with a cost of $32.99 (+6.99 shipping).  It claims to last 50 times as long as conventional lighting.    I found another bulb for under $19 (+2.5 ship).   That one has a lifetime guarantee.   Whether they cost $20, $30 or $40 thats still too expensive.

A typical CFL (Compact Fluorescent Lamp) can be bought for around $1-2 nowadays.   The CFLs last around 5-10 years. 

You could buy a 10 pack of CFL's for $10 or $20 and they would last you 50-100 years total.    On a cost per year basis the CFL is still cheaper than the LED even though the LEDs last several decades.

Theres another good reason to delay on buying a LED.  In the future the cost of LEDs is likely to drop further.  As the technology matures and they become more commonly used the prices will drop.   Its quite likely that in a few years LED prices will be well under $10 and may approach the cost of CFL's today.

LEDs may be a great technology but right now they simply cost too much.  
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