why catalogue specials cost you more

Yesterday I read a post on Being Frugal about saving money using coupons. The exercise was to see how many groceries could be bought with $50 and how much could be saved using coupons. You can view the video here.

I was curious to note the savings using coupons. Going from blogs, America sounds like coupon heaven. I was surprised, however, at how almost every item was packaged stuff. Even the chicken breasts and the bacon were in packet with brand names.

While Lynnae succeeded in saving money on the products she purchased, you can definitely get better value from $50 by avoiding pre-packaged and heavily processed foods (this was a sponsored post, by the way, and doesn’t represent Lynnae’s usual shopping list!).

While we don’t have grocery coupons here in Australia, we do have junk mail catalogues and a similar standard applies: what is ‘on sale’ is more often than not packaged, brand name food. If you use catalogues (or coupons) to try and save money on the groceries, there are a few things to keep in mind:

1. Buying things that you wouldn’t normally buy just to get a discount isn’t a saving.
2. Often you can save more by buying the same product in no-name or home brand compared to discounted brand names.
3. Advertised specials are often the packaged “junk” food. Sticking to the real foods and cooking from scratch will save you more money than sticking to the catalogues each and ever week of the year.
4. Not only will you save on groceries, but also on health care! Favour fresh fruit and vegetables, meat, and  basic staples (for example, plain rice, rather than flavoured rice in a box with added nasties like preservatives and artificial flavourings) and use herbs, spices and condiments to add flavour and variety. Think “food” not “grocery” and check out your local markets, butchers, bakers, greengrocers for savings.
5. Buying two-for-one can be a saving, but if it is not stored properly, or you don’t eat it all before the used-by date, then you have thrown any savings you may have made into the garbage. This applies to buying in bulk. Make the most of your savings, don’t throw them away.

Ok, so you normally buy that item and it’s on special. Is it a bargain?

Yes!

I’m not saying that you can’t save money using supermarket catalogues / coupons. I find this is particularly true for non-grocery staples such as washing powder. But more often than not, you can save much more money at the supermarket by steering well clear of supermarket catalogues.

Have you read these posts?

1. exploring opportunity cost
2. the time cost of saving
3. Phone A Friend: Reducing The Cost Of Communication
4. Why Being a Cheapskate Can Cost You More
5. the time cost of spending