{"id":896,"date":"2010-08-16T05:43:35","date_gmt":"2010-08-16T12:43:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/couponshoebox.com\/tips\/?p=896"},"modified":"2010-08-12T15:44:18","modified_gmt":"2010-08-12T22:44:18","slug":"avoiding-the-coupon-trap-dont-spend-just-to-save","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/couponshoebox.com\/tips\/avoiding-the-coupon-trap-dont-spend-just-to-save\/","title":{"rendered":"Avoiding the Coupon Trap: Don’t Spend Just to Save"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s a fact that you have to spend money to save money. You can\u2019t save without getting out there and proving your dominance in the marketplace by finding the bargains and partaking of them. A potential pitfall in your commitment to saving, however, is spending more than is appropriate just because you have coupons for certain items.<\/p>\n

How do you know if the practice of using coupons is really helping you save<\/strong> money? When you convince yourself that your couponing habits are\u00a0 insuring low prices on the items you\u2019re purchasing, you may lose perspective on the actual amount of items you are buying and on the amount of money you are actually spending.<\/p>\n

How can you avoid the \u201ccoupon trap?\u201d That\u2019s the phenomenon that can occur when you believe you are saving but you are, in reality, buying more than you should and spending more than you intend. How does this occur? When you are confronted with a store-full of products and the potential bargains represented by a pocketful of coupons, you face a dangerous combination of factors. While you think you are in control of what ends up in your shopping cart, you may become unduly influenced by your desire to save.<\/p>\n

Here are some ideas to bear in mind when shopping to keep your focus on saving, not on spending:<\/p>\n

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  1. Don\u2019t buy an item you don\u2019t need just because you have a coupon for it.<\/strong> While the price of an item may be extremely cheap with a coupon, spending money on items you simply don\u2019t need or won\u2019t use is a waste of your money. Those little expenses on unnecessary items really add up in a short time, eating into your overall saving.<\/li>\n
  2. Determine if the coupon truly makes the product a bargain. <\/strong>Even when you can save a cool buck on an item, does that really make it your most economical choice? If it\u2019s your favorite brand, you\u2019ll appreciate the savings but if you don\u2019t have a preference, be certain to compare cost per unit, even taking into account the coupon\u2019s value.<\/li>\n
  3. Don\u2019t buy in such quantity that you either forget that you have the items or they go to waste.<\/strong> Regularly take stock of what you already have on hand. Do you really need six more<\/em> cans of tomato sauce or could you already feed a hungry army on what\u2019s in your pantry? Be especially cautious with perishable items. If you are only going to throw away a significant portion of what you bought due to spoilage,\u00a0 it would have been wiser to pass on the purchase in the first place. Keep in mind that sales and coupons come around frequently – this is not the only chance you\u2019ll get to take advantage of a good deal. It\u2019s only a bargain when you\u2019re using it – not when you\u2019ve simply transferred it from the store\u2019s shelf to your shelf.<\/li>\n
  4. Take related expenses into account.<\/strong> If you need to make a special trip to a certain store or travel a long distance to redeem coupons, remember that your time, effort and gasoline\u00a0 have value too. Make sure it\u2019s really worth going out of your way to realize the savings from coupons or you’re simply trading one cost for another.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    The best way to regard coupons is that they represent an opportunity<\/em> for savings. It is up to you and your prudent spending habits to take advantage of that opportunity or let it slide until the next opportunity comes along.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    It\u2019s a fact that you have to spend money to save money. You can\u2019t save without getting out there and proving your dominance in the marketplace by finding the bargains and partaking of them. A potential pitfall in your commitment to saving, however, is spending more than is appropriate just because you have coupons for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[514],"tags":[44,23,39],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/couponshoebox.com\/tips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/896"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/couponshoebox.com\/tips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/couponshoebox.com\/tips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/couponshoebox.com\/tips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/couponshoebox.com\/tips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=896"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/couponshoebox.com\/tips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/896\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/couponshoebox.com\/tips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=896"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/couponshoebox.com\/tips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=896"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/couponshoebox.com\/tips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=896"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}