Couponing 101: Lesson 2a–Is it REALLY worth it?

I know there are a lot of people out there who don’t use coupons, and many use the excuse “I just don’t have time for that!”. Well, my friend, if I can find time to clip and organize my coupons, you can too! It takes me about an hour to an hour and a half per week to clip and file my inserts. I usually do it on Sunday nights during my Desperate Housewives fix, as I talked about in Lesson One.

Let me share with you an example. On my last shopping run, I purchased $155.99 worth of product, and paid $69.67, saving $86.02. I was in the stores (3 of them) for 1.5 hours, drive time included.

Now let’s say it takes you 2 hours to clip and organize your coupons, and 1.5 hours to shop. That’s 3.5 hours all told. Let’s divide the savings by the time invested in order to realize those savings. $86.02/3.5=24.58

If you were offered a part-time job paying over $24 per hour, where you could do the majority of the work at home, and bring your children with you on the road if necessary, AND didn’t have to pay income taxes on that money, you would MAKE time for that job, wouldn’t you? The next time you think you don’t have time to use coupons, try to remember this example, and prioritize your schedule to fit in your new part-time job.