Deal or No Deal?

I started to post this as a mailbox post, but because the topic is so broad and I'm asked so many times what I consider to be a "good deal" on something, that I wanted to dedicate an entire post to price points. There are several things you need to know when trying to decide if something is a good deal or not. This should help.

The Basics

1. Location, Location, Location:
One thing to consider is that the cost of goods varies nationally, regionally and even locally. Keep that in mind when shopping and setting your personal price points. For instance, in some areas stores will have cheese on sale for $.99, here where I live the same chain of stores will have the same cheese on sale for $1.49. Keep this in mind wen you're shopping and looking at deal matchups. I base my ad matchups on the prices locally for me. If you're in another region, your prices may vary.

2. Sales, Coupons, Doubles, etc:

I calculate my price points on items by factoring in a simple formula. Not all stores have store coupons. Not all stores double coupons. There's many factors that can vary this formula, but here it is:

Sale Price - Coupons - Coupon Doubles = Price Point.
Example: Sargento Cheese Shreds $1.50 -$.50/2 coupon -$.50/2 double = $1.00 each

Now, if your store doesn't double coupons, you're looking at $1.25 for the same cheese.

3. Experience:
If you are new to couponing or you have only been couponing for a short period of time, your price points are likely to vary from that of a strict couponer. For instance, if you're used to spending $3.99 for a box of cereal at the store. Buying a box on sale for $2.49 is going to be huge to you. If you've started clipping coupons and using them, you're going to be excited about cereal going on sale for $2.49 and knowing you have a coupon for $1.50/2 so you're now paying $1.79. (You just saved 50% on cereal). But, if you're a strict couponer, you're going to think about cereal going on sale for $1.49 during a mega event and using that same $1.50/2 coupon, paying $.74 for that SAME BOX of cereal! This is when you're going to stock up on cereal!

Price Points
I created a document here where you can view my personal pricing guidelines for items. I've got two price points listed for each item. The first is the "sale price". The sale price is what I am willing to pay for an item if I just need one or two of the item. 

The second column has my stock-up prices. These are the prices I try to meet or beat if I'm going to stock up on an item.

The price listed in both columns is factoring in the amount paid for the item after all coupons and sales. You'll notice there is a high number of items on your routine shopping list you can get for FREE when you shop smart and pair sales and coupons! Please feel free to print this list and take it with you when shopping. It will help to get you thinking about whether you're getting a good deal or not!

Mail Box

I've gotten several messages with questions, and wanted to provide a new forum for my growing reader list. If you have ANY question, what so ever, please feel free to email me at: couponstephy @ gmail (dot) com . I don't provide a direct email link on my site to reduce spammers. Whether you have a deal alert, a question about either a specific deal or store, or just a general couponing question, please do not hesitate to email me! I will answer questions on an individual basis as I can, and each week I will pull a few reader questions and answer them on the blog! Now for my first round of questions:

1. How many newspapers do you buy?Generally speaking, I subscribe to my local newspaper and have a paper delivered every Wednesday and Sunday. Depending on how great the coupon inserts are in a particular week, I will purchase 2-3 more. Additionally I ask every neighbor, friend and relative I know whether or not they use their coupons! Our area has a "Essential Shopper" that comes out that has a few select ads in it as well as some of the coupon inserts. These are totally FREE and are randomly delivered. If I notice a neighbor doesn't tend to read these or collect them from the driveway, I simply ask them if they would mind if I picked it up for them and used the coupons! I'll talk to my husband's coworkers, church friends, you name it. There's no shame in the savings game!

2. I like getting samples and coupons, but I feel like my inbox gets bombarded with "junk". How do you handle this?I have a separately created email address that I ONLY use for my couponing obsession! I can login and check it as frequently (or infrequently) as I choose and my personal email account isn't overwhelmed by corporate emails. I recommend checking your couponing email at least every other day, however, because often times companies will release coupons for a limited time only. You don't want to miss the opportunity to score a great coupon because you didn't check your email!

3. Do you use a coupon for everything you buy? Oh how I wish I could say YES. I don't however. There are times when I even go C-R-A-Z-Y  and don't buy something on sale. For instance, there is a specific cheese my family loves to make Queso with. I've never ever ever seen a coupon for it. It's never been on sale. But we love all $3.24 of it! I'm always willing to try another brand with sales or coupons, but we always go back to this. The GREAT thing about couponing (okay, one of the great things) is that because you are constantly saving money buy matching sales and coupons, you're not really losing out by paying full price for the occasional item. If you're starting out with couponing, set a small goal. If you're used to saving nothing or an occasional dollar or two, set a goal of 10% on your first trip. The second trip shoot for 25%! It's all about having fun and saving BIG!