Don’t get me wrong, I am all about my coupons and how much they save me when I shop. Coupons influence me in my purchasing decision sometimes more than the product itself. How could coupons be so powerful? Occasionally I have a coupon that when combined with a sale will allow me to purchase an item at an unreasonably low price or free. This is great for my family, especially if it’s something that we use. However, what if this product is something that no one in your family likes? Several months ago I purchased some name brand applesauce that I was able to get for free with a coupon and a sale. We aren’t huge applesauce eaters, but this was free and I thought I would give it a try. My son is actually the one who eats the most applesauce, so he would be the one to try it out. I purchased six packages of the single serve containers, 4 in each package, thinking this would be a great addition to my stockpile of things that were free or near free.

However, after several failed attempts at having my son eat the applesauce, I finally conceded to the fact that the applesauce was a bad decision. I wasn’t out any money, except for tax, since I was able to purchase it free, but I now had something in my pantry that no one would eat. Luckily since I hadn’t paid a great deal for the applesauce, I didn’t feel as bad when I gave it to someone else in my family. It made me think about my decision to purchase the applesauce in the first place. Why had I been so willing to try the applesauce? It was free. Does free always making something better? Most of the time, but this was a definite learning experience for me.

I realize that some of the decisions that I make to purchase a product are guided by whether or not  I have a coupon. I purchase over fifty percent of our grocery items at Aldi where coupons aren’t even necessary, so it isn’t as if I am dependent on coupons. We also purchase items in bulk where coupons would not be able to compete with the bulk item price. While coupons do influence my purchases, I will definitely think more about the products that I purchase. If I’m able to purchase something for free or next to nothing and it isn’t something that we’ve never eaten before, I’ll be certain to try out the product first instead of purchasing enough to last for six months. Coupons are a good thing, but only when they are for something you truly want or need.

A few days ago my husband joined me on a small shopping trip to Target to pick up a few things. Our bill came to a little more than $30 and after coupons we ended up paying $14.02. He was surprised at the low amount and made the comment that it was people like me that would cause stores to stop allowing coupons because of the low amounts we pay. I explained to him that every coupon I had was legitimate and that Target would get reimbursed by the manufacturer for every coupon I used, allowing the store to lose no money on the transaction. He knows that they are reimbursed, but thinks that these types of transactions will cause alarms to go off somewhere in corporate where they will re-examine the whole coupon policy.

It’s difficult to say how many consumers are actually using coupons, but when I make a trip to the grocery store, nine times out of ten I might see one other person who is using coupons. I think this low use of coupons is what causes the hesitation of some cashiers to accept coupons. In some cases they may be inadequately trained, but how does a store intend to train them on coupons if people rarely use them. Coupon use may be on the rise right now because of the economy, but how many people will continue to use coupons once the economy or their financial situation improves.

We don’t use coupons because we are in a dire financial situation. We use coupons because they help us save money in one area, so that we are able to use that money in another area. Many people think that you have to be poor to use coupons, and it’s simply not the case.

Don’t be afraid to use coupons if you are using them the way they were intended. On the other hand, if you have a coupon that makes something free, don’t purchase twenty of those items in the same transaction. It makes cashiers seem uneasy about giving the store away, causes them to call the manager over, and may cause you more frustration in the end with your entire coupon order. If a cashier or manager refuses to budge on the acceptance of a coupon, I’ve found that it’s easier to ask for the item to be removed from the order, rather than argue twenty minutes about it causing further frustration. Most of the time if you ask for an item to be removed from your order, they figure out how to push the coupon through.

Over the years I have found many new sources for obtaining coupons in addition to what I find in the Sunday inserts and other places. I discovered Vocalpoint about three years ago as a new source of coupons. Vocalpoint is word-of-mouth marketing designed to obtain your opinion and spread the word about a product that you enjoy using through your friends and family.

I enjoy Vocalpoint because it allows me to discuss new ideas and products with my friends and family and helps us to save money at the same time. Usually Vocalpoint will send a product sample, coupons to share with friends and family, and a free coupon for yourself.

Vocalpoint requires registration to determine if you meet membership requirements. Even if you don’t currently meet their membership requirements, try again at another time to see if their needs have changed.

No matter what system you have in place, organizing your coupons is necessary to maximize your savings. When I started out couponing I couponed off and on for years. My coupons were kept in an envelope because I only kept a few each week out of my Sunday paper. Coupons didn’t seem to make a huge difference in my savings during a shopping trip for many reasons which included:

• I was brand loyal, unwilling to try a new brand because I was unsure of the quality and how it would perform
• Coupons for the products that I purchased were sporadic and only came out in the paper every three to four months.
• I only purchased one Sunday newspaper every week which gave me one coupon to use for the entire three or four months.
• Because I normally only had one coupon I couldn’t wait for a sale and get the best price with the combination of the sale and the coupon

Once I determined that I needed more than one coupon for a particular product to make a difference in my savings I started asking relatives for their coupons which netted me about three more copies of the Sunday paper each week. This was great, now I had multiples of coupons that I used. I quickly discovered that I was having a hard time keeping up with these coupons and forgetting what I had. I purchased a little coupon organizer about the size of a wallet with six or seven separate compartments which helped for about two months. As I added more and more coupons to my little organizer it became apparent that the little organizer wasn’t working.

Next I decided to leave the coupons in their original inserts and just cut out what I needed as I shopped. This proved to be a terrible mistake for me. I spent a lot of time checking a database to determine what insert the coupon was in, locating the insert, and then cutting the coupon out. In using this system I found myself missing a lot of coupons that I could have used while grocery shopping.

In addition to obtaining more inserts for the coupons each week, I also branched out and started keeping more coupons for products that I didn’t normally purchase, and began trying new brands. Keeping more coupons resulted in one big chaotic mess.

I moved my coupons to an old Huggies baby wipes container and divided the sections of my coupons with index cards turned on their side. This actually worked for more than a year. The baby wipes container would have probably still worked, but I wanted to upgrade my system. I waited for more than a year before I purchased a zippered binder and baseball card sleeves which is my current system. Looking back, I think I waited for this length of time because I wanted to be certain that it would be a system that I would stick with since switching to the baseball card sleeves for my coupons was a big investment.

I went through several systems before arriving at one that I felt comfortable with. Every persons needs are different which will cause your coupon organization system to be different. What works for one person may not work for another. When starting a new coupon system, organizing the coupons and the system actually takes a few hours to start and then takes routine maintenance each week. The routine maintenance is easy once the system is in place; clip coupons, put these into the binder, and throw away the expired coupons.

It may seem as if your concerns with a company go unheard, but you are the pebble in their shoe and eventually they will hear you. If you have ever written to a company to compliment or complain about their product, you know what I mean. I think that we all at one point or another have had cause to complain while shopping, dining, or utilizing a service provided by a business.

It is always in the best interest of the company or business to listen to the consumer’s concerns. Even if the consumer is wrong, taking the first step in listening gives the appearance that the company has a genuine interest in what the consumer thinks.

I have several personal experiences with companies over the past several years that have reinforced the old southern concept that you “catch more flies with honey than vinegar.”

• I use a lot of Barilla pasta products. I gave my time to do a 30 minute survey after I received a request. They rewarded those who participated in the survey with 1 year’s worth of free pasta and sauce coupons. I thought it was a scam at first, but sure enough the coupons worked and it was a huge blessing to our family.
• I emailed Wal-Greens‘ corporate HQ to complain about a cashier and the manager from that particular store called me to talk to me about my experience. There was no compensation for the treatment I received as a customer, but the manager understood my concerns.
• S.C. Johnson. I emailed them to compliment them on their Skintimate Shave Gel and they emailed me a free coupon for a can of this product. I told them the features I liked about the product. Again, I took my time to give them feedback.  Too many times, only negative comments go through to these companies.
• Pampers. I complained that the tabs were missing on the diapers and I received a coupon for a free package of Pampers.
• ALDI Food Market. We buy a lot of canned Chiles and Tomatoes from ALDI. One batch of our cans was actually just tomatoes. They gave us free replacements plus our money back. The ALDI guarantee is their “double guarantee.”
• Starbucks. My husband goes by there every payday for a plain espresso. This is the simplest drink on the menu besides black coffee. One morning he experienced a very slow and lackadaisical staff and ended up waiting for 10 minutes for this straight-forward drink. He emailed Starbucks on their website and they sent him two free drink coupons. He is so nice. He gave them to me.

My point here is that the next time you have a negative experience with a company, you should email them politely. Don’t threaten them with hateful words and don’t include personal attacks on their employees or corporate integrity. You should simply explain what you like about their product, what you don’t like about it, what your experiences have been, and what your concerns are. This works. Companies value the customer. You will be surprised at the results.