I used to write for my college's newspaper, The Daily Trojan, nearly three years ago. My pieces were published in the opinions section but not every piece I wrote made it there. Here's one that never made it to print. Self e-publishing will have to suffice.
Coupon Hoopla
With the added expenses of books, lab fees, rent, tuition, and other required expenses, college students often find themselves scrounging through the remains of their disposable income in order to purchase the most important of all necessities, food.
Instead of hunting for sales at the supermarket or outlining a budget for the month a college student will instead see the value menu at Jack-In-The-Box or the Dollar Menu at McDonalds as the most efficient way to spend the few dollars left in their wallet. This is unfortunate because there is so much more that a dollar could go towards in terms of efficient allocation for food purchases.
Sure the dollar menu at McDonalds will keep you fed for lunch at the low cost of three dollars for a McChicken sandwich, a double-cheeseburger, and a hot fudge sundae, but what’s for dinner? Did somebody say Jack-in-the-Box value menu; two tacos for 99 cents, “I’m there!” College students should see that these expenses do eventually add up, even when it may seem that the value menu is saving you money. It’s not.
And if you’re thinking right now that you’re past the frugality of the value menu and that Panda Express and Bistango’s Cafe are the only premium choices for you, think again; it’s from eating at these higher priced restaurants which will bring you crawling back to the value menu, the week before your next paycheck arrives.
Due to having lived in a non-university apartment without a meal plan last year as a sophomore, I was forced to provide for my own food. And with the money I had set aside for food I soon found out that the smartest alternative for sustenance was to shop at the supermarket.
I started basic in my new found independence for buying my own groceries, but then again, who doesn’t? I bought elementary items such as bread, milk, water, and eggs. It continued like this for a while, that is until I discovered the magic of coupons.
Coupons are a lot more useful than most of us usually tend to assume. The first thing that typically came to mind when I first thought of coupons was middle-aged moms hunched over clipping along dotted lines on a Sunday afternoon. Until I investigated the usefulness of coupons myself, I had always thought negative of them as I figured people would perceive me as being cheap.
I know now that cheap is the entirely wrong adjective to describe coupon users; we’re smart, not cheap, and I’ll explain to you what that is.
Every Sunday for the past six months I have clipped coupons from Smart Source, Valassis, Proctor & Gamble, and General Mills coupon booklets. These booklets can all be found in every Sunday copy of the Los Angeles Times; all of which are packed with savings. These booklets should be recognized for their usefulness in being able to acquire items from the supermarket at a significantly lower price than that which is advertised.
The message on a coupon will typically read something like “save 55 cents on any box of Eggo Waffles” accommodated by an expiration date written by a box that says “manufacturer’s coupon.” This 55 cents savings may not sound like much at first, but, when taken into the context of double coupons, there is much to be gained.
For as long as I can remember Ralphs has offered its customers the chance to “Double Coupons” for increased savings. Although often misunderstood, coupon doubling is exactly what you would expect it to be; the 55 cents off a box of Eggo’s coupon mentioned earlier would be doubled for a total savings of $1.10 off the waffle product. That’s a 100% increase in savings every time you shop with coupons at Ralphs. These doubled savings can be especially useful when Ralphs brings popular items such as Eggo Waffles down in price and even more savings are realized.
My cheapest Eggo Waffle purchase was 90 cents after Ralphs club savings and a double coupon. This lower price was a combined result of double coupons and Ralphs Club savings.
Ralphs however will only double coupons for up to the value of $1.00. After coupons start to exceed $1.00 such as “save $1.50 off any Crest Toothpaste,” the doubled value of the coupon will only be $2.50. That’s still good though, considering how much you would have paid without the coupon. In toothpaste situations I’ve spent as little as 50 cents for toothpaste that might ordinarily cost $3.99.
Coupons also allow me to try all sorts of different varieties of products that I might not have ever ventured out and purchased on my own. I’ve bought all sorts of different exotic items as a result of using coupons including purely squeezed orange juice from Tropicana, new acne treating products from Clearasil, and several flavorful choices of ice cream from Dreyers.
With using coupons at Ralphs there is also another benefit to be reaped which has been kept a hidden treasure for too long: the reality of getting things for free. It’s true, you can get stuff for free too when you shop at Ralphs and use double coupons; that is of course during the right sales week.
Items I’ve received for free include toothbrushes from G.U.M, cookie dough from Nestle, and delicious smoothies from Dannon.
By no means was this article written to cater to or promote the companies that I mention above. I just want to illustrate how real coupon usage can be and the savings that are realized from it. By applying incredible saving situations to familiar brand names I feel that my story will be more believable to others.
Some people will still laugh at me for my coupon craze, but I don’t mind. They’re probably still stuck in their everlasting downward spiral of fast food splurging.
Others won’t listen to me when I tell them about the benefits of coupons, but I can still hear them, hear them as they whisper to each other when they see me walk down the aisle of a store with my coupons in my cart, “is this guy serious?” If they should ever read this, they will know that I am serious.
I’m serious about smart and efficient spending when it comes to surviving in college. Coupons not only keep me alive but now I also have something to look forward to every Sunday morning.
It’s almost become a hobby, really, especially with the motivation in mind to save more money than the last time I visited Ralphs with coupons.
My current record holds at walking out of Ralphs with $94.25 worth of groceries while having only paid $35.47 for them, attributed to the usage of coupons and Ralphs Club savings.
I encourage anyone to beat my record.
~Anthans
