Get Smart About Using Coupons

I'm always looking for new sources of coupons. A convenient one that I've found is the store shelf coupon dispensers. Those little plastic boxes that are attached to the supermarket shelves allow me to get a manufacturer's coupon for a nearby product without the hassle of clipping coupons from a newspaper or magazine.

During a recent trip to my favorite grocery store I noticed a coupon dispenser for Quaker Oats granola bars. Granola bars are an easy healthy snack for work and school, so I grabbed a coupon and picked up a box.

Big mistake!

The grocery store and the food manufacturer are both betting that you will do exactly what I did - use the coupon immediately.

What is wrong with that? Nothing, IF you are buying the product anyway.

But the simple fact is that you will save even more money by resisting temptation and waiting to by the product. Supermarkets and manufacturers rarely offer more than one promotion on any given product at a time. You will never see a coupon dispenser offering a coupon for a product that is already on sale. By sticking that coupon in your purse or wallet and waiting to use it at another time, you can combine the coupon with the savings from a future sale on that item and save even more!

With this in mind, I put the granola bars back on the shelf and the coupon in my holder. Sure enough, two weeks later the Quaker Oats granola bars were on sale for Buy One Get One Free, and the coupon dispenser had been removed. But because my supermarket rings up each BOGO item at half price, and I had picked up two coupons earlier, I was able to get 2 boxes of my favorite on-the-go snack for less than $2.00.

Lesson: Store coupon dispensers can be a valuable source for coupons - just don't fall into the trap of thinking that you have to use them right away. Instead, save them for the next sale and redeem the coupons for a bigger savings at the register.