Buying Bigger Not Always Better when Coupon Shopping

As grocery shoppers, we’ve been taught that if I buy bigger, we’re getting more for our money. This is not always true when you shop with coupons.

Here are a few ideas when buying smaller sized items to get them cheap or free:

• Follow the sales at your stores and use your coupons to cut down on the price per ounce of the product.
  
• If a coupon says to buy 2 of something, buying 2 of the smaller products may often be cheaper per ounce, than if you bought 2 of the larger sized ones.
  
• Pay attention to what your coupons say. If it says “any sized,” buying the smaller sized will often make the item cheaper per ounce or even free in some cases. Looking in the travel sections at stores using the “any sized” coupons can also get you free items sometimes too.

Here are a few examples where watching for a sale and/or buying the smaller size item saves you more money:

1. At Walmart, a 20 pack of Cascade Complete tablets sells for $4.54 which works out to 22 cents a piece. If you use a $1 off coupon that is often in P & G inserts, you’ll end up paying just 17 cents a piece. Not bad, but have you ever noticed the trial packs of these tablets? They sell for 97 cents for a 3 pack. When you use your coupon, it makes them free. And free is always better!
   
2. At my local HyVee store a few weeks ago, they had coupons for 99 cent half gallons of milk. Great deal!! Their gallons of milk were $3.89. It was a “no brainer” to buy that half gallon of milk. Walgreens also had a similar deal where their half gallons were on sale for I think around $1.50, while their gallons of milk were regular price of $3.39.
   
3. The everyday low price at Walmart of 150 ounces of All Detergent is $10.97 for 150 ounces or about 7 cents an ounce. A 50 ounce size sometimes goes on sale at supermarkets for $2.99 or 5 cents an ounce. When you use a $1 off coupon that is out right now, that 150 ounce is still 6 cents an ounce, but that 50 ounce size is going to cost you just $1.99 and 3 cents an ounce!!
   
4. My boys love the Yoplait Gogurts. The price at Target is around $4.54 for a 16 tube value pack or about 28 cents a tube. The smaller boxes average $2.50/box for 8 tubes. So without a coupon it does make sense to buy the value pack. However, there are almost always coupons out there for 75 cents off 2. When you buy 2 of the smaller boxes, you pay just $4.25 or 26 cents a tube. The smaller boxes will often go on sale 2/$4, so if you wait to use your coupons then, you’ll end up paying just 20 cents tube!

Bargain Buys

I got some great deals at Walgreens again this week! Today I bought Scott paper towels, a bag of Chip’ins (had a coupon and we’ve never tried these), 2 bags of Brach’s candy corn , 2 marshmallow Halloween candies, and three boxes of Capri Suns for a grand total of $5.82, and I got $2.50 in Register Rewards to use next time!! I used my coupons and some Register Rewards from last week to get this awesome deal! I could have also gotten more Halloween candy for as low as $1.49 a bag, but I think I am set for Halloween candy this year!

If you still have some Vics coupons that expire on 10-31, go to Walgreens and use them to get your free Vapodrops. You may also find “free” Colgate toothpaste (after in store coupon and RR), 50 cent boxes of Kleenex (10-2 SS and RR). These Walgreens deals are good through Saturday.


FatWallet tip: This post is part of an ongoing series of posts for the couponers and those who wanna be couponers! You may access all the posts on Shannen's author page. Please be sure to check out the grocery coupons and deals forum here on FatWallet to get great deals and connect with other couponers!