This is a guest post from Mr. CBB. Mr. CBB is an awesome blogger, with a very popular blog, and I’m so excited to have a guest post from him. Mr.CBB runs Canadian Budget Binder where he talks to his fans about how they designed their budget, frugal tips and recipes. He also shares his family income and net worth updates.
When I first moved to Canada I never really gave much thought to coupons as I really didn’t use them back home in the UK. I mean if I noticed one I would certainly use it but I never would see them to the extent we do in Canada.
Our refrigerators for the most part in the UK are built in under the counter, similar in size to a Canadian dishwasher - maybe a bit smaller. I couldn’t fit much food into it. I was lucky to get a few vegetables, milk, juice and cheese and that’s about it. My mum and dad have the larger refrigerator like we now have here in Canada. I had to be careful what I bought as space is premium back home and I wasn’t able to stockpile like we can here.
After moving to Canada I was surfing the internet one day and came across a site called save.ca and realized you could order coupons and they would mail them to you. How cool was that? So easy! This is where couponing began for both Mrs. CBB and I. At the time we were both students so every penny mattered to us because we were saving for a down payment to purchase our first home.
A sample of the coupons you can use!
Shortly after that dream came true the real couponing took off. We now had our own space and crossed paths with other like-minded people in our community. We’ve managed to stock enough health and beauty for the next few years – some products we had enough for 10 years! We did get to the point where we felt we were spending too much money using coupons. We were 2 Newlyweds and we needed a budget. Once we started to document our expenses it was clear we were overspending even using coupons.
We have since cut back to purchasing only what we need and began meal planning. Are coupons dominating the family budget? Absolutely! More and more families are relying on coupons to make it to the next pay check simply to put a meal on the table. Students are struggling to find jobs and are left with student loans they struggle to pay back. Jobs are slim and some have to take what they can get just to get money coming in.
How Do Coupons help families save money?
- Helps to pay down debt
- Helps to stash money in a TFSA, RRSP, or RESP
- Helps pay the mortgage or rent
- Helps pay for renovations or save money in an emergency fund
- Helps take the stress off families who live pay check to pay check
- Brings families closer together by working together on the budget
- Helps encourage families to spend less than they earn and to be mindful of what they are purchasing
- Helps put food on the table
I can go on but for the most part coupons are a way of life for some people and families. The most important part I stress is to make sure you budget and don’t spend money you haven’t earned. When I hear of people using coupons and putting the shop on a credit card I hope they pay it off in full at the end of the month. Recognizing that paying the minimum balance on a credit card is not saving you money when you are using coupons with credit is imperative.
I recognize that not everyone will have the passion nor drive to use a coupon especially men although some women find frugal men sexy! I’m betting you will start to see more and more men looking to save a buck or two.
I often get asked if you can eat healthy while using coupons. Sure you can! When you are saving money on the items you would be paying full price for you are saving money you can put towards vegetables and meat, two food groups that many struggle to find coupons for. It’s important to know your pricing at the grocery store because sometimes you don’t even need a coupon to get the “best price” on a product.
To help with lowering our grocery budget (aside from coupons and sales) I started The Grocery Game Challenge on my blog. I post my weekly grocery shop along with how much I have to spend that week in the budget. I then post what coupons and savings I received and whether I beat the budget that week. We have had many fans come on board to play and post their shops. When you document what you are spending you are mindful of what is happening around you.
Many of my fans have significantly lowered their grocery budget and are happy to report they are on track now that they know where the money is going. I hope this game will encourage people to start a budget if they haven’t already.
Coupons may be dominating the family grocery budget but I leave you with this. I would rather see a family with food on the table than a family with nothing at all.
Happy Couponing.. and remember “It’s Not About How Much Money You Make It’s How You Save It”.
You can contact Mr.CBB at canadianbudgetbinder@yahoo.ca with your success stories about debt recovery or how you paid for something big using cash. You never know it may end up on his blog!
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Coupons are very helpful and beneficial for families – coupons by answers.com has various coupons ranging from food to clothing, that can help you and your family save money.
It’s really too bad there are never coupons for healthy stuff like veggies and fruit. Coupons can definitely save a lot of money, but if you’re not careful they can lead to excess spending, just like when you were stocking up for stuff. I guess after coming from your tiny UK fridge, it was just too tempting. Such a small fridge must really encourage people to eat unhealthy food.
I’ve tried to use coupons more, but it never seems to be for stuff I buy anymore. I guess I just need to look more and be willing to go to different stores for some stuff. With me though, time is quite important. So if the searching takes too long, I might as well just put that time towards my work.
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I agree with you – I wish we had coupons for things like fruits and veggies. They aren’t cheap and it’d be great if you could save some money on those.
Actually Jeremy @Modest Money I can tell you I have quite a few coupons for Bread,Flour, Milk, fresh summer salads,spices,eggs,cheese,rice,extra virgin olive oil,cereal,yogurt,almond milk, rice milk, cottage cheese,sour cream,oatmeal,pistachios,coffee,egg whites,spring water,butter,fresh pineapple,fruits,sausages,ground beef etc. I suppose you don’t use these products in your diet but we do in our family along with what we grow in our garden and can throughout the year. If you base your observations about coupons from that silly Extreme coupon show you are misguided as to what we actually can and cannot do in Canada.
You can also call or email your favourite companies and they may send you free product coupons just for telling them what you think of their products.
The misconception where people automatically assume people who use coupons eat unhealthy is unfounded. You can even use a coupon at the bulk barn which comes in the weekly paper to buy every cooking ingredient under the sun.
Coupons are not only used for grocery but everything from buying products at Rona, Home Depot,Sears, Canadian Tire, Shoppers Drug Mart etc and yes they have coupons on the shelf for products. ie: oil,filters,bug spray, etc.
We have saved thousands on house hold products, and lots more on grocery using coupons. We’ve simply cut back as we are stocked and want to cook from scratch and grow more in the garden. We are also learning to make our own cleaning and laundry products. If one is not careful they will overspend yes hence why we designed the budget and everyone should use one if they want to not overspend. We were using coupons for items that were near free at the end that we really didn’t need as we already had 50 of them. You still have to pay the tax for free or near free items that are taxable. That is more what I am talking about. Knowing when enough is enough. I had plenty of room in my house in the UK to stock items but I really didn’t use coupons per say as the savings aren’t as worthwhile as in Canada. As for looking for coupons 99% of the time they are in front of our faces. So if it takes too much time or effort to reach up and tear well, I can’t help anyone with that.
Yes there are coupons that are for convenience foods for kids and adults for snacks, school, back yardparties etc such as granola bars, Mott’s fruitsations apple sauce, peanut butter, nutrigrain bars,dare paw cookies,pudding cups etc.
In the UK I hardly if ever ate sweets and everything I cooked was from scratch or from the garden. I’ve lived in Canada for 5 years now and have yet to eat at a fast food outlet besides buying a pizza. My parents and sister both have full size refrigerators like most Canadians. My mum and dad taught me how to cook and eat from the garden.I’ve built on those skills gained from my parents over the year and well happy they took the time to educate me.
It has nothing to do with the size of refrigerator that encourages anyone to eat unhealthy. It “clearly” has more to do with choice and what we put on our plate and in our mouths. Being unhealthy and overweight also has to do with the amount of physical activity one does. ie: going for walks, runs, to the gym, yoga etc which I do on a daily basis and have been for over 15 years.
You could say that because Canadians have full size refrigerators they are unhealthy because they are encouraged to store more food and eat more. That makes no sense does it now.
At the end of the day if someone doesn’t want to use coupons that’s their own “choice”. I don’t mind it’s not my bank account. So I’ll keep doing what we do! Good luck Jeremy! If you need any help just mate ask I’ve got many mates who can sort you out with coupon savings.
Cheers,
Mr.CBB
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I’m not sure why all the spacing is off in my post. Also the last sentence should read “If you need any help mate ask I’ve got many mates who can sort you out with coupon savings.
Cheers
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Sorry if the spacing is off – the post looks fine to me.
Well written Mr CBB:) Coupons have definitely changed our lives in my house and I would never look back!
As for coupons for fresh fruit, veggies, etc., you can get coupons for those items as well, they just aren’t as easily accessible as the others! Because of that I think they get pushed out of people’s minds since they arent as prominent.
I actually have coupons in my binder right now for fresh chicken, produce and milk, so they’re out there, you just have to REALLY look for them;)
If you are an avid couponer, you can also plan strategic shops where you can use OVERAGE from other items in order to compensate the cost of your fresh foods and save that way!
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Coupons are well worth their weight in gold and won’t result in being broke if you use coupons with sale items, sale items with manager’s specials store discounts all in one and also if the item is the same price as the value of the coupon then the item is yours for free so you get what you want without spending any money.
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