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There was an interesting article on Yahoo Finance today! 8 Reasons Why You Shouldn’t Use Coupons! Talk about getting couponers fired up!  Every blogger I know had something to say about this article either on their  blog or on facebook!

Now, sadly that article is how a lot of people think and unfortunately my husband was one of them!  Now that he knows how it works, he’s all for us saving half or more off our grocery bill!

I decided to do a rebuttal on the reasons you should use coupons, what is written in bold is from the article 8 Reasons Why You Shouldn’t Use Coupons! If you have any additional reasons, please leave a comment below

You have to buy a newspaper.
No you don’t have to buy a newspaper, you can ask family, friends or neighbors who may not clip coupons if you can have their inserts when they are finished with them.  Coupons can be printed from the Internet and you will find coupons in magazines and on products themselves!

Clipping coupons takes up a lot of time.
Yes it does take time, but it is time spent well.  This article my sister sent me tells us the average saved per coupon is $1.44!  So if you clip 40 coupons, that’s a savings of $57.60!   I clip when I have time and it only takes me about 30 minutes to clip the ones I use.  When I print the coupons, I have my husband help me cut them. We are done in about 30 minutes – 45 minutes (depending on how many I have to cut).  So about an hour, maybe a little more a week.  It helps to have someone else helping you.

Getting a newspaper invites lots of additional advertising into your home
Yes this is true, but if we didn’t get advertisements, how would we take advantage of sales and/or other coupons? Couponers like knowing what sales are going on.

Many of the coupons will be for things you neither need nor want!
Yes I thought this too, but cut what you can use, then pass them to a neighbor, family member or donate them to a local charity.

Coupons can tempt you to spend your grocery dollars on things you shouldn’t.
Yes this is true, but so can a husband, child or empty stomach. Think about how many times you’ve gone shopping and bought lunch because you got hungry. Basically, couponers go shopping with a grocery list in hand and a shopping budget in mind. Being organized and focused will help prevent the desire to spend money on unintended items.

The same coupons tend to be offered over and over again.
I’m so happy they do that! In my opinion, you can never have enough $3/1 Snuggle coupons, $2/1 A1 Sauce and BOGO Stayfree coupons!

You might become a slave to coupons.
Yes, I do agree that it is difficult to buy something without a coupon once you get used to using them. Knowing that you can get A1 sauce for $.48 and Snuggle for $.97 makes it very hard to spend $2.48(A1 sauce) and $3.97(Snuggle) on it! This is the reason, couponers take advantage of a great bargain and the savings opportunity. Couponers stock up on sale items, so that they never have to pay full-price for an item. (Toothpaste, shampoo, tissue paper, and more!)

Shopping takes longer:
No it doesn’t!  You go to the store with your list in hand and next to your items you are getting, you mark that you have a coupon next to it.  You don’t go all over the store looking for what you have a coupon for!  You use the coupons to get the rock bottom prices on what’s on sale or rollback. You do not have to use the coupon just because you have it!

The Bottom Line
The bottom line is couponing saves you money! 

I just started with couponing in February of 2010 and I find myself getting better each time I go shopping.  I save money and get our necessities. Of course there are items we need that do not go on sale or that we do not have a coupon for, but we do buy it.  My daughter just started couponing a few months ago and she was so excited to save $50 off a $134 bill!  That’s the most they’ve saved so far I think.

Read the article on yahoo and let us know your opinions.