Money Saving Tip: Have Kids Help With Grocery Coupons
photo credit: eschipul
Since the age of 3, my daughter can spot a box of Disney princess cereal from across a supermarket. The past few weeks I’ve made it a personal goal to use coupons when possible at my local grocery store. Since my kids are part of the shopping experience and they have an amazing ability for brand recognition, I thought I would put them to work saving us money. We split up the coupons and see who can find the most products. So far it has been a success and we have been able to save money on groceries as a family. The kids just think it’s a game, but we are able to put more money towards our savings account each month. Last month we saved $200 from our family grocery budget and this month we should save an additional $50. Some items like meat I’ve purchased in bulk and put in the freezer for summer bbq’s.
Brand name coupons. Many of the coupons found in our Sunday paper are for brand name items. Our kids look for the brand name items, but we compare the store brand to make sure they are the best value. Some items, like cereal, my kids enjoy the brand name over the store versions. It probably has more to do with the fact that a Disney princess is on the cover though. When it comes to other products like pretzels or meat, they don’t have a clue about brands. This will be a topic of further discussion later about brand recognition and children. It’s very fascinating how they have learned about images and products at such an early age.
A money saving tip: look for coupons while shopping. Sometimes it’s hard to spot in-store coupons, but the kids have gotten really good at find them. Many coupons are on the products themselves and you can peel them off and redeem on the same shopping trip. This is a great way to keep kids busy during a shopping trip and allows them to participate in the shopping experience.
No coupon, no purchase. We have some friends that won’t buy most items if they don’t have a coupon. They simply tell children that they can’t buy gum or candy because they don’t have a coupon. I called a friend this last week to tell him I found a coupon for Mentos gum in the paper. He told me to hush. Kids will start to figure out that you can buy items without a coupon and they might start to catch on around age 5 or 6. You can explain that coupons help save money and that you chose to spend your money on items that are healthy for your bodies. If that doesn’t work, you can tell them that they can start a piggy bank to buy a special treat at the store. When they have save $1 or more, you can revisit the treat discussion again. Also, encouraging them to pick out fruits and fun snacks can help give them healthy alternatives to candy.
Clip coupons as a family. My 5 year-old loves to use scissors and make craft projects. We supervise her use of the scissors and encourage her to cut out the coupons and practice making straight cuts along the lines. She then sorts the coupons by product: bread, vegetable, fruit, household, etc.
Keep your grocery coupon savings. You just saved $20 on your groceries. What will you do with that $20? Do you put it towards paying credit card debt first? Doesn’t sound very glamorous, but do you? If you don’t have credit card debt, are you building up your emergency savings account balance? It can be easy to just let that $20 sit in your checking account waiting for your next opportunity to spend it on something fun.
How do you involve your children in grocery shopping trips?
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John Said:
I use coupons all the time and I don’t understand why some people don’t use them. It is like printed money!
The only time coupons won’t save you money is if you buy something you don’t normally buy just because you have a coupon.
Posted on March 7th, 2009
pfincome Said:
I think this is a fantastic idea. My 5-year old loves to collect coupons at the store and to cut them out. Unfortunately he gets a little carried away on some of them so I have to give him the ones we don’t want!
I typically won’t buy anything without a coupon myself unless it is a generic.
Posted on March 8th, 2009