brand loyal

(image found on Amazon.com)

(image found through internet search)

(image found on Tide website)

I have talked about this before but I think that as I have a lot of new readers, it is important to talk about again!! Everything I say is important right?! lol

As a couponer, you learn very fast that being brand loyal costs money. Manufacturers count on it.

For example, lets say you only use Tide laundry detergent. (This is the most expensive brand I have ever seen!!)

So you have run out of laundry soap, and you head to the store to get some more. Tide is on sale for $10. Normally the P&G insert has Tide coupons good for .35-$1.00 It is rare to find one higher. But for arguments sake, you have a $1 off. Bringing your total down to $9. You used your coupon so you must have gotten a good deal right? Eh...not so much.

Down the aisle a little way is All detergent. It is on sale for $3.99 and is offering a $1 off. Now you have moved your price down to $2.99

Even further down the aisle is Purex. On sale for $1.99. They put out coupons for $3/1 down to $1/1. Obviously if you had a $3 one that would be a money maker. If you had a $1 that would bring it down to .99! How is that Tide looking to you now?

Now lets say that you buy laundry soap every 2 weeks. 52 weeks in a year divided by 2 equals 26 weeks.

26 weeks x$9.00= about $234 a year for that laundry soap. And that is assuming that Tide would ever get that low in price and that you would always have a $1 off coupon.

26 weeks x 2.99 (for All)= about  $77 a year (which subtracting $234 from $77 would make it so that you are saving $157 a year on laundry soap)

26 weeks x.99= a grand total of $25.74 ( Tide's cost of $234- Purex's cost is $208.26) that is a big difference!! Purex's price minus the price of the All would be around $52

Now obviously this is oversimplified and completely made up. (: It just goes to show you that being brand loyal CAN cost you.

 If you have a product that you refuse to give up and won't try another one? Well my best advice would be to stock up a 3 month supply of that item, to get you through to the next sale.

Don't be afraid to try new things! You might find a product you like better than the one you are currently using. I would rather pay .25 or less for a tube of tooth paste than to pay 3.99 for a tube just because that is what I have always done!

It is all about matching a sale with a coupon, no matter what the brand!

What is that saying? "If you always do, what you have always done, you are going to get, what you've always got"!

********FYI: I chose laundry soap as an example. I am not getting any sort of benefit from any of these companies. You can do similar calculations with many,many products. ******