Budgeting with coupons when you’re in debt – good or bad?
By: Darrell Castle
As bankruptcy lawyers Memphis, TN knows and trusts, we deal with people struggling with debt every day – most of which are strongly searching for a way to save a buck.
When going over a person’s finances with them, more times than not I can point to the grocery budget as an area for improvement. Sometimes the amount of money a person or family spends on groceries is ridiculous.
Spending money on all processed and frozen foods and sugary cereals is not only less-healthy than buying raw meats and fresh vegetables, but it can also make more of an impact on your wallet.
Thank God for coupons though, right? Maybe. But, maybe not.
If you spend your Sunday afternoons searching through the coupons in your bulky Sunday Edition paper, you may be doing yourself a disservice. There’s a right and wrong way to go about coupon shopping.
Coupons can sometimes entice you to buy items you normally wouldn’t buy, on top of your normal items.
Ten packs of pasta for $10? What a deal! But do you really eat pasta that much? Or will you cook two packs of pasta and leave eight packs sitting for months and months before you eventually just toss them into the garbage? That’s wasted money when you could have simply bought two packs and gotten the same deal! Letting this happen with multiple things can put a dent in your wallet quick.
Oh, you can save $1.00 on that Yoplait Yogurt if you buy five? It’s not the normal yogurt you buy, but it looks like you may like it, and man that’s a deal! But what if you get the five and you don’t like it? Instead, just get one and test it out.
Shopping for coupons can be a good thing if done right. Instead of shopping the ads for a general assortment of items, only look for deals on things you normally buy.
There’s a coupon for $2.00 off of Gain Laundry detergent? Good! You use Gain, go on ahead and save yourself those couple of dollars.
When you’re in debt and struggling to pay your bills, added expenses can be a detriment – even if they’re small, they add up over time. Instead of coupon shopping to find deals on cool stuff, use the coupons to save money on things you normally buy and feel you need.
You should also consider filing for bankruptcy if you can’t pay your bills. By doing so, your debt can either be discharged through a Chapter 7, or lumped into an affordable 3-5 year repayment plan through a Chapter 13. Once the process is complete, you have a clean financial slate and a fresh start to begin spending your money the right way.
You’ll most-likely have to make some personal changes in how you operate financially, and here at Darrell Castle & Associates, we not only want to help you get out of debt, but help lead you to a life in which you can stay out of debt. We do this by offering you access to a great 14-week program called “7 Steps to a 720,” in which you’ll learn secrets the banks don’t want you to know in regards to re-establishing and rebuilding your credit the right way. This program, worth $1,000, is free to our clients.
If you have any questions or if you’re considering filing for bankruptcy, you can speak to one of our experienced attorneys, free of charge, by filling out the “Get in Touch” form below or by calling us at (901) 327-2100.