Life on a Budget

As I sit here on a snowy Sunday morning, I look at the Sunday paper sprawled out on my coffee table and wonder if it is really worth the $78 I pay per year? This is really a very loaded question and the answer will vary for each person. Of course, many people get the paper for its informative articles on what’s going on around their town and nation. For this reason alone, the paper might be worth the price to you. Personally I get my local information online so I get the Sunday paper for the store fliers and manufacturer’s coupons. So for this reason, is it really worth it?

Store Fliers

Each week most of the major retail stores publish a colorful flier of all their sale items for the week. It’s a nice, convenient way to find out if something that you need is on sale and allows you to shop around without having to go to the stores. But these days, most of the major stores publish these fliers on their website. Plus, if you really want to shop around, using just the fliers excludes all the online retailers that offer great deals.

So is the paper worth it for the fliers? For convenience, yes but overall, in my opinion, no.

Manufacturer’s Coupons

The gem of the Sunday paper is the manufacturer coupons that come inside. Yes, I use coupons and love them. To me, it’s as good as having dollar bills in my wallet. It’s free money. On average I save about $4 a week on my grocery shopping by using coupons. I save another $2-$5 on average a month on detergents, paper products, soaps, personal items etc. So, for any given month I save about $18-$21- just with coupons. Keep in mind this is just for me and my husband. If you have a larger family you could probably double or triple that amount. So let’s break it down on a yearly basis:

We’ll say, on average, I save about $20 a month x 12 months = $240 – $78 for the paper = $162 a year

How much money can you save?

$162+ a year (depending on the size of your family)

So is the Sunday paper worth it? For me, yes. The coupon savings, plus the convenience of the fliers and the news it provides makes the Sunday paper worth the cost for me.