Coupon Savings vs. Gas Cost

Coupon Savings vs. Gas Costs

With the rising cost of gas I thought I would share with you my thoughts on coupon savings vs. gas costs.

We live 22 miles from an area that has Walgreen's, Rite Aid, Albertson's and Safeway close to each other. This weekend I realized I had $9.00 in Rite Aid UP Rewards that were expiring. I had to look at whether saving $9.00 with UP rewards was worth the gas cost. Our Jeep averages 20 miles per gallon. Heading to this shopping area is going to cost at least 2 gallons of gas

2 gallons of gas at $3.79 = $7.58

When I weighed out the cost vs. the savings I chose to not use the UP Rewards. I think it is really important to balance out your costs vs. your savings. My goal with using coupons is to save my family money. If I save with coupons but spend more in gas I am not moving forward to reach my goals. I try and combine my shopping trips into one trip into town.  I make sure I have my coupons with me when we go into town. We combine going into town to see friends, family and run errands with using coupons.

Our goal is to save money with coupons as much possible.  As gas price have been steadily rising I have started to minimize the number of times that I run into town. I know that I may miss out on a hot deal but in the end I am moving ahead with our goals.