Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Wednesday Tip Day---- When FREE isn't really FREE!


All this ADDS UP!

Here in the Hudson Valley of NY we pay 8% sales tax.  When I first started coupon shopping, I did all the drugstore deals.  It was great, but after awhile I noticed I was spending more money than I originally thought.  I would plan my trips, but forgot to add in the cost of tax.  Here in NY our tax is based on pre-coupon totals, so after awhile it adds up.  That's not to say that the drugstore deals aren't a great way to save money, but once I had a stockpile built up, I realized I needed to be more selective in the deals I choose to participate in.  The answer for me was to stick with CVS as my primary drugstore and only do the deals at RiteAid or Walgreens when they are for a hard to score cheap/free item or when it's such a great moneymaker that I can't resist.  This decision has saved me so much money!

The moral of the story:
A Free Item isn't free if you pay sales tax on it!
Factor in all costs when deciding what's a good deal for you.

8 comments:

Totallyscrappy said...

It all adds up, doesn't it?

Noelle said...

certainly does! :)

Anonymous said...

LOL I can't tell you how many times I have planned my trips to the penny only to realize when I hear my total... I FORGOT TO ADD THE TAX! OOOHHHHHH!

Penniless Parenting said...

Tax. Oh my. Where we live, there is insanely high tax- at 15%. I also ometimes forget to add in the cost of tax. The worst it airlines where you sometimes have to add on another few hundred dollars tax!

Amy Walker said...

I'm a new follower. Found you on Frugal Friday...I've scaled back on some couponing too...especially drugstore...I've so changed my cooking and lifestyle that I'm having to totally re-think coupons.

Amy @ www.thecheapandchoosy.blogspot.com

Mom2fur said...

I'm a Long Islander and we do pay ridiculous taxes here in New York! I honestly never realized you are taxed before coupons. But I still think it's a good idea to have a small stockpile of often-used items. I (like many others) just have to know when to say 'when,' LOL! I've got about five tubes of toothpaste that are unopened, so I'm not even looking at those deals for a while, LOL!

My Blessings From Above said...

I agree with you 100%. When I first started doing the drugstore deals I tried to do as many of them as I could. Now I just mainly do CVS since it is about 5 minutes from my house. Riteaid and Walgreens are 20 minutes away. So I factor in the gas spent as well as the tax.

Jennifer said...

Yep, we have to pay sales tax too. Kind of stinks, but nothing you can do.