look i am not saying that you cannot save money with coupons, in theory, if you used a coupon to buy something that you were going to pay full price for, and that coupon in no way altered your judgement or buying habits, then yes it is a harmless discount and will save you money. That much is pretty straight-forward.
Also this is not victim mentality, in fact it is exactly the opposite, it is empowering to know how stores get you to spend more money. It is about learning the economic theory behind it.
My point is that many coupons are designed to cloud your judgement and create new needs for purchases. Which is a big reason I avoid them in the first place. For example, if I were getting toiletries or something that will last a long time like canned goods, I would probably buy them in bulk at the warehouse buying the warehouse club's generic brand. No coupon is needed to get this discount. This is almost always the lowest price you will find. It is at least 90% better than the other deals in regular stores across the span of a year. Thus, to calculate any true coupon savings, you have to compare the couponed item discount price against this warehouse bulk purchase as the baseline price to see if you are getting a discount, not the full price name brand item you can buy in CVS or another store. If you do this, the coupon savings do not appear to be as much as you think.
Also you could go to a store spend a bunch of money and earn rewards to get "free stuff" but it will probably cost you because you are confined to buy other products in that store whether those products are the cheapest or not; again there is the pressure to spend; Maybe your are or are not strong enough to find the urges to spend more, but you are putting yourself in at risk of being tempted every time you play this game; at a minimum be honest with yourself, and put some checks in place (, i.e. if you want to spend $50 on items, don't buy that day and wait two weeks and see if still want to spend that money on those items).
also this sets up a system where you are being
rewarded to spend money (or subtly being trained by the stores to spend money) and find ways to come up with products to reach certain spending threshold levels where you get these rewards which is the exactly the opposite of MMM's philosophy.
Don't believe me, read his articles more closely:
For example, in
http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2011/08/25/groupon-never-heard-of-it/It seems that many of the web’s personal finance sites (like this list on Wisebread.com) are actually shopping sites disguised as benevolent dispensaries of financial advice. I checked out the websites like Deal Seeking Mom and Money Saving Mom, and various others from the top ten. Then I checked out another service that has become popular among people with the desire to save a few bucks: Groupon ... The thing I noticed about these sites is that they seem to focus on buying things, rather than not buying things. This is another key concept and so important. Focus on not buying things. You may get a coupon for $5 off a new shirt, however the shirt costs $15 new. The better option is to throw the coupon in the trash and change your buying habits. Either you become content and realize that a new shirt will not improve your lifelong happiness (the excitement will fade in a day or two). Also even if I wanted a new shirt, I would go down to the local goodwill or community aid and pick up a lightly used one for $2. Even though I did not use the coupon, I still saved more money. Thus, the $5 coupon is clouding your judgement, because you are not thinking as much about the alternatives. It is attempted to initially frame your buying decision.
Also see what else he says:
Even though I’m Mr. Money Mustache Himself, I must admit I was immediately tempted. “Hmm, I do like Sushi. Maybe I should go out tonight? I wonder if they have any deals on tools or bikes? And I am down to zero pairs of jeans without major holes in them, perhaps I should look for Old Navy or Target coupons as well?” ... See, while the deals presented on these sites are indeed good deals, the problem is that they are creating wants and perceived needs inside me, where only contentment existed before. ... I believe one of my biggest advantages in the battle to maximize happiness while buying less stuff than most people, is not even knowing what stuff is available to buy ... I would suggest that while coupons do actually get you discounts, the most profitable route is still to keep yourself off of as many mailing lists and deal websites as you can
MMM's says "not even knowing what stuff to buy". But to get the coupons in the first place you have to thoroughly look through in store ads and produce catalogs. You may be looking for coupons in the store catalog and see that summer is coming up and say "oh look that at awesome inflatable pool with matching deck chairs, that would be perfect for the kids!" "Oh and look, I can get the pool and use it with my rewards program to get free detergent as well", do you get the point?
Thus, maybe before you were contend to go into a store and buy the one item you need. However, instead you saw the ad about the rewards program. Now you are no longer content to buy the one item you came for but instead you want to buy more stuff, then they justify by saying that they saved money because they are earning a reward.