30% off in-store only at Payless Shoes this weekend, and why that's better than BOGOHO: a little Shopper's Math review

Save 30% off your entire purchase at Payless Shoes, in-store only, when you print and present this coupon.  Good this weekend only, through 6/3/12.

But wait! I hear you saying.  Isn't it better to wait for one of Payless's cyclical buy-one-get-one-half-off (BOGOHO) sales?

Actually, no, it's not.  A BOGOHO sale may sound better, but:

1. the most you can save on a BOGOHO sale is 25%, and that's only if the two pairs of shoes that you're buying cost the same.  If there is a price difference between the two pairs, that percentage drops.  Do the math with two $100 pairs of shoes, an easy, round number to deal with. Normally they would cost you $200 total. If you buy two $100 pairs in a BOGO sale, you'll pay $150 or save $50, which is 25% of $200.  If you buy one pair at $100 and one pair at $80, you would normally pay $180, but with BOGOHO you'll pay $140, or save $40, which is only a 22% savings.  In both scenarios, you'll do better with a 30% off coupon.
2. BOGOHO forces you to buy two pairs of shoes.  With the 30% coupon, you can save on even one pair.
3. BOGOHO forces you to buy items in even increments. So if you buy three pairs of shoes, you'll only save on the first two pairs.  If you buy five pairs of shoes, you'll only save on the first four pairs.  A 30% off coupon allows you to save on everything.

So, while a BOGOHO sale may sound better (ah, marketing), a 30% coupon is a whole lot kinder to your wallet.  Now, if Payless were holding a BOGOHO sale and you could stack this 30% coupon (yes, Payless allows you to stack discounts with their sales!), you'd make out like a robber baron, but unfortunately, there's no BOGOHO sale scheduled for this weekend.  But 30% off is still awesome.

Remember, even if you hate the quality of Payless shoes, they do have great accessories (I love getting my tights and pantihose there), so print the coupon and shop away.

BOGOHO at Payless PLUS 25% off (yes, you can stack these discounts!) = 44% off

Payless Shoes is running one of their quarterly Buy-One-Get-One-Half-Off sales (BOGOHO).  As we've discussed in the past, BOGOHO is the equivalent of 25% off, when both items that you are purchasing are the same price.  When the prices differ, the discount drops below 25%, so to get your best value out of any BOGOHO sale, try to choose pairs of items that are the same price.

Now, on top of the BOGOHO discount, you can also get an additional 25% off (through 4/30/12,) by entering promo code 65814 at checkout.  This 25% off is applied after the BOGOHO discount.  (If you want to do the math, you'll be paying 75% of 75%, or 56.25%.)

That means that stacking these two discounts is the equivalent of almost 44% off.  And a 44% discount is HUGE.

You can avoid the shipping charges by selecting the free ship-to-store option.  Payless Stores are everywhere.

I've found that Payless.com has always had a better selection and more sizes available than an actual Payless store.  And if you'd like to return your purchase, you can avoid shipping fees again by bringing it back to a Payless store.

If you don't like the shoes at Payless.com or find them to be cheap, I encourage you to check out the Accessories section.  I've been buying socks, tights, trendy pocketbooks and hair accessories there for years.  (As far as shoes go, I do buy my "imitation Keds" at Payless, which usually last me about 2 years on average.)

Shop the Payless BOGOHO/25% off sale here.  Remember to use promo code 65814 at checkout and to buy  pairs of items that are the same price.  Also, keep in mind that the extra 25% off is only good through 4/30/12; after that you'll only get a straight BOGOHO discount.

40% off at Payless, way better than BOGOHO

Payless Shoes has just come out with a new promo code, 59978, for 40% off your entire order (good until 12/25/11)!

"But wait!"  I hear you say.  "Isn't the Payless buy-one-get-one-half-off (BOGOHO) sale much better than that?  What about stacking their 20% off code with their BOGOHO sale?"

Remember when we did some Shoppers Math?  BOGOHO is really a brilliant marketing lure that is actually the equivalent of a discount rate of 25% off, in its best case scenario, which is when the two items that you are purchasing are the same price.  When the two items are different prices, the discount rate actually drops below 25%.  And what's more, you must buy two items at a time in order to get the discount.  So while "buy-one-get-one-half-off" might sound much better, it's really not better than a straight 25% off, which is just, eh, okay.

What about stacking a 20% off promo code with a BOGOHO sale?  Well, actually, that is identical to a 40% discount!  Do the math.  Take two items, both priced at $10.  Your total is $20.  After BOGOHO, your total is $15.  After the 20% off stacking discount, your total is $12, which is the equivalent of 40% off $20.  But a straight 40% discount is actually much better because a) you don't have to buy two items at a time, or even two items! and b) you can buy items that aren't the same price and still get a 40% discount.

Always, always, always do the math.   I <3 Shoppers Math.

So back to the Payless deal. Don't forget to choose ship-to-store as your delivery method to save yourself the $5.95 shipping fee (there are Payless stores everywhere).

You might not like the shoes there (I don't) because they are not of the greatest quality, but consider the hosiery and accessories!  I snagged the evening bag pictured above for a total of $4.19 after my 40% discount.  Yes, I know it's a little girl's bag, but I love it and I'm using it as an evening bag.  I get to do that.

And of course, don't forget the cash back!  Click through the Ebates link to Payless to get 3% in cash back or the ShopAtHome link to Payless to get 8% in cash back.  Not familiar with cash back programs?  Please peruse my primer on cash back programs here.  Not a member of any cash back programs? You can join ShopAtHome by clicking here.  And you can join Ebates by clicking here. (and thank you for allowing me to refer you).

Enjoy your 40% off.

Frugal Illusions: how we fool ourselves into thinking we're saving more than we actually are.

Drugstore rewards, cash back programs, stockpiling, gift card deals, BOGO and BOGOHO sales, etc. are all great ways to save money and I don't want to discourage you from continuing in your frugal ways!  My purpose in writing this post is to dispel some of the mind games that we sometimes might play to trick ourselves into thinking that we are saving more than we actually are.  I know I am guilty of this; I catch myself doing this all too much.  I'm hoping a little awareness and discussion will put a stop to it.  Feel free to post your $0.02 in the comments below.

1. Counting savings twice: Walgreen's Register Rewards. CVS Extra Cash Bucks.  Rite Aid Up and Up Rewards. There is a reason that these retail drugstore giants have these programs and an even better reason that the stores are making a ton of money off of them.  Why and how? Because we keep "rolling" these rewards back into future purchases.  It keeps us coming back to the same stores.  It is also a brilliant marketing plan in that we tend to "double-count" the rewards.  Here's what I mean by that:  if I buy something at Walgreen's for $20 and get $5 back in Register Rewards, in my mind I've spent only $15.  But then when I take those same $5 in Register Rewards and spend them on a $20 future purchase, in my mind, I've still only spent $15.  While I feel like I've saved $10, in reality, I've only saved $5.  That's counting savings twice.
   And my second point about this is that I haven't really saved $5; I've saved $5 worth of Walgreen's merchandise.  It's an important distinction, especially when you're trying to stick to a budget in order to pump up your savings account or pay off debts.  Remember, CVS ECBs are fantastic, but you can't pay a mortgage with them.
   Drug store programs aren't the ones that manipulate you into counting savings twice.  Cash back programs can also get you into this mindset.  If I buy something for $10 and get $4 in cash back, in my mind, I've only spent $6.  And then, when the check for that $4 actually arrives in the mail, I don't consider it as money already saved.  Instead, more often than not, I treat it as "free money."  I think the reason it happens is because of the time lag between saving the money on a purchase and receiving the check.
   Same thing happens with Target's $5 gift card promotions. Remember this great Scrubbing Bubbles deal I put together, where I stacked a fantastic Walmart price match with a Target gift card promo. In the end, I paid out $15, but I took home $25 in Target gift cards, so I considered it a $10 moneymaker. But was it really? Those $25 in gift cards can only be spent in one place, and that's Target. And I still had to take $15 out of my wallet. So, yes, this was a great deal, but was it really a "moneymaker?"
2. Buying things we don't need or want because they're cheap.  I'm not talking about breaking brand-loyalty here.  It's perfectly ok to buy Cheerios instead of Chex if Cheerios costs $1 and Chex costs $4, as long as you and your family like Cheerios and will eat it.  I'm talking about buying stuff you don't like or don't need because it costs less than a dollar or it is BOGO or you put together a great deal to get it. If you don't need it, don't want it, won't use it, then don't get it.  Period. Even if it's free (unless you will donate it or give it away immediately).   Because even if it costs nothing, it will take up precious room in your basement or garage, and there is a cost to clutter. And even if it is a steal, if you won't use it, whatever money you spent is wasted money.
   Back to my great Scrubbing Bubbles deal. In the end, I had purchased five Scrubbing Bubbles One-Step No-Hands toilet cleaning systems.  There's only one problem. We have two bathrooms in our house.  So why do I need five systems?  Fortunately, the systems all come with refills, so I will definitely put those to use.  But what about the cleaning mechanisms?  I had fooled myself into thinking that since I netted a profit of $2 in Target gift cards for each system I bought, they were worthwhile purchases.  And eventually, in a few years, each cleaning mechanism will wear out and need to be replaced.  All great justifications for buying five, but the bottom line is, I've got three of these taking up room on a shelf in my garage right now. See what I mean?
3. Stockpiling out of control. There are two ways to waste money with stockpiling.  The first is stockpiling more stuff than you will use in the next two years.  That takes up valuable space, and there is no reason to keep that much of anything around.  Lots of stuff, while not spoiling, may not be as good after two years. I once stockpiled way too much Pantene shampoo, and after a year and a half, the shampoo separated.  The oily stuff rose to the top and watery stuff went to the bottom. It all went back to normal when I shook the bottles, but still, it taught me a lesson in over-stockpiling. The second way to waste money is to store things improperly.  The best place to store foods that have the potential to become stale is in a closed, airtight container in the coldest part of your freezer.  I don't store any food at all in my garage, even cans, because it gets very warm in the summer and goes below freezing in the winter and those are extremes that can affect even sealed food.  I store all non-perishable food items in my pantry and my consistently cool basement.
4. The savings sound way better than they are.  Marketing, marketing, marketing.  If Payless Shoes had a 25% off sale instead of a BOGOHO (buy-one-get-one-half-off) sale, would they do as well?  We know from doing our Shoppers Math that a 25% off sale is basically the exact same thing as BOGOHO, at least when both items are the same price. When they differ in price, your savings drop below 25%.  But a BOGOHO sale sounds much more enticing than a 25% off sale, doesn't it? After all, we're getting half off!  But actually, we're not.  

I'm not suggesting for a minute that we stop attempting to follow all of these frugal methods. What I am proposing is that we catch ourselves at all the little mind tricks we might play to make ourselves think we're saving more than we actually are, which ultimately, will cost us more.

Shoppers Math

Shoppers math can be misleading.  Sometimes, because of clever marketing, it's meant to be misleading.

For example, what does BOGO really mean?  Well, if it's Buy-One-Get-One-Free, that really means that you are getting a 50% discount on a single item.  Do you want the item enough to pay half the amount of the original price for it?  Sometimes BOGO means Buy-One-Get-One-Half-Off (like at Payless Shoes), which is the equivalent of getting a 25% discount (or less if the second item costs less than the first).  Would you buy one of the item if you were getting a straight 25% off?  Something to think about before you buy something thinking that it is "free," so it doesn't matter if it's a little overpriced.

Coupons sometimes come in weird phrasings.  For example Lowe's has a "$25 off of $250" coupon.  So that's basically 10% off, yes?  Yes and no.  Unless you find an item(s) that costs exactly $250, you'll probably be buying more than that in order to meet the coupon requirement, bringing the percentage value of the coupon down.

What about those coupons for "$3 off Cheer liquid, any size?"  So normally, when you are buying something like, say, detergent, you look for the cheapest price per ounce, right?  And the cheapest price per ounce usually comes in the larger sizes.  Let's take a look at the Walmart.com prices on liquid Cheer:
 

# ounces	price	price/oz.
50	$6.97	$0.14
100	$12.52	$0.13
150	$16.74	$0.11

So this makes sense and is intuitive.  The more you buy, the more you spend, the less it cost per ounce.  The smallest size cost 14 cents per ounce.  The largest size cost 11 cents per ounce and is the best value size.  Now let's throw in a high-value $3 off coupon, and everything gets skewed:

# ounces	price	price/oz. after $3 off coupon
50	$3.97	$0.08
100	$9.52	$0.10
150	$13.74	$0.09

Whoa.  Now it seems that the smallest size is the greatest value.  And it is.  Because the coupon is a fixed amount and value increase is based on a ratio.  So your denominator (price) is shrinking, but your numerator (# ounces) is fixed. What does this translate to? Well, as a general rule (there are exceptions), if you have a coupon for a fixed amount (i.e. $3 off), it makes more sense to use it on the smaller-sized, cheaper item.  The higher the coupon value, the more true this is.  If you have a coupon based on a percentage (15% off), it makes more sense to use it on the largest sized item.