Have you seen those couponing TV shows? You know, the ones where women are walking out of stores with four carts of groceries for just a couple of bucks?
I can’t speak for how many of the shows are real and how many are staged, but the reality is that you can save hundreds of dollars a month with coupons – and here are just a few reasons why:
You can really take advantage of sales
A lot of stores run sales based on which coupons are currently being offered by manufacturers. This means that in addition to in-store savings, you’ll also get to use the coupons and save even more yet.
This is probably more prominent with the coupons you get if you have a newspaper delivered to you, but you can still take advantage of lower prices by going online and finding coupons for the sale products there as well.
If you keep a pantry stocked with items that won’t go bad, this also puts you in a better position to purchase items when you can get them on sale versus if you need them right now. Just make sure you don’t buy more than you’ll use or you’ll wind up throwing things away, which negates the whole purpose of saving as much money as you can.
Think about items beyond groceries
When most people think of coupons, saving on grocery items is the first thing that comes to mind. You envision the buy one get one free macaroni and cheese offers or the option of saving a dollar when you buy two boxes of your favorite cereal. However, coupons extend way beyond the things you put in your belly.
Electronics stores and other specialty retailers sometimes offer coupons within their ads. Make sure you read the fine print because some of their deals say “Must present coupon” and others say “Coupon not necessary to redeem sale price” which is great if you tend to lose coupons you keep in your wallet.
Coupons can save you on services
If you go out to eat or order take-away, there is a good chance that the restaurant or eatery you’re going to offers coupons. Some have them online right on their website and others email them to their loyal customers (so sign up to their email list if you eat there often).
Keep your eye on mailings too because some restaurants and fast food joints include money saving coupons in with grocery store ads.
This summer alone, I saved over $50 in trips to Cold Stone Creamery by getting coupons sent to me via email. Not that I needed that much ice cream, but I was going there anyway so it was nice to spend half of what I would normally spend. (Plus it allowed me to go more often without feeling guilty, which is always a good thing.)
Several other businesses that offer services versus products have coupons designed to sometimes save you hundreds of dollars with them alone. You can often find these types of deals with duct cleaners, carpet shampooers, and more.
Save on entertainment
Entertainment coupons are great too as it allows you to have a little bit of fun for sometimes up to 90% off! If you sign up for coupon sites, like Groupon or Amazon Local, you can get daily deals sent straight to your email inbox. That way, you’ll never miss another entertainment related discount ever again. Or, you can go direct to the business venue site and they’ll email you valuable coupons whenever they are running a sale.
So find the coupon sites that interest you, or sites of places you want to go but would rather not pay full price for, and sign up to get their emails. You may discard almost all of the ones you get, but if you use even one, it makes it worth the cash you’re able to keep in your wallet.
Coupons can save you hundreds upon hundreds of dollars across many different areas. It may take you a little bit of time to find them and, of course, you have to have them on hand when you’re ready to use them, but imagine all of the things you can do with the money you’ll save!
The possibilities are endless…
Cover photo: fabuloussavings.com
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