How To Get Paperless Coupons

Coupons are getting easier to use, and coupled with the post from a few days ago, the excuses for not using them based on inconvenience are growing more narrow.  As I have written about before, coupons that are "loaded" on to your grocery store loyalty cards are starting to catch on, Safeway for one, uses them.  The premise is simple:  before you go to the store, select from a list of brands you are planning on shopping for, select the coupon, and wait (times vary) for them to load on to your card.  At the store, when you check out, they should be automatically deducted from your purchases.  These should also work on-line too, in theory, if you are getting your groceries delivered.

But, now it's even easier to tote coupons with you--digitally--as indicated in this article, which discusses something called mobiQpons.  It works like this, quoting:

"The way it works is you install their iPhone, Android or Blackberry app (no signup required, just load the app) and when location services on the device is turned on you will get notifications of merchants offering coupons or promotions in your area. Merchants have to be signed up for the service in order for their promotions to run through the network but that’s not surprising."

I wouldn't necessarily run out and buy a web-enabled smartphone just for this, but if you have one already, it can help pay for itself.  One day, as I have seen in one sci-fi movie, it will likely be the case that once you walk by a virtual advertising board, it will flash a discount based on your demographic, making a broad assumption of what you might like.  If you are a male in your 20s-30s, you might see ads for beer, for example.

Where To Find Offline Coupon Savings

Typically, looking for coupons for online savings is pretty simple.  Visit a site like www.retailmenot.com and you can easily find coupons to your favorite retailers.  One of the unique features on this site is the ability to search for printed coupons, you know the kind that you physically hand a cashier.  In contrast with online coupons, which are typically available to all, printed coupons some times have restrictions on copies, more limited usage (like geographic area), or any myriad reasons.  Still, worth a look.  

Alternatively, there are sites like P&G Everyday Solutions, yes, Proctor and Gamble, that allow you to sign up for their newsletters and/or coupons.  They are good for thousands of products that P&G brands.  Visit http://www.pgeverydaysolutions.com.  Again, today, I just got another one of their emails offering free samples, etc.

How to Make an Effort to Save Money

Occasionally, I have had debates with friends whether or not it is "worth it" to spend the time researching and applying coupons and other savings. Sometimes, yes, it's not worth the trouble to spend precious free time or go out of your way to save. A good rule of thumb to use is how much your hourly wage works out to be as a gauge. So, if you make $50,000 annually, it equates to ~ $25/hour, about $.42/minute. If it takes you 30 seconds to clip a $.50 coupon, then you are out on top. However, if you spend 30 minutes hunting for just one coupon, than you might argue with your self that it's not worth the time. If coupons are a hobby of sorts, than you can also argue that the value you receive in doing something you enjoy, like beating "the man" at the price war game, is also worth it. Search engines like sidestep for travel, pricescan, and bizrate for everything else are awesome this way.

With the power of Google, searching for coupons is a lot less time consuming than it used to be. I grew up clipping coupons with mom basically as soon as I was able to handle scissors on my own. Although I still browse it, the Sunday newspaper isn't the only source of coupons for groceries, etc. There are many sites out there: just input a search time such as "coupon + cereal [insert cereal name]" and you might be surprised. See this Google result here.

The last point to make about coupons is that they are essentially tax free money to you. Hopefully, politicians won't one day tax coupon savings (they could), so for now, if you can significantly reduce your costs using them and invest/save the rest, you can watch your money grow as a bonus to you.

Grocery Savings

I am quite an avid reader of SmartMoney magazine, from the publishers of the Wall Street Journal. Recently, there was an article that discussed a website called http://www.mygrocerydeals.com/. Basically, it's a site where one registers for emails, etc. on what is on sale at their local grocery store. It's a pretty brilliant concept.

The way it works is advertisers/stores pay the owner of the site to list their circulars that come usually with the Sunday paper or other methods. The site aggregates these and posts them according to one's preferences. It makes it easier to see if Cheerios are on sale at a particular store, like CVS vs. Safeway.

One more tool for the consumer to utilize in the ongoing quest for lower prices.

More coupons...

Following the grocery loyalty card + coupon theme, you may or may not know that you can often get coupons directly from a manufacturer. I just got a bunch from Proctor and Gamble.

You can sign up and get the same notification as well.