Hey everybody - gather 'round the kitchen table. I've got a fun, new family activity that will sharpen your manual dexterity and teach you about household economics all at the same time.
That's right - coupon clipping!!!!
Back in April here on this blog in a post I called "Grocery Woes," I reported how the sky-rocketing cost of food was resulting in increased use of coupons. But in light of how much worse our economy has gotten in the past six months, those must have just been the die-hard bargain hunters who were clipping away.
Now, everybody's desperate for a deal that will save them 25-cents here and a dollar there.
"The once-popular act of coupon cutting -- introduced by the inventor of Coca-Cola syrup more than 100 years ago -- is again becoming a household chore," reports CNN.
MaryAnn Rivers, CEO of Entertainment Publications, the publisher of those Entertainment Books which countless parents end up hawking for their kids to raise money for their schools, tells CNN that the company's website "has seen a 153 percent increase in the use of coupons for day-to-day necessities and a 198 percent increase in the use of coupons for casual or "quick-serve" meals since last year."
Meantime, Valpak, those blue envelopes are sent to 45 million American homes and which you've probably been tossing into recycling for the past decade - reports that use of its coupons has increased 8-percent in a year.
The downside to clipping coupons, as CNBC points out, is getting so wrapped up in redeeming a 50-cent coupon for shampoo that you end up wasting more than that on gas driving somewhere just to get the deal. "Be sure to keep your bigger goal in mind," CNBC advises. "If you save $7 with coupons, walk over to the bank right then and deposit that $7 into your savings account," instead of turning around and buying something you really didn't need in the first place.
And keep in mind that thanks to the Internet -- you can find deals on nearly anything and everything on your shopping list just by going online. If you are heading to a specific store to get something, check the website before you go to see if there's an online coupon offering. For a wide variety of coupons including groceries and sundries, the most popular online coupon spots are couponsurfer.com, couponmom.com, and grocerycoupons.com.
However, as the Atlanta Journal Constitution wisely warns, be aware that if you use these sites, "you never know how many e-mails will rain down on you by signing up to a coupon service."
But the best tip I found came from the Newport News (VA) Daily Press, which says "don’t order anything online without checking couponwinner.com first. This site has more than 10,000 coupons for thousands of retailers including Target, PetSmart and JCPenney." However, although the site has printable coupons, most of its coupons are only redeemable online. But look how much you'd save on gas!
You can get even more info on coupons by listening to this Morning Edition story, which ran on NPR this morning. It features an interview with a working Virginia mom who is saving $500 a month just by clipping coupons.
So gather 'round the kitchen table one and all. Half of you can cut coupons, while the other half can google them! Now what can we do with that extra $7.........
Comments