Coupons: A Great Way to Save Money on Groceries

*Originally published on 6/8/12



In this day and age, everyone is trying to save money where they can. They're cutting back on gasoline, waiting for movies to come to DVD so that they can rent them as opposed to going to the theater and cutting back on restaurant outings. One great way to save money is through the use of coupons.

Wow, coupons, that's brilliant. Clearly, you are the first person to ever think of this.

While your sarcasm is appreciated, I'm quite serious when I say that coupons can save you a good chunk of change.

Right, that $0.50 off of a box of cereal is going to do wonders when I need to ensure that I have rent money.

No, seriously. I used to work as a cashier at a grocery store and there would be customers who would buy hundreds of dollars worth of food and end up paying next to nothing for it when all was said and done.

Sure, a lot of the items they purchased were already on sale, causing the price to drop considerably, but it still really was a wonder to behold. I would watch in awe as the price would plummet from the triple digits down to the single as I scanned coupon after coupon. Now, a part of this was due to the fact that the store where I worked offered double coupons up to a dollar, so a $0.25 coupon would get you $.0.50 etc.

I don't think stores really do that anymore. It used to be that almost every chain had some sort of coupon matching incentive. You might still find a store that does it, but they aren't nearly as commonplace as they used to be.

Even without the coupon matching, you can still save a lot of money by putting coupons to use en masse. If you can accumulate a big enough wad of coupons, you could easily save $50 to $100, if not more on your groceries. It'll take a couple of extra minutes to get through the checkout lane, but the payoff is worth it.

Now, obviously, you don't just want to stockpile coupons and start buying items you don't need simply so you can save a few cents , because that makes no sense (ha, see what I did there?) The trick is to find coupons for things that you buy on a regular basis. Coupons for household staples like toilet paper, toothpaste, and paper towel are always helpful. Depending on your food preference, you can also save money on things like cereal, frozen meals, or ice cream.

Financial gurus always talk about how small amounts of money can add up quick when it comes to saving. Just as it holds true when it comes to putting spare change in a jar, so too does it apply when talking about shaving a few cents off the grocery bill. A few cents here and there may not seem like such a big deal, but those cents can quickly add up to big bucks.