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Community Corner

Cutting Coupons Not What It Used To Be

The electronic age has brought in a whole new way of utilizing coupons.

I was talking to an old friend last week that used to be a pro at coupon-cutting.  She would sift through the Sunday newspaper supplements, armed with her scissors, looking for any type of product she may save money on.  

I was never really good at coupon-cutting.  I attempted to save money this way, but I almost always either forgot the coupon at home, or forgot to use it when I was at the store.  In the end, I just ended up carrying around expired coupons for things that I didn't really use, but felt like I had to buy it just because I could save $.25 on it.  

I caught a glimpse of a television show that features people who are die-hard coupon clippers and how they get hundreds of dollars worth of groceries for like a penny each week.  I was trying to understand their strategy of using manufacturer's coupons on top of store coupons on top of double coupon day and I was pretty much lost.  

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It seems like such a great idea to save all of this money on groceries each week.  I just don't know how they have the drive to strategize week after week.  If it is so easy, shouldn't we all be getting free groceries each week?

I do know that in this age of electronics and the recession, coupons have taken on a whole new life, and have made it so much easier to save money. I subscribe to Groupon, and everyday a deal gets sent to my inbox.  We had dinner in the city last week on a groupon deal - the whole dinner only cost us $20!  I often also get emails with discount deals in them from my favorite stores.  I use these a lot, since they have a knack of knowing what my shopping trends are.  

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Say what we might about all of the electronic gadgets, but they do make "couponing" a lot easier.

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