Coupon Clipping Goes Electronic Via Cell Phones and Loyalty Cards

I have written a few articles about using coupons from the newspaper, magazines, and from other print sources. I have also written a couple of articles about using coupon codes while shopping online.

I haven't written an article about using coupons from specific websites to use at the store. I did write an opposing article why you should be careful about using loyalty cards because most people don't realize what happens with their personal information. The loyalty cards on the other side of the coin do have their uses.

I have forgotten that I can use my Kroger's loyalty card to gain access to more coupons while grocery shopping at their stores. What happens is I can go to the Dillon's website, which is a subdivision of Kroger, and upload coupons for items I buy at their stores to my loyalty card. I can use the upload coupons when I purchase the items I have chosen coupons to use.

In this case, having a loyalty card from your favorite retailer can help you save even more money. More and more stores are going electronic to reach more customers. For example, today I was shopping at Big Lots. They now have a way for you to get their ads and special offers via email. This I didn't know since I rarely shop at their stores. That's not because I don't like their stores. It's because the closet Big Lots store is in Wichita, Kansas. I rarely go to Wichita to shop these days.

Electronic coupons not only can be downloaded to a loyalty card, the can be printed from quite a few coupon websites online. There are other hidden websites on the internet where coupons can be printed and used for goods at retail stores.

The local grocery store where I live now has a loyalty card. Rather than using it to get the sales, those who have it can use it for points. We can save our points on the card to get free items during the month. Each month the local grocery store has a set group of items that we can redeem our points for throughout the month on top of the sale items each time we shop. The sale items are automatic without the card too. I haven't kept track of how much I have saved over the past few months, I figure I must have saved close to $20 so far.

For instance, I have coupons from Betty Crocker, Barnes and Noble, PetMeds.com, and a few other websites emailed to me. This is due to signing up my email while either shopping at the store or from their websites.

Another way coupons can be uploaded is through the use of a cell phone. This is an option I didn't know existed until today when reading this New Generation of Coupons Means Users Clip Less news article.

Using a cell phone such as an iPhone and iPod Touch, people can download coupons from Cellfire mobile coupons. Since I don't own either one of these types of phones, I am unable to use this service. If I did own either of these types of cell phones, I suspect I would use this service quite often.

If your an owner of either of these mobile phones, I suspect you could save enough through the use of the Cellfire system to pay your cell phone bill each month. That's just the money saver part of me talking. I believe this is a win-win situation for retailers and users of the iPhone and iPhone Touch.

As you can see there are several ways you can use your electronics to save you money while you shop.