No More Clipping Coupons...Well, Sort Of

I used to be a coupon connoisseur. I didn't just clip a few coupons from the Sunday paper. I would clip ALL of the coupons from the Sunday paper, read the grocery store ads, organize my coupons in my nifty little coupon caddy and then map out my plan of attack; Kroger on Wednesday's for triple coupon day. That usually meant free stuff.

Time marched on; I joined the military, forgot about my coupon fetish and stopped my scary little ritual. But recently, something deeeeeep inside the deepest, depth of my being has been tugging and my urges have returned; with one adjustment. I no longer get any thrill out of sitting around clipping those things out of the paper and organizing them. Plus, the thought of putting one more thing into my 75 pound purse makes my shoulder ache just thinking about it.

Well, my dear old friends at Kroger apparently felt the earth shift when I regained a desire to start using coupons again. I love their system. All you have to do is go on line, register your Kroger Plus card and populate your coupons directly onto your card.

Yeah, I was a bit suspicious at first. I didn't know if it would work. But I tried it and there were no glitches. So far, Proctor and Gamble is the only company I have found to offer the direct coupon link to Kroger and Safeway. After reviewing my receipt from my purchase I realized that not only did I get the coupon discounts, but I also got the in store savings as well.

So, if you are strapped for time, go to the Kroger website, register your card, print off the coupons you've selected (unless you have a photographic memory you will want to print them) and head out without the added weight in your bag or pocket. Or, you can skip the printing and just register your phone to receive the ads and keep memory of what you saved.

Other great things about pre-planning your grocery shopping - Kroger has their weekly ads listed on the page, an area for you to compile your grocery list and even recipes and meal planning.

Now, that's the good news. The not really bad but not great news is that if you want to optimize your savings you're still going to have to clip some of those coupons. Sure, you can go to Coupons.com or Coupon Cabin (to name a couple) to click and print. But you will not be getting all of the offers that come in that darn Sunday paper. But the good thing about this is that Kroger will allow you to use double coupons. So, until we get that Sunday paper on board, do not count the clipping out yet.Coupons by electronic meansClipless coupon websitesProcter and Gamble offers clipless coupons directly to Kroger and Safeway.http://www.kroger.com