Saving Money with Coupons

Living on a limited income and having to save everything I can I have been clipping coupons for a number of years and by doing so the act has saved me a good bit of money. In recent years the coupon savings have been a little more difficult to achieve since the companies who issue them seem to have cut down on the deals they offer. Having to buy more than one of the items does not always save much and isn't always worth the while unless you buy that particular item on a regular basis.

Between the coupons and the shopper savings card issued by the grocery store I have saved over $600 each year over the past few years. This too is a little more difficult with the increase of prices with every visit to the store. For someone who lives on a very limited income any savings at all is a big help and the more the better. Six hundred plus dollars a year is easily one third to one half of my yearly grocery bill. If ti weren't for the coupons and shopper card savings and buying things on sale whenever possible I would not be able to eat; and items like steak and expensive seafood are NOT on the menu.

Each Sunday I buy the newspaper and one of the reasons is for the coupons. After I have gone through them all I save them and send them to my mother who lives in another part of the country. By the same token my mother cuts out her coupons and then sends them to me. By doing so we each increase the available coupons and the savings we can generate each month. Contrary to what many people seem to think cutting coupons out of the newspaper each week does not require that much time. It only takes a matter of minutes - 10 or 15 at the most - to go through them all; and the savings that can be accumulated is well worth the time.

And keeping track of the coupons in and out of the store is not much bother. Find a small folder or envelope to put them in, go through them when entering to store to refresh the memory or check for sale items, and present them at the check out counter. With the rising costs of food with each visit to the grocery store it is well worth the time and trouble (what little there is) to cut out and save coupons for taking to the grocery store. Even though it may not seem like very much each week, the savings definitely adds up by the end of the year. In the end it is like getting a month or more of free food with the money your have saved.