How to Coupon the Modern High-Tech Way

You’ve probably heard fantastic stories of professional “couponers” who descend on a grocery store line with a stack of coupons an leave the store with a truckload of merchandise for a couple of dollars. Although coupons can often mean tremendous savings, getting this level of discount is time consuming and requires almost obsessive planning and organization. Most people like to get things for free or at a discounted price, but they don’t have the time to take couponing to this level. Fortunately, technology has made it a little easier to use coupons and to reduce our everyday expenses without having to be obsessive to do it.

Shoppers Cards

Many stores have a “shoppers card” that offers better prices to “members” of their program. Another perk of the program is that you can download coupons to the card. Then when you show the card at the store, the coupons that you have loaded will automatically reduce cost of the total amount of the order. This is an easy way to stay on top of the latest coupons without worrying about having to carry them with you. Some stores like Kroger also offer a Fuel Points program where your purchases for the month add up, resulting in a cents off discount on a gas purchase from their stations.

Earning Points

Some rewards cards or credit cards likethe Amazon rewards card allow you to earn “Amazon Rewards Points” with every purchase that you make. For instance, you earn 5% on all Amazon purchases, 2% at restaurants, gas stations and drugstores, and 1% on all other purchases. When these points accumulate, they can be used on a future purchase just like real money. I use the Amazon Rewards card for all my purchases (which I pay off in full every month so I don’t accrue interest charges) and recently I was pleasantly surprised to see that my entire Amazon order was free… if I used my Amazon Rewards points, which of course I did! 🙂  I didn’t even have to pay for shipping since I am an Amazon Prime member.

Amazon Open Box

In addition to their rewards card Amazon offers discounts on “open box” items that have been returned.

Online Butlers

Some sites, such as Joinesty, will monitor the stores that you frequently shop at online and find deals for you. Often, the information is sent to your email address or your phone so that you know of the latest ways to save money. There is also an option of viewing information on the websites that you visit that will give you a promo code to use when you complete your order.

Doubling and Tripling

An easy way to save money with coupons is to look for stores that double and triple coupons. You can use your regular coupons, but the amount is multiplied depending on the specials that the store offers. It gives you a way to save more money without really doing anything but clipping one coupon.

Ordering Online

You can order coupons online simply Google “Coupon Clipping Service” along with your city or state. You will be presented with a variety of services, some will send you full fliers from companies like “RedPlum” so you can search them without having to buy the local Sunday Newspaper.  Others like the one to the left from Klip2Save will actually clip the coupons for you and charge you a small fee (in this case 8 cents) for each coupon and mail them to you.

Couponing is an easy way to save a lot of money on everything from toiletries to food. It is a chore to clip coupons, but if you don’t have the time to clip, then consider using these high tech tips instead.