Cash, Not Clutter!

How to Make Coupons Work for You

By Amy Bergin

"Money is of no value; it cannot spend itself. All depends on the skill of the spender." – Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)

Today most everyone clips or saves a coupon from time to time. Who can resist? When you know you can save more than the next guy just by having a piece of paper or coupon code, it's a great feeling.

However, the drawback of coupons is that they can become just good intentions and not real savings when you forget them or let them expire. Also, if you have ever cut out the grocery coupons from the Sunday paper, you quickly realize that you wind up with piles of paper that clutter your kitchen desk. Then that pile takes time to manage in order to achieve measurable savings at the grocery store and this is where most people give up.

Did you know that $336 billion in coupons were distributed in 2002 and $3.8 billion were redeemed for a total savings to consumers of $3 billion? This is according to the Promotion Marketing Association's (PMA) Coupon Council. According to the PMA, 79 percent of consumers use coupons. So gone is the image that coupons make you look cheap. Coupons have changed – using coupons is smart and anyone can learn to get in on these savings.

Here are a few things you can do to create a new routine that sets you up for successful savings with coupons:

• Treat coupons like cash. Most everyone has a wallet to organize their cash and credit cards – it would be silly not to return your cash and coins to the same place time and time again. The same is true with coupons.


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