What is couponing?

Couponing is a relatively new phenomenon for many people.  A simple definition that I personally use is the effective use of coupons to save money, particularly on items you buy often such as groceries. 

So how would coupon use not be effective in saving hard earned money?  Well, it's simple really if you think carefully about it.  Here is an example.  Let's say you plan to buy milk for your household.  Your local food market offers name-brand milk for $3.99 and store brand milk (which you don't know is made by the same manufacturer) for $3.29.  If you have a 50 cent coupon that says "do not double or triple" at the top for the name brand milk, that would bring its price down to $3.49, still 20 cents higher than the store brand milk.  Now twenty cents may not seem like a lot of money when you consider just one item, but over the course of time 20 cents here and 20 cents there can add up.

Let's say you saved just 20 cents per day through smart grocery shopping.  If you multiply that by 365 days in one year, that totals $73.  With the cost of gas constantly going up I can definitely use that much extra cash.  With some creative couponing, strategic sale shopping, and buying generic store brands when you can't save more on name brands with coupons and sales you can even save much, much more than 20 cents per day.