Pop quiz.
Your mother calls to inform you that you’re hosting an extended family dinner this weekend. You’ve got $75 and you’re expecting a dozen people.
What do you do?
Even before you start putting together your cost-effective, crowd-pleasing menu, chances are that you’ll be looking at the bargain hunter’s not-so-secret weapon — grocery coupons.
And even if you don’t have a bunch of extra mouths to feed within the next few days, there are still compelling reasons to make digital coupons a regular part of your shopping strategy.
In fact, we’re about to give you a list of seven.
Keep reading to find out more.
1. You Can Save Money More Easily
“I cut and clip coupons every other day because I’m not all that interested in saving money on my groceries.”
Said no coupon user anywhere.
In fact, depending on who you ask, the savings are half the fun of collecting coupons.
But even so, the truth is that sometimes even the best couponing plans can run into unexpected snags.
Sometimes the flyers are late or lost in the mail. Maybe next week you make the mistake of bringing a bottomless abyss of a shopping bag or you accidentally leave the coupons forgotten on the kitchen table.
Online grocery coupons take the hassle out of couponing in more ways than one.
2. It’s a More Eco-Friendly Way to Shop
According to the University of Southern Indiana, the average American uses the equivalent of seven trees per year.
When your monthly to-do list includes clipping coupons every week and opting for paper bags at checkout, you may very well be using up even more paper and tree-based products than the average person when all is said and done.
If you’re the type of person who cringes at the sight of black exhaust fumes and if oil spill footage is R-rated television in your household, online coupons are about to be your best friend.
Simply because you’re accessing savings through your phone instead of through paper, digital couponing makes it possible for you to do your bit to save the planet while you save money. How cool is that?
3. You Can Try New Foods at a Discount
Anyone who’s ever listened to the radio for more than an hour can tell you that there’s a fine line between “Soaking in the greatest hits.” and “Playing a song to death.”
Interestingly enough, the same concept applies when it comes to food.
However, when you’re in the store and you’re choosing between your tried-and-true options and another item that might taste good, it can be difficult to justify the purchase at full price.
A coupon, in all its forms, gives you the option of exploring new foods at a discount. And with more and more stores rolling out online-exclusive deals and food discounts, you never know what hidden gems you might find.
4. Online Coupons Allow for Faster Meal Planning
According to the USDA, anywhere from 30 to 40 percent of food supply ultimately becomes food waste.
Even if you try not to make a habit of throwing food away, however, chances are that we can all think of a week or a month where we threw produce or rotten food away and thought, “That grocery trip was a total waste of money.”
Meal planning is already known as the Old Reliable of saving money and reducing food waste. And couponing is the secret sauce that can really shrink a grocery bill.
But when you start looking for coupons online, there’s something to be said for the time you can save when you’re planning your meals with a laptop or a cellphone in hand.
5. You Never Miss Promotions
Have you ever looked at a grocery receipt and thought “Oh man! If I’d known about this deal I would have bought more of that!”?
Or worse, have you ever presented a coupon to the cashier only to be told that the coupon you were counting on was expired?
Talk about embarrassing.
When you’re getting your coupons online, a missed flyer or a failure to read the fine print doesn’t have to mean that you’ll be sitting at home saying things like “I wonder what’s on sale at Kroger’s this week.”
When you’re getting your coupons online, you have one less “I need to remember this.” kind of item to worry about.
6. Stack Coupons With Ease
There are two kinds of couponers: Those who coupon recreationally. And those who coupon like it’s an Olympic event.
If you’re serious about saving money, you need to be ready to compete for gold.
Stacking coupons is the shopping equivalent of a hole-in-one or a perfect strike.
Once you perfect this practice of using multiple coupons on single purchases, you’ll be wondering where this money-saving hack has been all your life.
But there’s just one catch. When you’re relying on multiple flyers, newspapers, and magazines to get your coupons, it’s easy to miss stacking opportunities.
Online grocery coupons make it possible for you to know all about this weeks Kroger ad and all the other coupons that you can use to bring your costs down even further.
7. Buy Your Goods Faster
When you’re getting ready to pay at checkout, there’s a difference between paying in a way that says “Smooth and savvy shopper.” and one that screams “Won’t some reality TV producer notice me?”.
And beyond the appearance of it all, you don’t want to be that shopper whose stack of coupons is holding up the line.
In the same way that web-based supermarket coupons can make deals easier to find, they also make deals easier to access when you need them. And sometimes being able to get in and out of the store quickly is important.
Here’s What You Need to Know About Online Grocery Coupons
Being able to buy all the things you want while saving money is kind of the Holy Grail of grocery shopping.
And while Black Friday deals and shopping in-house grocery brands is definitely a thing, grocery coupons are probably the best shot you have at consistently saving money.
Getting your coupons online will make your shopping even easier.
If you’d like to get more money-saving tips, check out the rest of our site.
