Does couponing really work? If you’ve ever talked to someone or seen someone on TV engage in Extreme Couponing you would say yes, there are definitely benefits of couponing — from a money point of view. Now what about in real life, does couponing really work for the average person?

The answer is simple. Just ask yourself, do I want to save money? If the answer is yes then couponing is definitely for you.

The days of spending hours looking through flyers are over, nowadays there are several easy ways to get coupons in just a few minutes. All you have to do is follow your favorite brands on social media and watch for coupons. You can also subscribe to websites such as Coupons.com or RetailMeNot.com and get coupons for your items of choice emailed to you. Joining the mailing list of your must-have brands is another great way to get the latest coupons delivered right to your inbox.

Now that you know where to find coupons it’s time to use those deals to save money. Here are four benefits of couponing:

1. Save money on your everyday items. One of the worst shopping habits is to pay full price — for anything. However, even the savviest of shoppers may need an emergency item every now and then. If you have coupons on hand you can save money on regular priced items and that’s a good deal.
2. Stop paying for memberships to clubs. Reader’s Digest says there is no need to pay an annual fee to belong to a discount shopping club when you have coupons. “You’ve started to stockpile your items and maximize the benefits of using coupons—so who needs megastores? Most warehouses charge a yearly membership fee, meaning you have to pay a hefty fee just to save money.” That just doesn’t make sense when you can do it for free.
3. Stock up on your most used items – at a discount. If you don’t ever want to run out of commonly used items such as toilet paper and dish soap then stockpile them in your home. You don’t want to buy items in bulk at full price because that’s expensive. Wait for a sale or a coupon and then buy as many as you can up to the limit (if the coupon has one). Don’t forget to check your bill to see the total savings on your purchase and think about all the other things you can do with that money.
4. Get a discount on top of a sale. One of the major benefits of couponing is items don’t need to be purchased at regular price for the coupon to be applied. Therefore, if you shop at stores like Wal-Mart or Target where prices are presumably lower than other stores you can still apply the discount. In some cases it is like paying close to nothing for your items — and who doesn’t like getting something for free?

That’s what couponing is, it’s free money back in your pocket and all it cost you is a few minutes to print or scan the coupons. That’s a good deal if I ever saw one.

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