Posted by Lending Club :: April 13, 2009 @ 6:40 am

In a down economy, the classic money-saving methods always seem to gain renewed interest. One that has been getting tons of mainstream media coverage is the use of coupons. In particular, those that take the idea to the extreme seem to be getting a lot of attention. New coupon-themed websites – especially those coupled with advice for stay-at-home-moms – seem to be popping up on a daily basis.

The first question that comes to mind is whether the extreme use of coupons is worth all of the fuss. In an example that should quickly affirm the value of the extreme coupon movement, Coupon Mom Stephanie Nelson demonstrated how to combine sales, store promotions and double coupons and paid only 25 cents for $100 worth of common grocery items. While that example was a sensational piece to lure viewers, it is reportedly possible to regularly cut your grocery bill in half.

Few of the many tips provided in the referenced article above were truly original, but collectively they do form a system that could save you considerable amounts of money. The old excuse that spending 20 minutes clipping coupons to save a nickel seems less valid as the dollars saved per minutes worked increases.

With deal and coupon sites that find many of the best deals for you, it is certainly possible to find greater savings in less time. Even if you have dismissed using coupons in the past, you may want to give them another try. Spending half as much on groceries is something that would be helpful to budgets in normal times, and seems even more valuable in the current economy.

Have you started using coupons more frequently as a result of the down economy?