I have a friend who showed me a yard long grocery store cash register tape one day.  It came from a van-load of groceries.  The total bill was about $13.  I couldn’t believe it but he showed me how he had collected coupons and taken them to a store that was offering triple coupon days.  Amazing.  You should be able to save at last $120 per year if not far more using coupons for products you would buy anyway.

Buying products with rebate coupons can save a lot of money. 

Grocery coupons and coupons for consumer products are all around us.  Sometimes they are even a good deal.  You have to use coupons wisely or you can actually end up spending more.

If you have a choice between a $4.00 brand name product with a $.50 off coupon and a $2.50 generic product, the money savings choice should be clear.  Then you can decide based on product performance.  Grocery stores give out coupons to help you think you are saving money with them.  You may be spending more than if you shopped at a discount or warehouse club store.

Coupons are easy to find.  The internet is loaded with online coupon sites like coupons.com, hotcoupons.com and CoolSavings.com.  Be very cautious about buying coupons there has been enough recent fraud that some companies no longer accept internet coupons.  ValPak mails coupons right to you.  I read through ValPak carefully, take out the coupons we’ll actually use and then use the blank backs of the other coupons for phone note paper (staple one end).

Remember this:  Coupons are designed to get you to buy product that you otherwise might not buy.  Use your coupons wisely and they are as good as cash.

Here are 35 more great ways to save money.