Smartlife

Coupon clipping is a great way to save money on groceries and other purchases. If you combine the Sunday paper with the coupons you can find online, you can wind up saving thousands of dollars. But to really hunt down all those great deals, you have to commit a lot of time to the process. Rather than spending your time hunting through the newspaper looking for coupons, you can outsource your coupon clipping.

Whether you’re buying a new gadget or taking a trip, comparison shopping for a product will save you time (information on different brands and products is compiled for you in one convenient location) and money (price ranges and product reviews allow you to make smarter purchase decisions). Without using comparison shopping sites and reviews, you could find yourself trawling through hundreds of sites for scattered information and missing out on the best deals. As with any decision, it’s smart to consult many different sources for expert information and varied opinions before making a choice; in the end, you’ll have saved yourself hassle of an ill-informed decision.

Coupons can save you cash. According to the Promotion Marketing Association’s Coupon Council, consumers saved nearly $3 billion last year using coupons. Getting a chunk of those billions is worth the effort — but it can be a very time-intensive process. In order to save just $1,000 over the course of the year, you need to spend 20 minutes a week (or 17 hours for the year) clipping and organizing coupons. Rather than hunting down coupons in the newspaper, mailers, and other paper-based mediums they seem to pop up, you do have a couple of options to streamline your coupon-clipping operation: you can get them online or outsource the whole process all together to someone else (such as your virtual assistant or personal grocery shopper).