I have a small confession to make to you.  Despite the obvious frugal focus of this site, I’m terrible at looking for coupons for things before I buy them.  I’m a calculated buyer.  I’ll price compare for hours before deciding on an item.  I’ll spend weeks bidding on things on eBay to get the price I want and the product I want.  But, I’m terrible at looking for coupons first.

My wife is the couponer.  She has a knack for finding coupons, collecting the deals up and using the coupons to buy what we need.  The other day, she hit Walmart and came away with over $50 in coupon savings.  She’s good at it.  I’m not.  She’s also good at remembering to use the links in the paid-to-shop sites as well.  I can’t seem to ever remember them.

But, with the rise of couponing, once again, as a viable way to stay frugal on a budget, it’s become more and more important to look for a coupon when shopping for anything.  And, there are starting to be coupons for just about anything you could want to buy.  Say you want to buy a pair of shoes.  If you look, you can usually find coupons for most brand names.

One popular misconception that many have is that coupons are usually only for brand name items, and smaller ticket items.  That isn’t necessarily true anymore.  Say you’re looking for a new cell phone contract, but you don’t want to spend the big bucks and get locked into a long-term contract.  Going with one of the pre-paid services might be right for you.  What you need is a promo code for one of the services (or to check out the services of Republic Wireless).  Then you can get that wireless service, at a frugal price.

Finding and using coupons isn’t all that hard.  But, it’s something that I definitely need to get much better at.  Just because I’m saving money by buying online (usually), and making calculated buying decisions doesn’t mean that I can’t save even more money by using coupons.  Combined with those frugal buying habits, coupons can be a great money saver.

Whether you’re buying a toaster, shoes, or even a cell phone, doing a quick search for a coupon first can save you money.

What are your coupon habits?  Do you clip like there’s no tomorrow?  Or do you see coupons as just another waste of your time and leave them to others to use?  Or, maybe you’re like me and use coupons only when you remember to?