Online Coupons: All They're Clicked Up to Be?

An interesting article I found on Yahoo! News regarding the use of Online Coupons and discounts.

I gave up on coupons years ago, when I realized that all I did was spend time clipping them, using them to buy convenience foods I never would have bought in the first place and, mostly, cleaning the expired ones out of the bottom of my purse.

But there's an online world of coupons that promises significant savings for real-life as well as online stores. Some offer coupons to print out and others share bargain codes to be presented for discounts at online checkouts.

I decided to find out whether they are worth it and, in the interest of journalistic research, did far more shopping than is necessary, reasonable or even enjoyable.

I'll review some of the sites I found, but first, here are a few general guidelines to using those online discounts.

-- Prepare to spend a lot of time learning the system and visiting the various sites.

-- Figure out what an hour of your life is worth, and then think carefully about how much of that you're willing to spend tracking down a discount. A nice 20 percent off a pair of expensive shoes or kitchen appliance might be worth the hour online; $1.75 off of your next flower purchase may not be.

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