Insurance and Credit

You can not do better than electronic grocery coupons for savings. Where else could you find big savings, and ease of use rolled all into one?

Why do I like electronic grocery coupons so much?

E-coupons are easier to use than clipped grocery coupons. All you need to do is get your savings is go to a website offering electronic grocery coupons, register your store savings card number, decide which offers you want, and download the coupons to your store discount card. Shop as usual and you will get your coupons deducted from your order when you swipe your card at the register.

That is all I need to do?

Believe it or not, shopping is a breeze. Once you have selected your e-coupons, go shopping and head to the register as you usually do. Checkout, swipe your club card and collect your coupons just like always. There is no easier way to save while grocery shopping.

I just love that I can get a lot of savings without having to remember to take my coupons to the grocery store. How many times have we all spent an hour or better clipping, sorting and filing grocery coupons only to forget to take them with us? Even if you forget your club card, all you need to do is enter your telephone number to save. I like it!

Is there anything else great about e-grocery coupons?

E-coupons are really, really cheap to get into the hands of consumers. Less cost than traditional coupon FSIs mean better discounts for shoppers. Who could argue with higher savings, quick and simple use and more efficient distribution? The new way of couponing is far superior than the old.

Are there limits to how many coupons I can get at once?

It depends on the vendor, but generally 2-4 of the same coupon per shopper’s card or IP address is the limit. There are a few vendors that will let you get additional like coupons when you have already used those that have been previously downloaded to your card.

Is there a downside to e-grocery coupons?

All in all, there are not any that I can think of. Everybody that I have talked to seems to love electronic coupons. They really are easy and efficient to use.

If your family is busy and still looking to save some cash, try ecoupons for reducing your food bills. Electronic couponing is here to stay and a simple efficient way to save on food.

According to the Identity Theft Resource Center, a non-profit organization primarily funded by the Department of Justice, over 10 million people had their identities stolen last year.

To put that in perspective, that means you have a 1 in 10 chance EVERY year at getting your identity stolen. What does that mean for you? If you have your identity stolen it will cost you an average of $550.39 in out-of-pocket expenses for damage done and it will take you an average of 116 hours to repair the damage.

The easiest thing to do is to prevent identity theft from happening in the first place. There are a few easy steps you can take to protect yourself and your family.

Start by investing in a reliable cross cut personal paper shredder for your home. Be sure that it is “Cross Cut” and preferably one that has jam-free rollers or auto reverse and a safety guard if you have children in your home. Shred every paper document that has your personal information on it (except the documents that you want to keep of course), including all of the credit card applications you get in the mail. 68% of identity theft happens as a result of documents being stolen from recycle and trash bins.

If you have a son or daughter away at college, consider getting them a paper shredder as well. There are a growing number of college students getting their identities stolen, in part because they rarely shred documents containing their personal information. The damage is often greater because it takes them longer to figure out that their identity has been stolen.

If you are clearing your files and have a substantial amount of papers that need to be shredded, take them to a drop-off site in your area. At most paper shredding drop-off sites they will shred your papers as you watch. They use commercial grade shredders that accept staples, credit cards, paper clips and sometimes even full binders. On average you can have a full bankers box of papers shredded for between $5-$15. There are several companies across the US that offer this service. Your bank may offer the service free of charge once or twice a year.

If you don’t want to have to bring all of your papers somewhere, you could have a 50-100 gallon locked bin delivered to your home. Spend a weekend cleaning out your file cabinets and fill it with all of your documents to be shredded. The company will pick it up and give you a certificate of destruction. This service varies by company and usually costs between $60-$100. Be sure you use a company that is certified.

What to do with your shredded paper at home? You could drop it off at your local Humane Society. They use it to make soft animal beds. Or you could use it to pack and ship items, compost it or just toss it in your recycling bin.

The best way to protect yourself is to keep your personal information safe.

Do you wish that you could stop spending a chunk of your paycheck on groceries? Really, you should know that you do not need to do that any more with the right information. With just a few small adjustments to your shopping habits, you could be spending hundreds less a month than you are right now.

Here are 5 quick and easy ways to cut your grocery bill down to size:

1. Sign up for store incentive programs. A huge number of grocery discounts are now tied to your store club card, no card means no savings.

2. Only buy what is on sale for the week and save a lot. Shockingly, all you need to do to get a good deal is buy only what is on sale. Grocers often will discount sale prices by more than 40% when items are on sale. Fill your cart with only sale items and cut your grocery bill by 40-50% on average.

3. Check out the store sales circular before you shop. Evaluating the sales before you shop will save you a lot of headaches and money in the store. It is best to look at the front and back pages for loss leaders first. Most loss leaders are on either the first or last pages.

4. Use grocery coupons. Clip and remember to use food coupons on every grocery shopping trip. I will say it right up front, grocery coupons are the quickest way to save a lot of money on both food and non-food items. The more coupons you use the more you will save. Remember to use unit pricing to be sure that the price is right when coupon shopping, but for the most part coupons will make your grocery dollars go a lot further.

5. Bring a grocery coupon for every item you plan to buy. Cents-off coupons actually save dollars when you use a lot of them. You can find free high face value grocery coupons in the Sunday paper, on the internet couponing sites, and the newest invention is paperless electronic coupons.