“Before the pandemic there were multiple coupon websites. Do you know if they are still in existence? If yes, what are your favorites?” -a reader
While it might surprise you, I rarely use printable coupons anymore. Not because I don’t think they are valuable, but I just find that I can get great enough deals with using digital coupons at Kroger that I don’t take the time and effort to also print digital coupons.
Does this mean that I am probably occasionally not getting the ultimate best deal? Yes. But it also saves me a lot of time. And right now, time is a valuable commodity in my life.
How Much is Your Time Worth?
As I’ve talked about many times in the past, it’s important that we always weigh the ROI (return on investment) costs of any money-saving activity. How much time does this take? How much money will this save? Is it worth the time you are investing for the money you will be saving?
I always think in terms of an hourly wage. If I’m spending around 20 minutes per week to find, print, and sort coupons each week and I’m saving around $3/week by doing that, that’s the equivalent of around a $9/hour wage. Is my time worth more than that? If so, it might not be worth it for me to invest the energy into printable coupons.
In different seasons of life, my time has been worth varying amounts. In certain seasons, saving $9 for an hour’s worth of work would be amazing. At other seasons, it wouldn’t be worth it.
Why I Love Digital Coupons
As I mentioned earlier, I’m using digital coupons almost exclusively now. I know not everyone has a store that offers digital coupons (although they are becoming more and more common now with big box stores like Target and Walgreens offering them), but if you do, it’s definitely worth looking into.
Kroger (and Kroger affiliate stores) offer digital coupons that you can clip right on their site. My favorites are their weekly digital deal coupons as these can usually be used up to five times in one transaction (meaning, you clip the digital coupon and then you can buy up to five of that item in one transaction and the coupon will deduct from all five items).
It only takes me a few minutes each week to log onto Kroger.com or open up the app, scroll through the weekly digital coupon deals, and “clip” the digital coupons I think I’ll use. This loads them onto my account and so long as I swipe my Kroger card at checkout, they will all come off at the end of my shopping trip.
By the way, KrogerKrazy.com is a site that matches digital coupons, printable coupons, and cash back offers with Kroger sales to give you the best bang for your buck. I don’t always think all of the deals they post are really fantastic, but if you regularly scroll through the site, you can often find some very great deals.
I also get mailers from Kroger regularly that have coupons in them and I will use these at the store, as well as I’ll occasionally use coupons that print at the register. But that’s pretty much the extend of the paper coupons I use these days.
Printable Coupon Sites
That said, if you are looking for great printable coupon sites, here are some of the best ones that are available:
You can also check manufacturer’s sites as they will sometimes offer printable coupons directly on their site or in their email newsletters.
What are your favorite printable coupon sites? Any that I missed on this list? Do you still use printable coupons?
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