Podcast Story

College years are the time many students find themselves living on the Ramen Noodle budget.

Pinching pennies and living without become a way of life. Tuition, housing, and sheer lack of time are all contributing factors to the empty pockets, but there is hope if you know where to look for it.

The wonderful world of couponing opens the door to affording all of your favorite name brand commodities be it food, clothing, entertainment, or health and beauty care. Even with all of the obvious benefits and money saving possibilities coupons have to offer, many college students are a bit skeptical about the hobby, one student deeming it “a 35-year-old woman’s job.”

This is a surprising notion considering the recent booming popularity couponing has earned itself during the state of the economy. TLC has even awarded the hobby its own television show called Extreme Couponing, where men and women spend a countless number of hours clipping, strategizing, and pairing up their coupons to achieve the ultimate money saving game plan.

Oftentimes these devoted money savers will leave the store with multiple carriage loads and even more money than what they went in with. That’s right, some people can become so skilled in the ways of couponing that stores will be stuck paying them the difference of their savings versus the actual cost of a transaction.

Between classes, homework, studying, and actually having some form of social life in college, we can’t really expect students to get on such levels of extreme couponing. However, there is no reason why they couldn’t find the time to get a few coupons here and there to save a little extra money on their next grocery run.

This day and age we’re not talking about your mother’s couponing tactics of sifting through flyers with her reading glasses and trusty pair of scissors, no no we have the technology for that! There are a number of websites devoted to bringing the savings straight to you with the simple click of a button.

Couponsuzy.com is a wildly popular website with commercials airing on television informing people all across the country of the great deals awaiting them online. It’s very simple to navigate; you can search by category or brand. Its not limited to just groceries either, there are savings on health and beauty products, entertainment, and they also offer coupon codes that can be used at some of your favorite top name online stores like Sears, JCPenney, American Eagle, Walmart, and the list goes on and on.

On October 10 a few deals up for grabs are a saving of $2.00 on Aveeno hair care products, such as shampoo and conditioner, $1.00 off Smart Ones frozen entrées, or $2.00 off Listerine mouthwash.

The process in getting these coupons is as simple as a few clicks of a mouse. Each coupon has a small box in the lower right hand corner labeled “clip.” Clicking that will put a small check in the box. You can check off as many boxes as you want and when your finished click “print coupons” and watch as your money saving coupons spew out of your printer. Many stores will accept these coupons because the manufacturer makes them.

Couponsuzy.com is great for your everyday shopping needs but another website, Groupon.com, is great for more luxurious savings.

This is a website you need to subscribe to; once subscribed they will send you email alerts on possible savings you may be interested in. They have deals on hotels, jewelry, gym and yoga lessons, dry cleaning, spa treatments, fancy dining, and so much more.

The tricky thing about this website is that it’s a hit or miss. They offer certain deals at certain times and once that time is over the deal has passed. They also are not very Vermont or New Hampshire friendly. Most of the attractions are in large cities like New York.

If you are looking to treat yourself to a little get away, or maybe you need a gift idea for a friend this is definitely an interesting site to check out.