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photo credit: desi.italy

In the last few years while living in my own apartment my mailbox has been periodically inundated with flyers, leaflets and packets of coupons offering a wide variety of discounts. Being the lazy college student that I was, I often just recycled these packets without even taking a second look at them. Now that I am outside the safety net of the dining halls and awesome campus giveaways I’ve needed to be a little more vigilant with how I spend my money and I’ve actually started browsing through those coupon packets. Surprisingly, there are great deals to be found in there.

Coupons are a great way to save money on the things that you frequently buy, and coupled with purchasing sale items, are a great way to save a good chunk of change. If you aren’t careful though you can actually end up spending more then you would have normally and have a house full of products you didn’t need.

Some great coupons that often show up in my mailbox are for discounted oil changes, 15-25% off of car maintenance and buy one, get one free coupons for local eateries. All of these are great ways to save on regular purchases and can provide a great opportunity for savings. The best part about these is companies send them right to your door for you to peruse.

It’s easy to get carried away with coupons though and end up buying things you don’t want or need. For instance, tons of coupons show up for food/home products that will give you $1-2 dollars off – only if you buy 5. Most households don’t need 5 bottles of window cleaner or a freezer full of Hot Pockets. By offering the discount if you buy in bulk, companies get consumers to spend more then planned and leave feeling like they got deal, which is often not the case.

Next time you head to the mailbox, take a second look at all those coupon offers you find there. But use common sense when selecting which ones to use so you don’t end up with a closet full of cleaning solution and an empty wallet.

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