Who needs grocery coupons when there are many other ways to save money? These are economically challenging times, to be sure, yet inspite of the hue and cry raised by the hoi polloi, food continues to be cheapest expense associated with daily living next to clothing.

Not to sound unsympathetic, but between all of the savings from grocery coupons, weekly sales, as well as the naturally low-cost of some foods like vegetables and dairy products, it is not that hard, either, to make ends meet. An individual adult may easily live on only a hundred dollars per week where his or her meals are concerned, even in a region like New York City. Regarding children, a variety of subsidies exist for their benefit, from welfare monies to free or practically free school lunches. Plus, is it really too much to ask a teenager to get a part-time job on the weekends to help out the family?

There was a time when coupon clipping had been a weekly, if not daily, household chore, and kids were economic contributors to the family unit. Naturally, as a society we don’t want to be moving towards such conditions as made such practices absolutely needed in the first place, but there does still have to be a balance between the fend-for-yourself sentiments of those times and today’s vastly bloated sense of entitlement.

Surprisingly enough, manufactures report that the redemption of grocery coupons, though on the rise, has not been as significant as may have been expected. The overwhelming vast majority of coupons printed still remain unredeemed by consumers, even when sales increase when coupons are offered. As opposed to a rebate form, which usually must be mailed along with proof of purchase and a receipt, grocery coupons are honored at face value by the retailer, without any work involved for the consumer except clipping it and presenting it at the cash register!

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