PHOENIX — It’s Money Saving Monday and we’re talking about digital coupons.
While more people are doing their shopping online and with a smartphone in their hand, it seems gone are the days of traditional coupon clipping.
But stats show an increasing number of shoppers are taking advantage of digital coupons, online promo codes and apps that help you get cash back.
In fact, according to Statista’s 2024 coupon trends and statistics, 40% of grocery shoppers surveyed said they had recently used an online promo code through a mobile app when shopping for groceries in-store.
Turns out searching for the next best deal just happens to be one of 12News Production Supervisor Nicole Rogers' favorite things to do when she’s not at work.
“I love finding a deal… saving money,” said Rogers. “...then I can afford to go on a nice vacation."
She shared some of the sites she’s scored the best deals on.
“There’s some really good websites like Wild for Wags, which is for Walgreens, Wild for CVS, which is for CVS, Dans Deals is another one,” she said.
Rogers especially likes the CVS extra bucks program.
“…where you purchase, say, two conditioners of a certain brand and then they’ll give you five dollars back to use at a later date,” said Rogers. “You can use that to purchase something that you really needed.”
When it comes to apps, some of the apps she uses require you to play a game to get a deal or click through a few ads first.
“I try not to have it take up too much time,” she said. “I’ll just do it when I’m watching TV.”
When she’s buying food for her cat, she’ll sweeten the deal by purchasing it from the pet food website with gift cards she’s purchased at a grocery store. Rogers said that store gives double the points she earns on gift card purchases, so she gets a dollar off every 100 points accumulated on the store’s app.
Plus, when she buys the pet food, she goes through a shopping portal like Top Cash Back or Rakuten.
“That can be 2%… 10% that you get in cash back,” said Rogers. “So, you can stack all of them.”
She said in some cases you can get more money back than what you spent on a particular item.
“I love to help people live life better for less,” said Alicia Markham of Alicia’s Deals in AZ.
She’s been scoring great deals for her own family and searching for the best deals out there to share with her 13,000 followers on DealsinAZ.com for 14 years.
“Everyone can always use a deal,” she said. “Why pay more than you have to?”
Markham shared some of the best ways to save.
“Make sure you have the app for each grocery store that you shop at,” she said. “There are hundreds of coupons and sometimes there’s extra dollars off.”
The savings adds up fast.
“You can save 20% off your groceries if you just get a little bit technical,” Markham said.
One of her favorite apps is Ibotta, a free app that lets you earn cash back rewards from retailers when you shop in-store or online.
“They work with manufacturers who are trying to push specific products,” she said. “They’re going to give you huge amounts of cash back on things you might already be buying.”
To save the most money at the grocery store, Markham recommends reading the ads every week, buying what’s on sale, getting the store apps at the grocery stores you shop at and eating what’s in season. That will ensure your produce isn’t just cheaper, but it will taste better too.
So, there you have it – in this digital coupon age, you too can become a digital coupon expert. Just start skimming the websites and downloading a few apps to get started.
If you have any Money Saving Monday ideas you would like to share with us or any topics you want us to cover, just send an email to: money@12news.com.
For more information on Alicia’s deals, visit this website.