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© Ed Yourdon

Frugal shopping on a budget can be tricky, especially at the grocery store. For those shoppers concerned about nutrition, they will often find that the healthiest foods are pricier as well. Coupons are one excellent way to approach this dilemma. It is best to make a plan that includes a detailed shopping list and coupons all assembled before you go to the store, and another tip is that you should never go to the grocery store hungry.

Check out the weekly sales circulars form the major grocery store chains to see what is on sale. If chicken and pork is on sale, for example, then build your meal plans around those proteins. You can often find the best coupons in a Sunday newspaper, and many of those will not expire for months. There are many great coupons online as well.

© Groupon

In what's great news for people using online coupons, the competition between different companies offering online coupons is increasing, benefiting the customers. Groupon, the company the pioneered the idea of online coupons is growing rapidly and offering newer and better services every day, while its closest competitor, LivingSocial has raised $400 million to grow further and offer more discount deals!

Companies offering online coupons are growing very fast and a number of startups have also jumped on the bandwagon. Living Social, as well as Groupon, intend to offer a wider range of services as their number of members rise by millions, the task of getting great deal through online coupons and saving money will get easier, and the customers will be spoilt for choice.

© Pink Sherbet Photography

People who save the most in the checkout lane are usually the ones handing over large piles of coupons to the cashier, but where do they find so many great coupons? Clipping newspaper coupons is a good place to start, and you should also keep your eyes open at the store, because supermarkets and drugstores are excellent places to find coupons in dispensers and tear pads located in the aisles.

Even if you don't need the item during a given shopping trip, it's good to collect them anyway and save them for a future trip. In-store coupon books are another good source of online coupons that are often tied to seasonal promotions. The internet is a goldmine for coupons. Check portals like coupons.com, smartsource.com, and redplum.com for legitimate coupons that don't require you to register or disclose personal data before printing.