(this might have been a good Frugal Friday post, but I'd forgot about it by then...)
If there is any sort of sign, that we are in a difficult economic time, it is this.
Bucking a 16 YEAR TREND of declining coupon redemption from year to year, coupon use is predicted to equal last years. The decline in coupon use frankly suprised me, but I guess it's in line with spending more than you are saving. That people are now taking the time to clip those items and actually use them (rather than keeping them posted on the fridge door or elsewhere)means something. Hopefully it's a trend that will continue.
Keeping in mind though, buying something with a coupon is only a bargain, if you actually were going to buy that item anyways. Beware of the old story, about a man who comes home and says to his wife "Honey, I used a coupon and got half off on this 30 pound bag of dog food, it was a steal", and his wife replies "That's great Honey, but we don't have a dog".
Link to article below with some neat graphs comparing coupon usage to unemployment rate and CPI.
http://www.cms.inmar.com/...