LEAN GREEN FAMILY: Keeping up with the Joneses'…Coupons?

by Leah Ingram

It used to be that shoppers who used coupons were those who were struggling to make ends meet. No more.

These days nearly everyone–the wealthy included–are looking to get more bang for their buck and have taken to couponing like never before. I recently received some statistics from a Coupons.com survey on couponing habits, including their demographics, and I thought I’d share them with you here.

The Sophisticated Couponer

■ Adults who are wealthy, educated and from metro areas are more likely to use coupons
■ Six out of 10 people (61%) with a household income of $100K or more have redeemed a coupon in the past six months
■ Adults with college degrees are almost twice as likely to have used coupons in the past six months as those who didn’t graduate from high school
■ About 2/3 (67%) of adults with college degrees have redeemed a coupon in the past six months, compared to only 35% of adults who didn’t graduate from high school
■ Almost 2/3 (64%) of adults who live in metro areas have used a coupon in the past six months – compared to 53% of adults who live in non-metro areas
■ 77% of coupon users live in metro areas
■ About 4 in 10 (39%) adults with a household income of $100K or more have redeemed a coupon printed from an online source in the past six months
■ Adults with a college degree are more likely to use coupons printed from an online source than those who graduated high school but did not attend college (43% and 20%, respectively)
■ Adults who went to college are more likely than those who did not to make a purchase specifically to redeem a coupon (37% vs. 22%, respectively), visit a product’s Web site to get a coupon (34% vs. 13%) and search for coupons online (29% vs. 16%)
■ In the past six months, more adults have redeemed coupons (61%) than have shopped at discount retail outlet stores (42%), bought used goods (37%) or purchased something from a discount Web site to save money (19%). Using coupons is second only to shopping at mass discount retailers (73%).

Tell us: Where do you get your coupons?  Before I head out to grocery store, I check a number of sources for coupons–the Sunday paper inserts, Coupons.com, women’s magazines that have coupons in them (think All You and Woman’s Day) and manufacturer’s websites, such as P&G. Where do you get your coupons?

Most mothers teach their kids to cook and clean. Leah Ingram’s mother taught her to compost. These days she’s passing along this green message to her own daughters as they all try to live a green and frugal lifestyle as The Lean Green Family. She’s the author of Suddenly Frugal: How to Live Happier and Healthier for Less“Suddenly Frugal:How to Live Happier and Healthier for Less.” Visit her blog, Suddenly Frugal.