Looking back down credit card memory lane, though, I see that I’ve learned a lot from my mistakes.

Lesson No. 1: Learn from others’ mistakes. It makes life easier. When I was growing up, my mom always used cash or checks. My first real awareness of credit cards came from a college roommate who had a Discover card. Let’s just say she didn’t use it responsibly, and she owed about $240. Soon, Discover was calling our home phone all day, from breakfast until bedtime. At our house meetings, arguments about who let dishes pile up or who never cleaned the bathroom suddenly got overshadowed by “What to tell Discover when they call” and whether “Tammi” would ever pay her bill.

It should have been a cautionary tale about the problems that come from credit cards used irresponsibly. Instead, my takeaway was, “I can get a credit card!” To a broke college student who made about $13 a week working as an editor for the campus newspaper and who considered a meal at Taco Bell a luxury, this was an exciting development.

This ties into …

Lesson No. 2: Always read the fine print and understand how your card works. Not knowing the difference between a credit card and a charge card, I got a basic American Express card and didn’t read the terms and conditions. I quickly bought $100 worth of clothes and was shocked (shocked!) when I was expected to pay the balance in full at the end of the month — as one must do with a charge card. After much worry, many phone calls from AmEx and several late fees, I managed to pay off my balance. I swore off cards.

Lesson No. 3: If you find yourself using a credit card to make up for regular cash shortfalls, you need to find a way to cut your expenses or make more money. Fast forward to my first real job. I was making about $25,000 a year as an entry-level newspaper reporter, and I never had enough money. I thought it would be OK to get a credit card since I had a job. I used it to make ends meet and, over several years, racked up a balance of about $3,000.

This time, my financially responsible mom stepped in and paid off my balance for me. That was extremely generous of her, but I might have learned more if I had to struggle to clean up my own mess.

Lesson No. 4: Don’t try to go it alone. A credit counselor or trusted friend can provide encouragement, ideas and accountability. After my mom bailed me out, I swore off credit cards again and started getting my finances in order. I did pretty well, and when I decided I wanted to buy a house, I went to a first-time homebuyer education program. I found my credit score wasn’t as great as it could be, partly because I had a “lack of revolving credit.” The educator suggested I get a credit card, buy a small item each month and pay the bill in full. I did. After I bought the house, though, I “needed” furniture. You know where this is headed. Soon my balance reached $5,000.

I looked at how much interest I was paying and told myself, “Never again.” Over the next few years, I budgeted to pay extra each month toward my credit card balance. I gave up little luxuries. Windfalls went to the credit card company — my old friend Discover — and the balance began to dwindle. I traded encouragement with a friend who was trying to pay down a similar balance.

Lesson No. 5: Know exactly how much you’re paying in interest and fees. Working to pay off that balance over about four years helped me learn why it was bad to carry a balance. I saw hundreds of dollars going to the credit card company for interest and fees. I calculated how much extra I was paying for the items I’d bought on credit. I thought about what else I could buy with that money. I felt the pain of debt.

I learned something from my experiences that no expert can teach you: What it feels like to be staring at a balance you can’t pay — the sick feeling you get when late fees pile up or when you’re so stressed out you can’t open your mail.

I admire people who manage to organize their finances without ever having those experiences. But, for me, they were good teachers that helped me learn how to, finally, use credit cards responsibly.

I love the definition of “mad money” from FreeDictionary.com: “Money for frivolous purchases or little luxuries; money for a bit of riotous living it up.”

Everyone needs some “riotous living it up” from time to time, right? Even if you’re trying to get out of debt, setting aside just a small amount of want money each month can help keep you from feeling deprived and prevent a scrimp-and-spend cycle that can lead to more debt.

But just like the rest of your money, mad money works best if you budget and plan rather than frittering it away. Here are some of the things I’ve learned, along with a few expert tips on making the most of want money:

1. Put your needs first. One thing I learned early on about want money, from one of my favorite personal finance books (“All Your Worth” by Elizabeth Warren and Amelia Warren Tyagi) is that wants should never trump needs. Make sure your rent or mortgage, utilities and other needs are taken care of before you even think about allowing yourself some fun money. If you’re having trouble paying for needs without going into debt, you might need to meet with a credit counselor and make some big changes.

2. Define wants. Certain items, such as clothing, fall into a gray area. You might need to be brutally honest with yourself to determine whether a gray-area item is a want or need. For example, if my last pair of jeans has a hole in it, I need a new pair. But if I’m bored with all my summer shirts and want something pretty to wear Friday night? That’s a want. New underwear? Need. A cool pair of earrings from Etsy? Want. You get the idea.

3. Decide on an amount that works for you. In “All Your Worth,” the authors recommend allocating 30 percent of your budget to wants — with the rule that once your want money is gone, it’s gone. To some, that amount might seem high. My husband and I spent a lot of time discussing amounts — the number that felt right to him was much higher than the number I wanted to go with. We compromised by agreeing to go with a lower amount until we were out of debt, and we bumped it to the higher amount once our last loan was repaid.

4. Have a system. We have a bank transfer set up so that our want money gets deposited into both of our individual checking accounts on the day my husband gets paid. I also have an auto-transfer set up on the following day to funnel a small slice of my fun money toward saving up for travel.

5. Plan your purchases. At the beginning of each month, I usually sit down and make a list of all the things I’ve been wanting. That could be anything from fancy chocolate, to a new bike, to bully sticks for my dog. Once I’ve got my list of wants, I rank them in order of what I want the most and jot down the cost of each item. I make a plan to purchase my top-ranked items that month, while leaving a little extra for small impulse purchases or grabbing a cup of coffee out. I’ve found that I enjoy my want money much more when I plan rather than just buying something whenever the urge hits until my money is gone.

6. Shop around. With want money, it can be tempting to just buy on a whim because you do have the freedom to spend it however you want. But if you compare prices as you would with any other purchase, you can stretch your fun money further. For example, when personal finance blogger Crystal Stemberger from Budgeting in the Fun Stuff decided she had to have two weird garden gnomes, she checked prices and waited until she found a great deal. She recommends “holding off on splurges” until the price is right and writes that she enjoys her lawn ornaments even more because she got such a good deal.

And finally: Don’t judge yourself or your significant other on want-money purchases. Mad money is all about letting loose and having fun.

In the middle of a big push to get out of debt, I recently bought a $500 Vitamix blender. I don’t normally drop that much cash on kitchen gadgets — in fact, I’m usually very frugal. My husband and I share an old Corolla, I get most of my books from the library, and I still wear a jacket I bought at a thrift store 10 years ago.

But the blender? I didn’t regret that purchase at all. Why? Well, for several reasons:

• It wasn’t an impulse purchase. I had wanted a high-powered blender for years, and I had done research, reading online customer reviews and comparing models and features. I also had planned to make sure the purchase fit into my budget.

• It serves a bigger purpose. The blender doesn’t just make yummy food — it helps me live a healthier lifestyle. Now I can put a handful of kale in my morning smoothie or whip up healthy veggie soups in minutes. I consider the purchase an investment in my health.

• I get a lot of use out of it. I use my blender every day — and sometimes multiple times a day. It’s not something that sits in the closet and gets plugged in once a year. When I know I’ll use something daily, I tend to think of how much it will cost me on a daily basis, or per use, rather than just looking at the sticker price.

So how do you know when to splurge and when to hold back and save? Here are three questions to ask:

1) How long will my purchase last me? The blog Personal Finance Advice recommends splurging on certain items you’d expect to last a long time, including clothing and tools. These are the certain types of purchases where quality really matters. In some cases, you could actually save money in the long run by spending more initially. For example, a $150 pair of well-made shoes might last you years while you could spend twice as much on lots of cheap footwear in the same amount of time.

2) How much happiness will I get from this? It’s good to think about how much pleasure you’ll get from your purchase before you plunk down the cash for it. If you think it through, you might find that a few smaller — and cheaper — splurges actually bring more enjoyment than one big one, according to money management site LearnVest.

3) Can I afford it? It’s important to plan for a splurge so it doesn’t bust your budget and leave you with regret. You definitely don’t want to come up short on rent money because you bought a fancy grill on a whim. After all, a grill is no good if money is so tight you can’t even afford to buy burgers.

So, what’s the best way to splurge within your budget? Earmark part of your discretionary cash each month for fun and enjoyable purchases, LearnVest recommends. For bigger purchases, save a bit from several months’ allotted “fun” money.

If you follow these tips, you should be able to fit some indulgences into your budget without feeling bad or breaking the bank.

Now that I’ve started tracking what I eat, I’ve discovered a simple truth: Dieting is very similar to budgeting. Here are some ways that your knowledge and experience with managing money can help you lose weight, or vice versa:

1) Daily attention pays off – If you’re trying to keep your spending or your weight in check, it helps to monitor your actions on a daily basis. After you’ve made sane spending (or healthy eating) a habit, you might be able to cut back to checking in once a week or so to make sure you’re still on track. Before that, though, paying close attention is key. That’s because if you mess up for one day, it’s relatively easy to fix your mistake. If you veer off course for a whole week or month, you’ve got a bigger problem.

2) Tracking tools can really help – When it comes to finances and food, clarity is crucial. That means knowing how much you’re spending on what, and how much you’re really eating. For money, online tools such as Mint.com can really help, though I use a spreadsheet. For food, I use MyFitnessPal.com to track my calories and exercise. It’s like having an online dashboard for my body, and it helps avoid the vagueness that can lead to weight gain — and going broke: “I think I ate one serving of chocolate, maybe.” Or, “Oh, all of those shirts were on sale.” GeniusKick.com has a list of seven money-tracking tools. WomenandWeight.com offers a list of the best online calorie- and fitness-tracking sites.

3) A splurge is OK, if you plan for it – There are many ways to splurge, both money-wise and food-wise, without derailing your progress. I allow myself a certain amount of “want” money each month. I make a list of the things I want most, then prioritize. I always leave extra for little splurges, such as a latte. With a diet, planning is important, too. If I know I’m going out to a restaurant one day, I’ll keep my other meals light and look up calorie counts ahead of time. MyDollarPlan.com has tips on how to splurge while staying on a budget. And Shape.com offers a guide to how to indulge while still losing weight.

4) You have to make it a lifestyle – If you feel deprived, it’s not going to work. Restricting yourself too much or thinking of a change as temporary can lead to the starve-then-binge cycle. Instead, it’s important to figure out how you can manage to live within your means (or a reasonable calorie count) and not feel miserable. The answer might be different for different people, so you have to find what works for you. Daily Worth offers a do-it-yourself financial planning guide, and The Mayo Clinic offers tips on how to integrate healthy eating and weight loss into your lifestyle.

If you apply the same simple principles to money and weight management, you could end up in a position many would envy: fit and rich.

So, which is better? I’ve used both. When my husband was in grad school, at the height of the recession, we used the envelope system. Now, we’re experimenting with putting all of our expenses on a rewards card to get airline miles. I’ve learned that each method has its pros and cons:

Cash Only (aka the envelope system)
I have really good memories of the few years we spent using the envelope system. This method of managing money involves creating a budget, taking cash out of the bank and dividing it into envelopes for each expense category. For example, if you’ve allotted $100 a week for food, you’d put that much cash in an envelope labeled “groceries.” You might have another envelope for toiletries and yet another for clothes. Here’s what I liked about this system:

• You can’t overspend. You’re forced to live within your means, and this provides peace of mind. You don’t wake up at 3 a.m. wondering if you forgot to log a debit card purchase and got an overdraft fee. You can’t spend money you don’t have.

• You’re forced to get creative. You can’t just throw money at a problem. Say you forgot a friend’s birthday. Instead of feeling like you have to shell out $50 you don’t have to grab a gift card, you’ll have to brainstorm. Maybe you already have all the ingredients to bake the perfect birthday cake.

• Money is more tangible. Being vague about money (“Oh, I think I have about $500 in my checking account.”) will get you in trouble every time. The envelope system doesn’t allow you to be iffy. You count and handle your money every time you part with it. You can see exactly how much is left.

And here are a few minuses:

• You might feel awkward. When we used this system, I felt uncomfortably old school as I pulled a crumpled envelope out of my purse and counted out pennies while someone clutching a credit card waited behind me in the checkout line.

• It lacks flexibility. You get paid tomorrow but want to splurge on a nice evening with your significant other tonight? Sorry! You’ll have to dig for spare change and hope you find enough coins to buy a $3 bottle of red from Aldi. The flipside: you’ll be really thrilled when you do — maybe happier than if you just plunked down your credit card for a nice bottle of Bordeaux.

• It doesn’t work for everything. There are just some purchases where you must use plastic. For example, when you order plane tickets or rent a car.

If you’re interested in trying the envelope system, WiseBread.com has a good guide to getting started.

The credit-only system
Here are the pros of the credit-only system:

• Extreme convenience. It’s so easy to just pull out plastic and swipe. There are no bills to be counted and, as long as you’re not near your credit limit, no wondering if you have enough money on you.

• You can build up rewards. It’s nice to know that you’re building up cash back or airline miles every time you make a routine purchase. It gives even the worst expenses — think paying the plumber to unstop your toilet — a silver lining.

• You feel more affluent and secure. OK, this is both a plus and a minus. I definitely feel richer when I swipe a card. On the other hand, that’s exactly what can get consumers into trouble and lead to overspending.

With that in mind, here are the minuses of living a credit-only life:

• Record keeping can be a hassle. With the envelope system, you just open an envelope and count the cash. Simple. With credit, you’re spending money you should pay off at the end of the month, and it’s essential to keep track and record purchases while making sure you have enough money in the bank to cover your bill at the end of the month.

• It can lead to debt. When you pay with plastic, you’re essentially spending your money in advance. It takes vigilance to make sure you spend only what you can pay off in full.

The upshot: The credit-only system can be good for consumers who are already on very solid ground financially. As Get Rich Slowly points out, you should think about using rewards cards for your expenses only if you have a good credit score and no high-interest debt.

Today, we are debt free. This unexpected turn in our debt repayment journey came via an inheritance we got from my husband’s grandma. As the blog Frugal Dad points out, there’s often a lot of emotion wrapped up in getting an inheritance because you’ve just lost a loved one. It’s not always easy to decide what to do with it, especially when your decision-making skills are clouded by sadness, guilt or other emotions.

So, how do you know if you should use an inheritance to pay off your debt? For us, it was an easy decision: The loan had been a burden for years with a staggering 9 percent interest rate. That meant we were paying Sallie Mae more than $350 per month in interest alone. It was very hard to dig out of this debt — and suddenly we had the chance to erase it.

If you’re considering paying off debt with an inheritance, here are some factors to consider:

1) How did you get into debt in the first place? As Frugal Dad points out, if you got into debt by, say, going on shopping sprees with your credit cards, paying off your current debt without changing your ways isn’t going to help much.

2) Do you have an emergency fund in place? Not everyone gets into debt by buying one — or 100 — pairs of Manolo Blahniks. For many people, it’s that car repair they didn’t plan on or a kid getting sick. If you don’t have an emergency fund, it would be wise to create one first, then look at paying off debt.

3) Would it be smart to meet with a financial adviser? If you’re not sure what’s the best use of your money, it’s probably a good move to meet with a fee-only financial adviser, Consumer Reports recommends. You can find an adviser who works only for fees paid by clients — no commissions from financial services companies for selling you products — by visiting the website of the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors, an association of fee-only advisers.

4) Should you wait a little while? As personal finance writer Craig Guillot points out on his blog Some Stuff About Money, many people make rash decisions about inheritance money. Like winning the lottery, it’s easy to make big mistakes when a large, unexpected sum of money is involved. There’s nothing to lose by taking some time to think through all of your options and crunch the numbers. If you go this route, consider taking this advice from Consumer Reports: Put the money in a separate savings account and not your main checking account, so that it’s not too easy to spend.

We used to pay bills right from our bank account via online banking and paid cash for almost everything else. Making the switch to credit was a tough decision, and we’re still not sure it’s the right one.

On one hand, I’ve always envied cardholders who rack up airline miles by simply cycling all of their regular expenses through a card and paying the bill in full each month. It seems like the savvy thing to do: There’s free money out there, so why not take it? Also, I love to dream about all the travel experiences we’ll get to have — from watching tango in Argentina to going on a safari in Zimbabwe — with free plane tickets.

Now, back to reality: I’m a personal finance reporter, and I’ve interviewed many experts on the psychology of money. I know that multiple studies show consumers tend to spend more when they pay with plastic than when they pay cash. Why? For one, a study by researchers at the University of Kansas and the University of South Carolina, published in the Journal of Consumer Research, shows that consumers who pay with cash tend to think more about the cost of an item, while those who pay with credit focus on the benefits of the product they’re purchasing. So, if you’re buying a sweater with cash, you’re probably thinking, “Wow, $75? Is this sweater really worth it?” Pull out your card, and you’re thinking about how great it will look on you.

Plus, as this blog from FreeMoneyFinance.com points out:

• Money spent via a credit card doesn’t feel as real as cash in your pocket. Instead of losing your money at the moment you buy something, you know you won’t part with it until you pay your bill. So, it can be less painful to use credit.

• Credit cards make it easier to spend money, even if you don’t have it in your pocket. If you go to a restaurant with $100 cash, you know you can’t spend a penny more — and you have to factor the tip and tax into that, too. You’ll be doing calculations in your head as you decide whether to order an appetizer or a second drink, rather than just handing over your card.

So, would it be better — though much less exciting — to simply continue with our old system and save up for trips? I don’t know. After all, everyone wants to think that they’ll be the one to beat the system, right?

I have to admit, I already feel a little bit of a pull to spend more. If we find that we are overspending with plastic, we might try using a hybrid system in the future. We could use the card to pay only for items and services we’d absolutely need anyway — vet care, flights, toilet paper, appliances, that sort of thing — and use cash for things such as clothing and grocery shopping, where it’s easy to blur the line between need and want.

But, for now, it sure is fun to imagine flying around the world for free.

If you’re like me, you probably carry around way too many of these cards. In fact, a January 2013 survey by Edgell Knowledge Network showed that the average U.S. household belongs to a whopping 18 store loyalty programs.

I belong to fewer than 10, but that still feels like too many. I signed up for many of the programs, including the ones from CVS and Rite Aid, because I thought it would help me save a few dollars. But some of the programs have just been a hassle. For example, at CVS I often forget to pull out my card. And when I do get “Extra Care Bucks,” coupons on my receipt, they tend to get lost in my purse and I forget to use them before they expire.

Nonetheless some of the programs work well for me. For example, I have a Pet Supermarket card that gets me a coupon for a free bag of dog food (a $20 value) every few months. I shop there all the time because it’s the only local place that sells the pet foods I prefer to buy. And I always remember to use my card because the store employees remind me every single time.

So, how do you decide if you should sign up or say “no thanks” next time a cashier offers you a loyalty card? Here are some things to consider:

• What do you have to do? MSN Money advises consumers to think about how much time and effort they have to put into a store loyalty program. Remember that it takes time to keep track of all the cards, sort through terms and conditions and redeem your rewards. Is it worth it?
• Will you end up spending more? Part of the aim behind store loyalty programs is to get consumers to spend more. If you find yourself buying more or buying things you wouldn’t otherwise have purchased, you might want to rethink your participation, according to YourLifeforLess.com. Spending $10 to save $1 doesn’t make sense. For me, that’s why the pet food program works so well: It’s something I’d buy anyway.
• What do you actually get? According to the research by Edgell Knowledge Network, 81 percent of consumers enrolled in loyalty programs don’t know the benefits. So, it’s a good idea to read through the terms and conditions, find out exactly how the program works and see what kind of benefits you’d get.
• How does it make you feel? Do you get overwhelmed by having so much plastic and digging around every time you want to use a card? Or by having to use a smartphone app to keep track of all of your loyalty programs sans plastic, as Digitwirl.com recommends? Do you forget to cash in your rewards, then get annoyed at yourself later? If that’s the case, it might just make sense to streamline your life and concentrate on saving money in other ways.

Over the years, a few big pieces of advice have stuck with me and changed the way I handle my finances. Here are some of my all-time favorite bits of personal finance wisdom:

1. Automate it. This is a classic piece of money management advice. I first read about the idea of automating finances years ago in David Bach’s book “The Automatic Millionaire.” In it, he recommends automating everything from your bill payments to your emergency fund savings. Automating is such a simple idea, but it saved my finances and my credit score. I used to loathe paying my bills and would put it off, meaning I got zapped with late fees and risked those bills going into collections and hurting my credit score. Now, my bills are always paid on time and saving is easy.

2. Balance your money. The idea of the “balanced money formula,” from the book “All Your Worth” by Elizabeth Warren and Amelia Warren Tyagi, was life-changing for me. According to the formula, you should aim to spend 50 percent of your money on must-haves (rent, food, electricity, etc.), 30 percent on wants (which include items like cable TV, non-necessary groceries like ice cream and even clothes you don’t absolutely need) and 20 percent on savings. The authors say that following these guidelines will help bring harmony to your financial life, and I’ve definitely found that to be the case. In our case, we were spending too much on “wants” that we thought of as needs, which made it hard to save as much as we should.

3. Focus on earning rather than scrimping. Time is limited, and we all have only a certain number of hours per week to spend thinking about and managing our finances. I find frugality to be kind of fun, so my natural inclination is to use this time to find recipes for cheap meals, cut coupons or learn how to make my own dish soap. But some posts on the blog I Will Teach You to Be Reach made me realize this might not be the best use of my extra time.

What if instead of spending three hours a week cutting coupons, I spent that time earning more money? Instead of saving $15 a week or $60 a month, I could earn maybe $150 a week or an extra $600 a month. If I put that extra money toward my mortgage, I could cut 20 years and more than $60,000 in interest off the loan. I’m self-employed, so it was easier for me to adjust my income than it might be for some, but some people could ask for overtime at work or find a way to earn income on the side. For example, I have a friend who earns several hundred dollars a month pet-sitting for neighbors.

4. Spend according to your values. I love this blog post on Sustainable Personal Finance about how, ideally, your spending should reflect your values. I’m not necessarily talking about giving to charity, though that might be part of it, but about spending money on the things that are most important to you and not spending on things that aren’t.

When I reviewed our budget last summer, I realized we were spending quite a bit on things we didn’t really care about. One was gas for our car: We were spending more than $100 a month, or $1,200 a year, for my husband to drive to work and for both of us to run multiple errands a week. We realized we could cut that expenditure quite a bit if my husband started riding his bike to work, which he was wanting to do anyway, and if we combined errands and made more purchases online with free shipping. That would free up more cash to spend on healthy eating — fresh fruits and veggies are really important to both of us, but we’d been skimping in this area to try to save money.

5. Enjoy life now. When you’re trying to get out of debt or save for a big goal, it can be easy to fall into a life-will-be-great-when sort of mindset. But, as this post from the blog Zen Habits reminded me, it’s possible, and important, to figure out how to enjoy life now — no matter what your money situation. Personal finance advice often focuses on saving for the future. But as blogger Lego Babauta points out, it’s equally important to “find ways to enjoy life completely, utterly, maximally … that don’t cost your future very much.”

I signed up to get deal alerts from several websites, such as Couponaholic and The Krazy Coupon Lady, and starting clipping and printing coupons.

But I quickly realized couponing wasn’t paying off for me. Sure, I saved $7 to $15 or soon each trip to the grocery store, but I was spending several hours a week reading blogs and looking for coupons. That meant I was getting a return of maybe $3 or $4 an hour. Sometimes, online coupons would fail to print, so I’d invest time for nothing.

Many personal finance bloggers have come to similar conclusions about the downside of couponing. Here are some things to consider:

• Couponing makes less sense for healthy eaters. As Trent at The Simple Dollar points out, manufacturers tend to offer coupons for highly processed foods, not fresh fruits and veggies. Often these packaged foods also are crazy expensive for what you get. For example, a few months ago, I was seeing a lot of coupons for Smuckers Uncrustables, which are basically very expensive pre-made PB&J sandwiches. Compare that to the cost of taking a few minutes to make your own.
• The generic item might be cheaper. Another great point by The Simple Dollar: Generic items often are even cheaper than the brand-name item purchased with a coupon. If you’re open to generic — and, really, it’s often just as good — you can save more without the hassle or time suck of finding coupons.
• You might end up spending more. As this post at Wise Bread  points out, manufacturers offer coupons to get you hooked on their products. Also, you might buy a product you otherwise wouldn’t have purchased because you have a coupon for it. This can leave you thinking you saved money when really you spent more than you would have without the coupon.

However, there are times when I still do use coupons. Usually this is when I can get a big return for a small-time investment. For example:

• Online shopping. I shop online quite a bit because it saves me time and gas money. When I do, I always Google “coupon code” followed by the name of the retailer. Often, I find a coupon code for free shipping or 10 percent to 20 percent off, which ends up saving me $10, $20 or even more for a time investment of just a minute or two.

• Large purchases. I’ve signed up at places like OfficeMax and Bed, Bath & Beyond to get coupons sent to me in the mail. I get coupons for maybe 20 percent off or $10 off a $50 purchase. For no effort, I get substantial discounts on things I’d buy anyway. When I’m making a really large purchase, such as an appliance, I search online for the best deal and then look for coupon codes. Some retailers will allow you to purchase online and pick up your item at the store. It makes more sense to put in 15 minutes on something that will save you $20 than it does on something that will save you $1.

• Stocking up. Even though we eat lots of fresh produce and not a lot of stuff that comes in packages, there are a few expensive packaged products we use regularly and go through quickly. These include LaCroix flavored water, Silk almond milk, Celestial Seasonings teas and Starbucks whole bean coffee. I usually watch for buy-one-get-one-free sales on these items at my local grocery store, then I stock up for substantial savings. For example, buying 10 bags of Starbucks coffee when they’re on sale for $3 off saves me $30. Before I head to the store, I do a quick search to see if I can find printable coupons for any of these items to save even more.

All in all, I think anyone who uses coupons should keep track of how much time they spend and how much they save to decide whether it’s worth the effort. In many cases, it might make more sense to spend that time making extra money by working overtime or starting a side business.