In an age when it seems that almost everything we use is being replaced by the latest and greatest, it’s interesting to see something that’s over one hundred years old morphing into something vibrant and “new”. Coupons can still be slips of newsprint cut from the Sunday paper but now you can: 1) print the coupons you want; 2) use promotional codes, coupon codes and discount codes for online purchases; 3) have certain websites send you the digital codes for the items you want to purchase; 4) have your coupons savings invested in a college saving account or 5) get your coupons savings deposited in you family bank account. The other big change is the vastly increased amount of savings available with coupons.

To give you a glimpse of this coming marketing tidal wave of coupon usage and savings check out these stats on the growth of online coupons.

* Coupon code offerings doubled between 2008 and 2010 but the number of coupons used increased by 360%.

* Just over 88 million people received coupons savings in 2011! – eMarketer

* It’s expected that nearly 97 million Americans will have taken advantage of coupons savings by the end of 2013.

While these statistics are impressive, Nielsenwire, a company devoted to measuring and informing, says 83% of the manufacturers coupons used in 2009, were used by only 22% of Ameriican households. The size of the market of people who haven’t begun to use coupons promotional programs is enormous.

Interestingly, Nielsenwire also reports that the “primary drivers of coupon growth in 2009″ were families with annual incomes in excess of $100,000. Contrary to what a lot of people might think, families with the lowest household incomes are not the biggest coupon users. In fact, it’s families with annual incomes over $70,000 who are committed to improving life, make up 38% of “super heavy” users and 41% of the “enthusiasts” category.

There is another compelling reason to us coupons – they’ll save you taxes as well. Taxes?? While this is a really simple truth most of us have never considered it. Here’s an example, if you were to save $1,000 off normal prices by using coupons, you would also have saved about $340 in taxes that the government would have taken out of your paycheck to leave you with the $1,000 to spend if you hadn’t used coupons. That means by using coupons you actually saved around $1,340 in real money!

It’s the perfect time to start using coupons. More and more retailers and manufacturers are offering them so you can save on virtually anything and many more innovations are right around the corner. Unfortunately, there are a number of “junk” sites that simply offer you a few links that just take you to similar junk sites. In a following article, learn about the truly legitimate sites that will actually offer you a real service.

Jaelle Crider, educator, author and consumer; likes challenging others to start living a better life by saving money and planning for their future. Crider has created this short animated video about saving money with coupons. Subscribe to her ezine for the best and broadest assortment of promotional codes for your family plus various other money saving strategies and entertaining articles!