How to save $75 a week

Largo, Florida — As the economy falters, Americans' interest in coupons is on the rise. In fact, this year alone, 67 percent more Americans are using coupons.

A Largo-based company is capitalizing on the trend, offering printable coupons online valid at local businesses. Coupons of Tampa Bay.com currently gets 4,000 visitors a month with 25,000 page views, according to company president Michael Batdorf.

The site allows users to search restaurant, salon and other coupons by city or county. There is also a blog, where Batdorf talks about the best buys he's found that week.

He suggests looking for sale items, especially two-for-one deals, when grocery shopping. And he buys all of his family's pool supplies and personal hygiene items at the Family Dollar Store.

Sunday, he bought a bottle of 15 SPF Hawaiian Tropic sunscreen for a dollar.

"At a retail store, you'd pay eight to nine dollars for that," he said.

As far as deals go, Thursday through Sunday seem to be the best days to find sale items at the grocery store, he said.

Budget101.com offers countless articles for the thrifty-minded, including how to eat on $10 a week. It also features a search engine that can help you search for sale items at grocery stores in your zip code.

Last year, Americans turned in 2.6 billion manufacturers' coupons, bucking a 16-year trend of declining redemptions. It was the first year since 1992, when nearly eight billion coupons were used, that redemptions had not fallen.