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No offense to my frugal grandmother, but I used to think coupons weren't really for me. But Groupon has changed my mind about that....   >>>

No offense to my frugal grandmother, but I used to think coupons weren't really for me. But Groupon has changed my mind about that.

These days, I can get a daily e-mail from Groupon, click on a link, and in an instant, spend $15 for $30 worth of food at that artisan pizza restaurant I've always wanted to try.

I'm having somewhat of a love affair with these "deal-of-the-day" Web sites. They make it so easy to feel like you're getting a deal on virtually everything, and, as with all online shopping, there's no friction between what you want and how easy it is to get it. The pain of paying for a purchase is minimized drastically by simply clicking on the buy button. The research that my colleagues and I conduct tells me that it's best to save for the long-term and not spend too much in the present, but in practice this is sometimes hard to achieve.

Too often, for example, I find myself buying coupons I don't need.WhirlyBall is a case in point. A uniquely Chicago phenomenon, it's a mix of lacrosse, basketball and soccer, played while riding around in bumper cars. I can't remember ever telling anyone that I was desperately in need of partaking in this game, but when a coupon for it arrived in my in box, it didn't take long for me to buy it.



Read more about this experience with Groupon and bargain coupons in the New York Times article listed below.