News 12 at 6, August 20, 2008

AUGUSTA -- Saving money is on just about everyone's minds these days, especially at the grocery store.

There's a new way to save when you're buying groceries, and all you need is a cell phone. They're called mobile coupons. They provide all of the savings without the clipping.

For decades, one of the most effective ways to save at the grocery store is to clip coupons out of the Sunday paper.

But that can get tedious. You snip one, stuff it in an envelope. Snip another and it goes in the same place. On and on, it can take you a couple of hours to sift through the paper and the ads to find what you want.

And what happens if you forget them?

Now, there's a new way to save through something called mobile coupons. One company called Cellfire is providing them through Kroger.

Here's how it works: you download a program called Cellfire to your phone and link it to your Kroger Plus card. The coupons are downloaded on your card.

And get this, since it's all downloaded onto your plus card, you don't have to worry about forgetting your paper coupons anymore. Kroger says it just makes sense.

"With most of our customers having a cell phone when they shop, it is convenient and it helps them save time and it helps the environment," said Lashandra Reifenberger of Kroger.

Cellfire isn't the only mobile coupon provider. There's also movoxx.com and text2save.com.

And certainly, more will come before too long. They may not mean the end of paper coupons, but they certainly will have an impact on them.

Just go to http://www.cellfire.com for more information.