It wasn’t too long ago that the mere mention of the word coupon conjured up a variety of negative meanings – from mountainous stacks of newspaper clippings to the dreaded checkout line at the supermarket. Frugality was something to be frowned upon when it came to social spending.  However in recent times, people have become less frivolous with their money due to the recession and in turn have become more savvy shoppers. Frugality has made a comeback in a big way since the advent of voucher sites.

Research from voucher website Save.co.uk confirmed that vouchers have well and truly entered the mainstream. It shows that 89% of respondents believe the recession has made it more “socially acceptable” to use vouchers. The research also showed that 79% use vouchers for food shopping, with dining out the second most popular area of expenditure (47%).

According to moneysupermarket.com, diners are now typically saving £3m every day on the cost of eating out. To further support this claim, a recent study by Nationwide revealed a massive 72% actually plan their outings or purchase decisions around which ones are available with an estimated four out of five of Britons regularly using discount vouchers. The rising popularity of restaurant vouchers has also become a major phenomenon. Over the past year, the number of people using restaurant vouchers has risen by 30%, and nearly 60% of us have discount-dined in the past six months; a trend that evidently is still on the rise according to Valassis ltd; over a third of consumers are saving at least £5 a month by using money-off coupons – up 10% on 2013.

But it’s not just our spending habits that have changed; so too has the physicality of the coupon. A study conducted by coupon industry consulting firm Inmar, found that 3 billion coupons were redeemed in 2012, showing a significant drop of 14.3 percent from approximately 3.5 billion coupons redeemed in 2011. Online coupons have now become our favoured form of currency presented in a form of virtual code that can even be acquired through mobile technology making the whole consumer buying experience more user-friendly and convenient.

So it seems we no longer have to compromise on the lavish lifestyles we were once accustomed to. You can just about buy anything online with a guaranteed bargain, if you know what voucher vouchercode sites to look at. According to the UK cards association , outstanding balances on all credit cards in the UK have fallen by £8.9 billion – down from £65.8 billion in 2008 to £56.9 billion by December 2013. This is an encouraging statistic seeing as it proves that people are no longer reaching for their credit cards first but instead searching for the best deals online.