I still chuckle when I see ads for checks by mail in the Red Plum coupon booklets in Sunday's paper. Who's still writing checks except the person in front of me at the Cub Foods checkout? Many still write a few checks a month, but with ATMs, debit cards and online banking, the number of checks written falls each year.

It's been years since I ordered checks, so I had forgotten how much cheaper it is to order through one of the companies that advertises in the Sunday coupon fliers. I saved 65 percent compared to my bank's price by ordering through 4Checks.com. I was able to get two boxes of duplicate checks for about $9 all inclusive. Get $3 off orders from 4checks.com by using offer code DB1146.

Other mail order companies offering good deals include BradfordExchangeChecks.com and ChecksUnlimited.com.

If you've ordered from a mail order company before, reorders are higher priced than the original. Switch companies to keep your prices low. The cheaper prices seen in the ads are usually for new customers.