I’ve seen coupons, I’ve heard of people using coupons, and I guess I’ve always understood the concept, but I’ve never used them myself and have just recently taken the time to figure out how to use them correctly and s
ave.
According to the NY Times many retailers are adding coupons to their promotional campaigns in an effort to increase sales during these lean economic times. I thought the art of couponing was worth looking into.
Where to Find Coupons
Online: Tons of websites are popping up all over the net with free coupons. Coupons online are printable, they can be sent to you via email or linked to your PDA or cell phone. They can even be linked to your grocery membership cards for instant savings at the checkout counter.
Newspapers: Newspapers are the traditional portal for coupons. The Sunday paper in particular is a veritable jackpot of coupons. If you see good stuff in your Sunday paper think about picking up more then one copy of that paper. If you can save $10 in coupons, it may be worth it to spend $2 on another paper.
Coupons are different in different areas as well. Think about picking up papers as you’re traveling to find coupons for different items or different brands.
Magazines: Magazines are another traditional place to find coupons. Women’s magazines such as RedBook, Good Housekeeping, and Women’s Day often have coupons hiding within their pages.
Stores: Many grocery stores now use the coupon systems from SmartSource. You can often find their coupon dispensers’ right next to the item the coupon is for in the grocery isles. How convenient!
Don’t forget to check the back of your receipt! Most grocery stores print coupons for all kinds of cool stuff on the backs of their receipts and some print additional coupons along side the receipts!
Products: Manufacturers coupons are often placed right on the product itself. Check the inside of packaging prior to tossing it in the garbage. You can find coupons printed on the insides of boxes or in plain view. Manufacturers have also been known to print coupons and include them inside the products. Coupons wrapped in plastic often fall out of the bag of cat food when I’m feeding my boys.
Coupon Groups: Another new phenomenon is that of coupon groups or coupon trains. Groups of people are getting together on the internet or in person to gather and trade coupons. No one uses every product so send your friends on a hunt for coupons for things you use and they don’t, in turn find coupons they can use that you won’t. Now that’s friendship!
Get Organized
The easiest way to fail at coupon clipping is to be unorganized. If you’re clipping like crazy and not keeping your coupons organized you’ll never get to use them when you need them!
Get a container to organize your coupons, recipe boxes with dividers works perfectly. Divide the sections by product categories that work best for you, household, health and beauty, snacks, canned foods, meats, etc.
Make sure to go through your coupons regularly and purge everything that has expired. Nothing is worse then thinking you have scored a great deal and then at the check out you find that your coupon has expired.
Maximize Your Savings
Double Coupons: Some stores will double your coupons! Check here to find stores in your area that will double your coupons. That means that a coupons saving you $.50 now saves you $1.00!
Doubling coupons is great, but I hear some stores will even triple coupons from time to time. Ask around to see if any of the stores in your area will triple those bad boys for some serious savings.
Stack Coupons: This is where the real savings are, did you know that you could stack coupons and use multiples? You can use a store coupon and a manufacturer’s coupon together. Better yet, you can use both on top of a sale and look out for those rebates. You could even use both on a double coupon day on a sale item!
Get it Free: I think this one is more of s sneaky loophole in the coupon system, but it works great. Use a buy-one-get-one coupon with a buy-one-get-one sale and you actually end up getting both items free!
Combine with a Price Book: This is a great way to save all year long using coupons. Use a price book to track the sales cycles in your area and the best prices on the products, you use. Then look for coupons that will save on top of the lowest prices in your price book.
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