10 MORE COUPONING TIPS

1. Unless you have a source for obtaining the Sunday inserts for free, you should buy at least two Sunday papers each week to build your coupon base. You can usually find Sunday papers bundled in groups of two for a discounted price. If you prefer to subscribe, many papers will sell you the Sunday paper only and may even sell bundled Sunday papers for home delivery.

2. Find a bookmark several couponing blogs that you enjoy reading. You will pick up tips as well as stay encouraged.

3. Find and bookmark as many (truly) free online coupon sites as you can. Online printable coupons are limited to two per coupon per computer. If you have multiple sites you can use, you can print out two per site without violating any terms of use. There are lots of sites, such as ours http://www.extendmydollar.com, where you can print coupons without having to give out any personal information. Those are the sites you want to bookmark.

4. Know your store's coupon policy and keep a printed copy with you. Many cashiers (and even store managers) do not know the store’s coupon policy. If you have a problem, having a copy of the policy with you can save the day (or at least the deal!).

5. Plan your shopping trip and stick with your list. If you build your stockpile correctly, it should be the rarest of occasions when you will ever buy a product that is not on sale and that you do not also have a coupon for.

6. Develop a network of family and/or friends that will save their coupon inserts for you. Also, keep you eyes and ears open for places where you can pick up free inserts, such as recycling bins.

7. Sign up for a free email address with gmail or yahoo or whatever site you prefer and then sign up for manufacturer newsletters and newsletters from other companies. You won’t get spammed from the large manufacturers but you may from some of the other “freebies” companies. That’s why you need a separate email account just for the coupons. I don’t mind scanning through my emails to get the freebies and exclusive coupons as long as it doesn’t interfere with my normal emails.

Kellogg’s has exclusive coupons when you sign up for their newsletter and they won’t spam you but I would still use my free email account to receive their emails.

Good-Cents has lots of freebies, coupons and other goodies but you will get a lot of emails from them and their associated partners. You can sign up with them by clicking on the link below (after you set up your separate coupon email account J).

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8. Check your grocery store for “blinkies” and “peelies”. Blinkies are those little red machines you find on the store aisles that spit out coupons. Peelies are coupons that are attached to specific products. Blinkines can be taken and used later. Peelies, on the other hand, should only be used to buy the item they are attached to at the time you remove it. A product with a peelie may or may not be a good deal so don’t just buy a product with a peelie because it has a coupon.

9. Also, you may receive coupons from the cashier after you check out. These are called “catalinas” and usually print out for a competitor’s product (based on a similar product you just purchased). For example, you buy Kraft shredded cheese. You may get a catalina for the store brand of cheese or you may get one Sargento shredded cheese. You may even get a catalina for a related product such as Pillsbury pizza dough. These coupons are for use on future shopping trips.


10. Check for coupons in products you buy and on product packaging. Check you packaging when you are buying a product as sometimes a package will have one and the next package will not (usually because the products were made at a different time). These coupons generally have a longer time before they expire (allowing you more time to match it with a sale) and many times these types of coupons have a higher value.to load coupons onto your shopping card. Nice service so you don’t have to clip or carry any of the coupons.

7 TIPS FOR BECOMING A SUCCESSFUL COUPONER.

GET IN A SET ROUTINE. Most of what we do in our lives is part of a routine. Whether it is brushing our teeth, watching television or going to work, we do most of our everyday activities without giving them a lot of thought. To be a successful couponer, couponing will need to take its place in your life to the same extent as these other activities. That is not to say you have to work at it daily, rather, it has to become such a part of your life that you do it automatically. Failure to integrate couponing into your life, in most cases, will result in this becoming just another fad in your life that you will soon abandon.

GET ORGANIZED. Couponing is much simpler when you are organized. Not only is it easier, you will find that your savings are greater too. Organized doesn’t just mean neat. The purpose of being organized is to allow you identify what coupons you have so that you can take maximum advantage of them. You need to set up a system for adding coupons, removing coupons and storing your coupons. There are many ways to do this but the key is to set up a system you will actually use.

·         Decide what storage system you will use.  Several options for storage are accordion files,  coupon boxes and notebook binders.

·         You must decide whether you will cut out your coupons as you obtain them or cut the coupons only as you need them.

·         You must decide how you are going to file your coupons. You can sort by category (such as canned meats, canned vegetables, cereal etc); you can sort by aisle (this method works best if you shop mostly at one store); you can sort by the coupon’s issue date or by its expiration date or; you can sort by source and issue date (such as Smartsource insert dated ??/??/?? or Redplum insert dated ??/??/??).

·         You must establish a set routine for removing the expired coupons.

COMBINE COUPONS WITH SALES. Anybody can use a coupon at the store. A true couponer uses her/his coupons to the fullest advantage by using coupons when the product is on sale. Combining a coupon with a sale results in maximum savings. To take advantage of this, you must either learn your stores sales cycle or (in this days of the internet) you must find a site where someone else has done this homework for you. There are many sites devoted to specific stores that will tell you when a product is on sale, if there is a coupon for that product and if the combination of the sale and the coupon is good enough for you to stack up at this time.  

MAKE USE OF ONLINE COUPON SITES. The web abounds with sites for getting advice on the best way(s) to coupon as well as sites from which you can print online coupons. You should take advantage of these sites.

·         Sites for general advice. There are hundreds, possibly thousands, of websites that will help you become a better couponer. Review as many as you can. If you only pick up one nugget of information from each one, you will be a better couponer for it. Some sites are better at conveying information than other sites. Some sites have better information. Find several you really enjoy and refer to them often. Not only will these sites educate you, they will also offer you  encouragement and motivation.

·         Sites for specific store coupon information. There are many sites that take all the guess work out of using your coupons to their fullest advantage. These sites review the advertised (and sometimes the unadvertised) sales prices at specific stores and tell you if there are store or manufacturer’s coupons that can be used on those products. If you are store loyal, these types of sites are a must to use. Find the ones for your favorite store and use them weekly.

·         FREE Online printable coupon sites. There are several sites on the internet where you can search for and print out free coupons for specific products. Many of these sites have manufacturer’s coupons exclusive to that particular website.  Several of these sites are coupons.com, smartsource.com and redplum.com. If the site is truly free to use, you should bookmark it and use it regularly.

STOCKPILE.  As discussed above, the best way to save money using your coupons is to combine a coupon (or coupons) with a sales price. When you find an item on sale at its lowest price (again use the  websites that do this research for you) you will want to buy as many of that product as you need to last you until the product hits its lowest price again (products usually hit their lowest price once every 12 weeks for most stores). There is little in the world of couponing that is more encouraging than looking at the groceries you have stockpiled knowing you bought the product at 70% to 100% off. (Yes, you can get many items for free if you combine a coupon with the products lowest sales price).

PLAN MENUS AROUND SALES. If you plan your menus around the items that are on sale, you will realize a much greater reduction in your food budget than if you plan a menu and then look for coupons or sales. Again, more savings equals greater satisfaction which equals a greater likelihood that couponing will move from chore to way of life.

DON’T GET DISCOURAGED. Give it time. Becoming a successful couponer takes time for most people. Don’t let the unrealistic expectations created by Extreme Couponing get you discouraged. Within a month or so, you should be seeing your grocery bills cut by 30% to 50%. After you have established your routine, and begun building your grocery stockpile, you should easily see savings of 50% to 65%.