Lesson 1 - Where to Find Coupons
When starting to coupon there are two main things you need to do. The first is to find coupons and the second is to figure out how to use them to get the most for your money.
The most common source of coupons is your own Sunday newspaper. Each week (excluding holiday weekends) most major newspapers will have 1 to 3 coupon inserts included. Get these! You can also ask your friends and family to save their coupons for you. If you really want to get serious about collecting extra coupon inserts, you can visit local coffee shops on Sunday to find them from discarded papers, ask your local gas station or deli if they can give you the inserts from their unsold papers at the end of the day, check your local newspaper recycling, etc. etc. Get creative and there are lots of ways to find extra papers. If you need extra of any particular coupon from the Sunday paper, you can get them individually from coupon services such as CouponDede.com where you pay a small service fee for each coupon to be sent to you.
You can also print many coupons online. There are specific sites dedicated to printable coupons such as Coupons.com and Red Plum. You can get coupons for natural and organic foods from Mambo Sprouts. Besides these coupon sites many companies often post coupons on their own web sites and on Facebook. They are often available only for a limited time, so when you see a good coupon PRINT IT because it may not be around for long.
Unfortunately, you can end up using a lot of paper and ink printing coupons. To minimize these costs, buy the cheapest printer paper you can. You can often get paper at the large office supply stores for free or nearly free with rebate deals. To minimize ink usage, set your printer to print in black and white (the only exception is if your store has a problem with black & white coupons, but for most locations it is just fine.) One last tip about internet coupons – at many coupon printing sites, after you print your coupon, hit the “back” button in your browser and you should be able to print the coupon a second time. If you have more than one computer in your house, you can print the coupon twice from EACH computer.
Besides these "main" sources of coupons, there are many secondary sources. They may come in the mail in magazines, flyers, or home mailers. If there are particular products that you use often, call the manufacturer or contact them through their web site and request coupons. Many are happen to send them to you and some may even surprise you with coupons for a FREE item. You can also find coupons at the grocery store itself - check the entrance area near the store flyers, ask at the service desk, keep your eyes open as you browse the aisles.
Lesson 2 - Know Your Coupon Basics & Your Local Store Policies
Let me start off by saying that the deals you can get and even how much they are worth can vary greatly by your geographic location and local stores. (You might ask…”How can that be possible? This coupon says ‘Save 75 cents’, so it’s worth 75 cents.” In theory you’re correct, but if you are lucky enough to live in an area with stores that double coupons your coupon may be worth $1.50.)
But before we get to local variations, there are a few things that apply pretty much across the board and let’s also clear up a few misconceptions. There are two types of coupons – store coupons and manufacturers' coupons. Manufacturers' coupons are the type of coupons that come in your Sunday newspaper inserts and that product manufacturers insert in magazines, send to you in the mail, offer through web sites like Coupons.com or on their own web sites, etc. Manufacturer’s coupons can be used at any store that accepts coupons. They will say MANUFACTURER’S COUPON at the top. Store coupons are coupons that you find in your local store’s weekly advertisement circular or on your store’s web site. These will say STORE COUPON at the top, or TARGET COUPON, etc. These can be used at the store that has issued them. In most cases you can use both a manufacturer’s coupon AND a store coupon on the same item.
Important things to note on all coupons are the expiration dates, restrictions as to sizes or varieties on which the coupon can be used, maximum product value for free item coupons, and “DO NOT DOUBLE” on coupons that cannot be doubled even if your local store offers double coupons.
One of the big misconceptions about coupons revolves around the “one coupon per item” message printed on many coupons. Some people take it to mean that if you have four coupons each for $1 off a particular brand of cereal you can only use one of those coupons per shopping trip. That is NOT the case. Each box of cereal you purchase is an ITEM, so for each ITEM you can use a coupon. Soooo….if you buy four boxes of cereal (four items) then you can use four $1 coupons.
Another misconception is that people think if you can print a coupon from the internet you can also make copies of them. NO you cannot do this! First of all it is coupon fraud, punishable by law, and also many coupons have built-in security features to guard against this. Don't even thing about trying it!
On to local coupon use. The best way to approach learning how to use coupons in YOUR area is to try to get a copy of the coupon policy for your local store. Ask at the customer service counter and they may have a copy to give you. If they don’t have one to give to you, they should at least have a printed copy that you can read at the counter. You can also check the store’s web site (*see links below for some store coupon policies). These are a few of the things that can change from store to store and you will want to know the specifics:
Lesson 3 - How to Organize Your Coupons
There are several schools of thought on the best ways to organize your coupons. The one thing that is agreed upon however is that you MUST organize your coupons. If you just have a bunch of cut coupons lying around in a pile you will never find what you need and you will never turn those little slips of paper into savings! I will go over some of the most popular methods of organization and then you have the decision of what is best for YOU.
One of the most standard and long-standing methods is the coupon box. This can be as small as a little card file box you buy from an office supply store all the way up to a large box specifically made for couponing. A coupon box like this is divided into categories by type of product, such as baby, pet, frozen, meat, pasta, produce, cleaning, paper products, etc. This method served me well for a long time. The drawbacks to the method is that it took a LOT of cutting and filing all the time.
Another very popular method of organization is the coupon binder method. In this method you use a big three-ring binder with clear baseball card pockets to organize your cut coupons. Like the coupon box, it is arranged by category, but it is different in that each particular coupon has its own pocket so they are easy to see as you are flipping through the book, which is one of the main benefits. The drawbacks to this method are that again it takes time and effort to clip and sort and your binder can get very big and heavy if you have a lot of coupons! However, it's technically portable so you can still take it to the store to find coupons as you need them. (But don't be surprised to have a lot of people asking you what IS that big thing you have in your cart.)
The third method is to save your complete Sunday coupon inserts and organize them by date. Take a black marker and write the date of each insert on the front as they are received. Then either just leave them in a big stack or else store them in a portable upright file box with hanging folders to divide them by dates. With this method, when you need a particular coupon you can use an online coupon database, such as the one at Hot Coupon World and type in the coupon you are looking for. The database will tell you which insert on which date has that coupon. This method works great if you find a lot of your deals online from bloggers. The deals will usually list the insert and date in which you can find a particular coupon so all you have to do is go to that insert and cut out what you need.
The biggest benefit of this method is that it is easy and you don't spend any time cutting coupons that you may not use in the future. It's also very easy to find coupons for a particular deal. That being said, the the main drawback to this organization method is that you can't take ALL of your coupons to the store with you and you might sometimes see an unadvertised sale and you won't have coupons for it.
So how will you organize YOUR coupons?
When starting to coupon there are two main things you need to do. The first is to find coupons and the second is to figure out how to use them to get the most for your money.
The most common source of coupons is your own Sunday newspaper. Each week (excluding holiday weekends) most major newspapers will have 1 to 3 coupon inserts included. Get these! You can also ask your friends and family to save their coupons for you. If you really want to get serious about collecting extra coupon inserts, you can visit local coffee shops on Sunday to find them from discarded papers, ask your local gas station or deli if they can give you the inserts from their unsold papers at the end of the day, check your local newspaper recycling, etc. etc. Get creative and there are lots of ways to find extra papers. If you need extra of any particular coupon from the Sunday paper, you can get them individually from coupon services such as CouponDede.com where you pay a small service fee for each coupon to be sent to you.
You can also print many coupons online. There are specific sites dedicated to printable coupons such as Coupons.com and Red Plum. You can get coupons for natural and organic foods from Mambo Sprouts. Besides these coupon sites many companies often post coupons on their own web sites and on Facebook. They are often available only for a limited time, so when you see a good coupon PRINT IT because it may not be around for long.
Unfortunately, you can end up using a lot of paper and ink printing coupons. To minimize these costs, buy the cheapest printer paper you can. You can often get paper at the large office supply stores for free or nearly free with rebate deals. To minimize ink usage, set your printer to print in black and white (the only exception is if your store has a problem with black & white coupons, but for most locations it is just fine.) One last tip about internet coupons – at many coupon printing sites, after you print your coupon, hit the “back” button in your browser and you should be able to print the coupon a second time. If you have more than one computer in your house, you can print the coupon twice from EACH computer.
Besides these "main" sources of coupons, there are many secondary sources. They may come in the mail in magazines, flyers, or home mailers. If there are particular products that you use often, call the manufacturer or contact them through their web site and request coupons. Many are happen to send them to you and some may even surprise you with coupons for a FREE item. You can also find coupons at the grocery store itself - check the entrance area near the store flyers, ask at the service desk, keep your eyes open as you browse the aisles.
Lesson 2 - Know Your Coupon Basics & Your Local Store Policies
Let me start off by saying that the deals you can get and even how much they are worth can vary greatly by your geographic location and local stores. (You might ask…”How can that be possible? This coupon says ‘Save 75 cents’, so it’s worth 75 cents.” In theory you’re correct, but if you are lucky enough to live in an area with stores that double coupons your coupon may be worth $1.50.)
But before we get to local variations, there are a few things that apply pretty much across the board and let’s also clear up a few misconceptions. There are two types of coupons – store coupons and manufacturers' coupons. Manufacturers' coupons are the type of coupons that come in your Sunday newspaper inserts and that product manufacturers insert in magazines, send to you in the mail, offer through web sites like Coupons.com or on their own web sites, etc. Manufacturer’s coupons can be used at any store that accepts coupons. They will say MANUFACTURER’S COUPON at the top. Store coupons are coupons that you find in your local store’s weekly advertisement circular or on your store’s web site. These will say STORE COUPON at the top, or TARGET COUPON, etc. These can be used at the store that has issued them. In most cases you can use both a manufacturer’s coupon AND a store coupon on the same item.
Important things to note on all coupons are the expiration dates, restrictions as to sizes or varieties on which the coupon can be used, maximum product value for free item coupons, and “DO NOT DOUBLE” on coupons that cannot be doubled even if your local store offers double coupons.
One of the big misconceptions about coupons revolves around the “one coupon per item” message printed on many coupons. Some people take it to mean that if you have four coupons each for $1 off a particular brand of cereal you can only use one of those coupons per shopping trip. That is NOT the case. Each box of cereal you purchase is an ITEM, so for each ITEM you can use a coupon. Soooo….if you buy four boxes of cereal (four items) then you can use four $1 coupons.
Another misconception is that people think if you can print a coupon from the internet you can also make copies of them. NO you cannot do this! First of all it is coupon fraud, punishable by law, and also many coupons have built-in security features to guard against this. Don't even thing about trying it!
On to local coupon use. The best way to approach learning how to use coupons in YOUR area is to try to get a copy of the coupon policy for your local store. Ask at the customer service counter and they may have a copy to give you. If they don’t have one to give to you, they should at least have a printed copy that you can read at the counter. You can also check the store’s web site (*see links below for some store coupon policies). These are a few of the things that can change from store to store and you will want to know the specifics:
- Are you limited in the total amount of coupons that you can use per shopping trip?
- Are you limited to how many of the same coupon you can use?
- Does the store double coupons? If so, is there a limit to the coupon amount (many stores will only double coupons with a value of $1 or less or $.99 or less). Is there a limit to how many coupons you can double?
- Does your store accept expired coupons? (This is rare, but in our area one of the major chains (Cub Foods) accepts coupons up to 3 months past the expiration date.)
- If the coupon value is higher than the cost of the item, is the remaining amount of the coupon applied to the rest of your order? (This is called overage. The most recent Walmart coupon policy allows for overage meaning if you buy a can of beans that costs $.65 cents and you have a coupon for $.75 off, that extra 10 cents gets applied to the rest of your order.)
- Does your store have any special restrictions regarding internet-printed coupons? (Some stores will not accept internet coupons for free items.)
- Are there any other special restrictions or bonuses regarding coupon use?
Lesson 3 - How to Organize Your Coupons
There are several schools of thought on the best ways to organize your coupons. The one thing that is agreed upon however is that you MUST organize your coupons. If you just have a bunch of cut coupons lying around in a pile you will never find what you need and you will never turn those little slips of paper into savings! I will go over some of the most popular methods of organization and then you have the decision of what is best for YOU.
One of the most standard and long-standing methods is the coupon box. This can be as small as a little card file box you buy from an office supply store all the way up to a large box specifically made for couponing. A coupon box like this is divided into categories by type of product, such as baby, pet, frozen, meat, pasta, produce, cleaning, paper products, etc. This method served me well for a long time. The drawbacks to the method is that it took a LOT of cutting and filing all the time.
Another very popular method of organization is the coupon binder method. In this method you use a big three-ring binder with clear baseball card pockets to organize your cut coupons. Like the coupon box, it is arranged by category, but it is different in that each particular coupon has its own pocket so they are easy to see as you are flipping through the book, which is one of the main benefits. The drawbacks to this method are that again it takes time and effort to clip and sort and your binder can get very big and heavy if you have a lot of coupons! However, it's technically portable so you can still take it to the store to find coupons as you need them. (But don't be surprised to have a lot of people asking you what IS that big thing you have in your cart.)
The third method is to save your complete Sunday coupon inserts and organize them by date. Take a black marker and write the date of each insert on the front as they are received. Then either just leave them in a big stack or else store them in a portable upright file box with hanging folders to divide them by dates. With this method, when you need a particular coupon you can use an online coupon database, such as the one at Hot Coupon World and type in the coupon you are looking for. The database will tell you which insert on which date has that coupon. This method works great if you find a lot of your deals online from bloggers. The deals will usually list the insert and date in which you can find a particular coupon so all you have to do is go to that insert and cut out what you need.
The biggest benefit of this method is that it is easy and you don't spend any time cutting coupons that you may not use in the future. It's also very easy to find coupons for a particular deal. That being said, the the main drawback to this organization method is that you can't take ALL of your coupons to the store with you and you might sometimes see an unadvertised sale and you won't have coupons for it.
So how will you organize YOUR coupons?