Monday, January 9, 2012

Couponing 101

I have been couponing for about 6 months. I have saved around $500. It has been well worth. I get such a great feeling when I get a good deal on something. Here are a few tips and tricks I have found.
1. You can get a lot of good coupons online. You can also print in black and white. I print at least once a week. be careful for scams though. Here are some trusted sites to used.
COUPONS.COM
SMARTSOURCE.COM
PRINTABLECOUPONSPOT.COM
COUPONNETWORK.COM
COOLSAVINGS.COM
REDPLUM.COM
HYVEE.COM
KMART.COM
TARGET.COM
WALGREENS.COM
ALLYOU.COM ( plus the magazine is available at walmart and has tons of coupons in it)
WALMART.COM
EBAY.COM (you can print or buy)
SWAGBUCKS.COM
DOLLARGENERAL.COM

2. Follow Blogs. Search out coupon blogs. especial for your area and your stores. my favorite blog is http://thekrazycouponlady.com/.
3. Buy or get multiple newspapers on Sunday. I buy a few and my mom gets me a few. I usually have about 7 copies.  This way when something go on sale and you have a coupon you can stock up on it.

4. STOCKPILE!!! You don't have to be extreme like on Extreme Couponing. But if toothbrushes are a good buy stock up on them. Stock up on the items you family uses.

5. Organize your coupons. There are many ways to do this. I prefer the binder method. I have 2 3in 3 ring binders, and baseball card inserts. One binder is for food only and the other is for non food. I divide my binder into sections. For example: Dairy, Frozen, produce, snack and breakfast. You can do it however works best for you. I go through my binder every few weeks to looks for coupons that are about to expire or have expired. it takes some time at first to set it up but once you get your binder set up you don't have much work after that.

5. I got this great clipping tip from a few people. When clipping multiple coupons sort each insert so you have all the like pages together. Then staple the coupons and clip all at once. that way you clip 7 copies of one coupon at once instead of several times. It will save you time and effort.

7.Print copies of your local stores coupon policies. Learn them. Keep them in your binder. You would be surprised how many store employees don't know there coupon policies. Leave me a comment if you have a question about a specific store.

8. look at your coupons carefully. some exclude certain sizes, or have a limit as to how many you can buy in one trip. A coupon may say one per purchase. This is not the same thing as transaction,  this means one coupon per item purchased.

9. Always buy the smallest size you can get. It is smarter to buy 10 of something for free than to pay $3 for a big one. Most of the time the price per unit is going to be cheaper if you buy the small one over the big one using coupons. You can stack coupons which means you can use a store coupon and a manufacturer coupon together.

10. Price match.  A lot of stores do it. The main one I do it at is walmart. Check your coupon policy to see if your store price matches. It is always good to have your weekly ads with you when price matching.

11. Like your favorite brands on facebook. the offer coupons a lot of times, sigh up for mailing lists or directly email or write a company telling them you are interested in their product. A lot of time then will send you coupons.

This should get you started. If you have any questions about any of this please feel free to contact me. katiandresen14@gmail.com 

1 comment:

  1. Very helpful Kati thanks for taking the time to do this. I am amazed!!!
    Tasha Lester

    ReplyDelete