Using Coupons - Best Deals

• Be flexible regarding brands. 

• Collect at least 5 coupons of each for stockpiling when items are at their rock bottom price.

• Wait for sales, don't use them just because you have one.  Be patient, save the coupons because about 2 to 6 weeks after the coupon comes out, the product usually goes on sale and that is when you want to buy for greater savings.

• B1G1- Buy one get one free.  You can use two coupons, one for each product even though they are the same and one is free.  When you use manufacturers coupons with this deal you end up with free or nearly free items.  This is by far your best deal.

• Learn to stack coupons.  This is using a store coupon in their ad along with a manufacturer's coupon on the same product.   This also may end up being free or nearly free.  Another great deal. 

• Don't bulk buy.  Purchase instead the smaller size product to get the best savings from your coupon.  This includes trial size unless the coupon specifically states not for trial sizes.

• Products that have rebates used in conjunction with a manufacturers coupon may end up being free or nearly free in the long run.

• Shop at stores that double coupon values or willing to match other store ads.  Bring your ads with you and you may be able to do all your shopping at one store, thus saving you time and gas.

• At CVS and Walgreens, purchase  items that give you Extra Care Bucks or Registrar Rewards.  You may even do this on items you wouldn't normally purchase because in the end the product you get is free and you have free money towards your next purchase.  The items you don't use or want can either be used to make gift baskets for holidays/birthdays or Donate.  Think of the savings you will have with the gift baskets.  

• Give coupons to the clerk in the correct order to maximize your savings.  Store coupons that are like $2 off on $20 should be presented first, then the store coupons printed in their ads and finally the manufacturers coupons.  

• If the product is unavailable, ask for Rain Checks for the maximum number.  You can always buy less later if you choose.  

Learn to plan your menus around the foods you are able to buy that week.  Use sites like recipematcher.com that show you recipes to cook according to the items you have on hand.  During the weekend, take an inventory of ingredients in the home and add them to My ePantry.  Next, check out different recipes by cuisine or look at all recipes at once by selecting "All Cuisines".  Select the recipes that sound the best and also have a short list of ingredients I will need to buy. I will need to select 5 recipes for the week (Mon - Fri).  Add your selected recipes to "My Favorites" for future reference.  When cooking, keep in mind that the leftovers from the night before will be your lunch, so make sure you make enough of each recipe.  Another good site for this is supercook.com.  Try both to see which would be your favorite.

Be patient for it will take awhile for you to get an inventory of products together and then you will begin to see the savings.  If you are persistent you will eventually have the stockpile and the savings will  then finally be evident.   It may take two to three months see big differences.

Finding Coupon Sources

Now that I have the binder together, I need coupons.

Coupon Sources:

• Newspapers of course.  There should be coupon inserts Red Plum, Smart Source and Proctor & Gamble usually has an insert about once a month. You should purchase about 4 papers and you can get these cheaper at either Walmart or Dollar Tree 
• Store Ads - Many stores offer coupons in the sales ads (These coupons can be combined with a manufacturer coupon for an even greater savings)
• Magazines (e.g. All You, Family Circle, Good Housekeeping...etc.)  (They run specials on these magazines or you could just check them at your local doctors office..etc.)
• Internet - Websites such as Coupons.com, Redplum.com and Smartsource.com.  Do a search there are many more.
• Home Mailers - ValuPak or Coolsavings.  If you don't already receive these, you can go online and sign up.
• Manufacturer's Websites - Sign up on their websites, send emails, and give feedback on products and they will send coupons
• In Store - There are blinkies (blinking machines attached to shelves), catalinas (print outs that either accompany the receipt or printed on the back), peelies (coupons that peel off the product), tearpads (coupons located on pads usually on or near shelves) and inserts or cut outs on packages available.  Also stores like CVS and Walgreens have coupon books located near the front door.
• Friends & Family - ask your friends to save their newspaper inserts, magazines or mailers for you
• Loyalty Cards - Sign up for all the loyalty or savings card that the stores offer.  There is also electronic coupons; savings cards that are loaded with ecoupons from shortcuts.com or cellfire.com
• Ebay - buy hundreds of  coupons just for the minimal price of shipping and handling
• Clipping Service - Purchase multiples of same coupons for the minimal price of shipping and handling (e.g. thecouponclippers.com)
• Trade Coupons - with others at mycoupons.com, refundcents.com, fullcup.com, hotcouponworld.com
• Cell Phones - get coupons direct to your phone with cellfire.com
• Facebook - become a fan of your favorite products and receive valuable coupons
• Freebies - sign up for freebies, a coupon for full size product will usually accompany the freebie (google for freebies and take advantage of any magazine, internet or in store opportunity)
• Yahoo - do a search in groups:  there are many groups dedicated to couponing, join and obtain valuable advice and coupons
• Blogs - again there are lots and lots of people who blog about couponing....there is a wealth of information to help guide you and they usually have coupons on their blogs too.
• Google - do a search for coupons

Its a weekly commitment I know, but think about all the money we are saving by investing 2 to 4 hours a week.   There are more sources than just the newspaper and I bet you did not realize.  You save by the quantity of coupons you have, buying on sale and learning to stack coupons.  There really is a method to this madness.  I am sure you have thought about coupons before and just gave up the idea because you did not think there was really a savings.  You were wrong...because you did not have the education to know where to find them or how to use them correctly.  Using them correctly will be in my next blog.

Coupons.com
Smart Source 
Red Plum 
P&G eSaver
Mambo Sprouts
Betty Crocker
Box Tops For Education
Eat Better America

Pillsbury
Target

Coupon Binder - Getting Organized

Feeling a bit overwhelmed by all the knowledge available for this little brain to absorb.  I will have to spoon feed myself slowly for any of it to stick or I will lose total interest.  So, I have decided to sit down and make an outline of the things I think I need to learn and I will readjust this outline as I find out more information.  Something tells me that there will be alot of rewriting.  A starting point must be determined and some sort of   plan of action prepared. 

Step 1 - Coupons   I have spent the last few days reading articles and viewing you tube in order to learn how to put together my coupon notebook.  In order to be successful, I must be organized and this notebook should do the trick.  It will be much easier to locate the coupons I need during checkout at the store.

I made a trip to Walmart to purchase a binder that zipped closed to contain all my coupons.  I found this one for about $15.  Also purchased, 4 packages of sheet protectors (2 pkgs of the baseball card w/9 pockets, 1 package w/3 pockets and 1 pkg full page), 2 sets of dividers with pockets and a zippered bag.  I already had pens, pencils, notepads, scissors and a marking pen.    I think all of it totaled was just slightly over $20 with tax.

Zippered Pockets on left great for pens, notepads, scissors, etc.

Large Pockets great for storing store sales ads.

Grocery list to help make good use of my time.

The dividers have pockets, store clipped unfiled coupons.

Plastic baseball card protectors to store coupons.

I bought two sets of dividers.  1st set is labeled:

Dairy
Meats
Produce
Frozen
Boxed (or Packaged)
Canned (or Jars)
Paper
Baked

Second set of dividers are labeled:

Cleaning
Health
Beauty
Home
Clothing
Pets
Baby
Dinning

Large full page sheet protectors for larger coupons.

Note the key ring with the store cards.

Now that the binder is complete, time to get those coupons clipped and filed away.  Please feel free to send comments and ideas on how to improve the binder.  Its always a work in progress.