You will need Coupons…and lots of them..... well sounds obvious, but where do you get them?
- The Sunday paper! This is your first and main source for grabbing lots of wonderful manufacture coupons. In addition to the manufacture coupons often local stores will also run specials and/or coupons that will be printed within the pages.... so look completely cover to cover before you recycle (please recycle) those papers. You can often get specials too if you subscribe to home delivery. My local paper is the Tampa Tribune and Tampa Bay Times, and they run specials for home delivery as well as great deals for multiple Sunday subscriptions for us couponers! You could of course buy them at the gas station, the grocery or drug store, but you’ll pay more and you sometimes your coupon packets will differ from those of home delivery. My rule of thumb for number of papers needed is simple....buy at least two papers per person in your household. I live in sunny Florida (often referred to as the home of the true BOGO deal) but more on that later....... This two papers per person ratio works perfectly with BOGO deals which will allow you to maximize your savings on each deal. Each week (except some holiday weekends) there will be between one to four coupon inserts. I go the Sunday Coupon Preview to find out what coupons are expected in each week's inserts. This helps me a ton with my planning strategies for the coming week's deals.
- Friends, Family, and Neighbors, start asking all of your friends, family and neighbors for their coupon inserts.
- Public Places, I’ve found coupon inserts laying around inside coffee shops, doctor's office waiting rooms, library, hair salons and other places with waiting areas.. just keep your eyes peeled.
- Internet Printables, This is a great resource for fabulously free print them from home coupons Click Here For Free Printable Coupons Now and you can usually print at least two of the same coupon from each computer in your home.... so more computers equals more coupons! (Much more on this below.)
- Magazines, One of my favorite magazines, AllYou is always loaded with tons of coupons, and you can get a subscription for 12 months here on sale for $17.97 or here for $19.97, or you can buy it at your local Walmart (I also recommend buying these in groups of two for those BOGO deals!)
- Ebay/Craigs List, Many great coupons can also be purchased from online providers via Ebay, Craig's List, Ect... There is some questionability to this practice, and I am not going to pretend to know all the legalities of it, however, I just wanted to list it here in all fairness as one avenue many do get coupons from.
- Coupon Clipping Services, Again, another fabulous avenue for using your computer to get what you need... I have used a few different clipping services and have one that is quickly becoming my favorite, Coupon Things by Dede . She ships fast, has a great assortment and you don’t need to spend $$$ to get a good assortment. When I was starting out in couponing I used her to build my coupon pile. She also gives you credits for using her site which = free coupons! She is based in Texas. However, in all fairness again, I have to also say I enjoy the Coupon Clippers too and they are a local company for me as I live in Florida, which also makes them a super fast shipper for me, which is really important for those last minute "I GOT TO HAVE IT BY ......" coupons!
In summary , these are places to look for coupons...- * Newspaper Inserts
- * Internet printables - you can print directly from this site * You WILL need a printer (it doesn't need to print in color either)
- * Facebook - I recommend setting up a fresh "just for couponing" Facebook account/page because most companies are not only represented on Facebook but also release many offers and coupons via their account. You simply have to like their pages and you get access to all these offers… my reason for a fresh "couponing" account is you may want a nice clean account because not all your friends want to see all the pages you like, and to like most sites requires that they have access to your friend's list.. so new account, no friends = no spam
- * Booklets found inside stores - Publix, Winn Dixie, Target, Sweeybay, ect.... if you don't see them ask at customer service.. they have to keep them under control to stop the coupon swipers from grabbing them all in one shot.....
- * Peelies - Coupons found on products
- * Blinkies...... little black boxes found in stores that blink and spit out coupons.
- * Magazines - Look inside every magazine you read for hidden coupons..... again, All You is my favorite!
- * Tear pads with coupons – grocery stores, drug stores & gas stations
- * Direct from the manufacture: Email manufacturers and ASK for coupons and look inside your products you buy.... THAT MEANS LOOK INSIDE EVERY SINGLE THING YOU BUY AS SOON AS YOU PURCHASE IT..... I can't tell you how many times I have almost thrown away a coupon printed inside a cereal or fruit snack box and that's not the only odd place I have found them.... even inside my dog's huge food bag too...... The other issue is not finding them before they expire.... with my purchasing strategies, I target BOGO deals.... and many of the products I purchase BOGO with my "on hand coupons" also have great coupons hidden either inside or stuck on (peelies), these extra coupons allow me to purchase many more than I had originally planned - because - MORE coupons EQUALS more deals!
- * Hang tags / Product topper tags – found on the neck of products usually bottles or jars.
- * Again, and I will mention this again as it is a great source for free coupons.......... Look out for coupons on and inside the products that you purchase – recently coffee bags had free coupons for cookies… who doesn’t like a cookie with their coffee..especially when it’s free!
- * Sign up for regular email alerts and specials from your favorite manufactures and stores: P&G, Kellogg's, Kraft.... (manufactures) Publix, Albertsons, Target, Winn Dixie, (Grocers) just to name a few.......
- * Be creative...... and email me any other great avenues you may come across for free coupons I have missed or forgotten about.
- ORGANIZATION
- There are many variations to storing and organizing your coupons, however, I am going to focus on the two that I have found work best for me.... and I have tried them all!
- First The File Box/No Clip Method:
- This method involves utilizing letter sized plastic hanging file boxes (I found mine at Walmart for $5 on sale) and several hanging letter sized folders (dated by week - Sunday's date). Each Sunday after you have gone thru all your papers and pulled the inserts, you simple file them as whole inserts (not cut) by date into their sleeve (I use 2 files per week - 1 for SS, 1 for RP and any others that may be included - I do this because many times the SS wont fit in the files neatly and end up falling creating a huge mess.) Then when you are planning your shopping trips, you simply go to any of the couponing websites scattered throughout the web including this one, and we all tell you where the various coupons are located - for example: Ragu Pasta Sauce, $1/1 expires 11/12/11 (RP 9/18/11) Which means: Ragu Pasta coupon for $1 off 1 item, which expires 11/12/11 is located in the Red Plum Insert dated Week 9/18/2011. So you pull out your box, the inserts from the week and clip away, refiling the unused pages back and add this stack to your coupon purse to take to the store with you! Simple, clean and requires very little time as compared to the old way of clipping and filing each coupon each week! Basically, this means you clip a coupon as you need it!)
- Second, The Binder Method:
- This method involves clipping all the coupons from the inserts and filing those and the other loose extra coupons you find along the way in a binder, preferably a large one that zips closed, filled with clear plastic baseball organizing pages - I picked these up at Walmart for around $6. I have my pages separated with section dividers, labeling by food types: frozen, fruit/veggies, meats, health and beauty, ect..... This method does take a lot more time to get organized and you need often multiple binders if you buy alot of papers, which is why I employ a mixture of the two methods in my organizing scheme!
- Both systems have their advantages and disadvantages, which is another reason why I use what I believe to be a mixture of all the best from both of them. For example the file box method is a great time saver over all, however, you often miss out on many spur of the moment deals due to not having a working supply of coupons with you when you are out in stores and run into clearance or unadvertised specials. Yet, the Binder method will allow for these unplanned purchases and makes it super easy to see when coupons are expired and need to be purged. However, one of the biggest downsides I have found because I purchase between 10 and 20 papers a week, as you can imagine it would take me days to do all that clipping and filing and would need shelves of binders. I wouldn't have time to shop!
- This is a brief layout of what works for me:
- How I Store:
- In my file boxes I keep several weeks worth of inserts, only purging inserts that I have confirmed have no active coupons. Once in a while if I feel real ambitious I will pick an older week and pull out the pages with expired coupons just to loose up my files a bit..... but that doesn't happen often! I have two folders for each week, color coded which helps with visual location when I am hunting inserts. I keep SS inserts in Red, and all others: P&G Red Plumb, ect.. in blue. I also have a special folder just for rebate forms and receipts that I keep in the very front of the box - this has helped me with keeping up with my rebates! I usually review it once a week when I am filing my new inserts.
- In my binder I keep 30 plus baseball organizing pages and dividers labeled by food types as mentioned above, I then keep these pages secured by using a zipping trapper keeper style folder, which is also very nifty because it has zipping pockets in the front and lots of storage for my calculator, scissors, ect..... I usually check and pull expired coupons at the end of every month and as I come across them of course.
- How I file:
- Sunday Newspaper Inserts: I scan each insert for products my family needs and/or that I know are on an upcoming shopping trip that week, I then go and pull all those pages out and group them, cut them, clip them together and file them away in my binder for quick access. I then file the rest of the insert pages back into that week's file.
- My misc. store coupons, printable coupons, ect.... I come across daily, I cut and file these immediately into my binder, which I carry with me always in my car for those special deals I bump into!
- How I Shop:
- To prepare for my shopping trips, I scan the sale ads, check online forums, and websites for deals I missed. I make my list, focusing first on any money maker items I can use to offset the cost on my needs, once I have this figured out I then scan my binder to see which coupons I have clipped pulling those needed, making a note of how many I have attaching them by paper clip to my shopping list. Next, I pull any additional coupons I need from my file boxes doing the same as above. My final step is to do a quick search on a coupon data base to make sure there aren't coupons I didn't know about or missed.... I then list everything into a spreadsheet I created to verify my numbers, ect... and finally, once these steps are done, I pack my list and coupons into my shopping trip wallet and set out to the stores!
- My shopping trip wallet is basically a sectioned plastic wallet styled envelope that I use to keep all my coupons handy during my shopping trips. I prepare this wallet prior to each trip in this manner: I use a separate section for each store I plan to visit in that trip. In each store section I have a copy of my shopping list that outlines my strategy including product details, how many deals and coupons I will need and the approximate amount I will spend out of pocket (OOP.) I attach to this list the related coupons in order as they appear on my list. Then as I shop, I go down my list and as I find the products, I check them off, pull my coupons from the list and file them into the front of the pocket for easy pulling to present to the cashier (no fumbling around to find coupons.) I place the products in my buggy front to back also this makes it super easy to pull the coupons and present them to the cashier in order.
- When I am using an additional money off coupon (example: $5 of purchase of $25 or more) I try to make my trips smaller to avoid confusion and maximize my savings as it is easier to control a small concise set of items rather then a huge jumbled up buggy full of goodies. However, if the store isn't particular about how many coupons you use nor do they require you to break up your orders, I don't worry so much about the size of my orders as I don't need to. I just keep my coupons in order based on placement onto the checkout table. I do wait until the end to present them thou so I know exactly how much my order reached thus how many additional money off coupons I am entitled to use........ this way there isn't much to mess up! This is what make Publix my favorite place to coupon shop so far! Thanks Publix! (No, they didn't pay me to say that either.... LOL!)
- Now shopping at Walgreens is a whole different story - a great story - but those I will explain later..... that is what I would consider a more advanced skilled shopping adventure that I feel is better explained once you have been couponing for a few months first! Don't get me wrong, there are super deals to be had at Walgreens, wonderfully helpful employees (especially the makeup checkout counter) and you can really rake in some awesome goodies for free! However, they have some very unique very strict strategic rules you will need to learn to utilize to the best advantage or you can end up missing out on alot of savings and actually spend alot more then you should have. Which is were I will leave this until later! I am working on a section to add to my blog that will outline each stores unique system, detailing tips and tricks that work best to maximize your savings! Keep checking back under the Pages Tabs at the top of my blog!
- I hope this helps unravel some of the mystery of couponing, it by no means explains all of the concepts but it is a great overview to get you started! For more information see my upcoming advanced skills section.
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