I decided to start doing some posts on how to get started using coupons! After much talk to with some friends lately, I realized that there are a lot of people who just don't understand how coupons work and how much money they can really save you! So, lets start with the basics:
What are coupons?
I think most people think of coupons as discounts, which they are, but they are so much more than that. Coupons are a form of tender. They are just like cash to a store, actually they're better than cash to a store (no matter what the cashiers want you to think). The reason I say this is because when a store takes a manufacturer's coupon for an item that you are purchasing, they not only get reimbursed the face value of that coupon, but they also get reimbursed a handling fee for that coupon. The handling fee is usually around $0.08. However, stores do not mail out these coupons individually. They mail them out at the end of the month in bulk, so they pay way less than $0.08 per coupon to mail, but they still get reimbursed that money. So, companies actually make money off coupons, and you are getting a great price on an item, and the manufacturers are getting you to try their products. It makes for a win-win-win situation!
I know that when I first starting using coupons, I felt guilty about getting such great deals. Like, I was hurting the store that took the coupons. It took me a while to understand that coupons actually benefit the stores that accept them. So, when you walk out of a store with all of your free, or cheap items, you don't have to feel like you've done something wrong. The stores would not accept coupons if they were not making money off of them, trust me!
I hope I didn't confuse anybody!
Ok, now that that's out of the way, let's talk about where to get coupons! Coupons are everywhere!
The Sunday newspaper is a must for anybody getting started into couponing. It is full of great coupons! The best way to be able to stock up on items when they are a great price is by having multiples of the same coupons. This means that you may want to purchase more than one newspaper each week. I can't recommend a number on how many papers people should buy at a time, I usually buy 4 or 5 depending on what coupons are available that week. Which brings me to another great tip! You can look online here in advance to see what coupons are coming out in the next sunday paper, that way you can better judge how many papers you want to purchase.
Another great way to get coupons is to print them offline. There are several sites you can do this from. Here are some of my favorites
Coupons.com
Redplum.com
Smartsource.com
If you want to find a coupon for a specific item, try going to the manufacturer's website directly. Companies often put printable coupons for their products on their websites.
You can also print store coupons (coupons to be used at specific stores) from those store websites. Target posts prinitable store coupons on their webpage, and Foodlion posts weekly store coupons to their website as well!
Check your receipts! At various stores, coupons will print at the end of your receipt! CVS, and Target do this to name a couple. Also, some stores have machines that print out coupons based on the items you buy. These are called catalinas and the cashier's will usually hand them to you with your receipt. Don't disregard these, they can be great coupons.
While your in a store, keep your eyes out for coupons everywhere! There are often tearpads with coupons that you can rip off and use, these are typically located with the item that the coupon is good for. There are also smart source "blinkie" machine's in most grocery stores. These machine's are also often located with the item that they are for.
Also, a lot of manufactures attach coupons directly on a product, these are called "peelies" and can be used on that product at the time of purchase.
You can also find coupons in various magazines. And you can get coupons in the mail, by signing up for them online, I will try to post links to these whenever they are available.
So, now that you know where to get coupons, stay tuned for part 2 and I will try to teach you how to use them to maxamize your savings!
Thanks for reading!
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