Welcome to the world of couponing. This is where it all begins. This is the area where you learn to turn little slips of paper known as coupons into savings. Please be forewarned that this process will change how you view shopping!
Traditionally, once a week or two weeks you sit down and make a list of your needs and a couple of wants and head to the grocery store. If you have a coupon for an item you need you buy it; if you have a coupon and the items on sale even better. Now, for a moment, I ask you to think about not having to buy the same items over and over every month at full price, but buying only items you need because they are at the lowest prices possible. If this appeals to you let’s get started.
Every store (most major chains anyway) have weekly sales. These sales are printed and inserted into Sunday newspapers. These sales advertisements can also be called ads or flyers. Grocery store sales usually start on a Tuesday or Wednesday and end on the following week. ( i.e Sales starts Tuesday February 1st and end Monday February 7th.) Drug stores run a different sales pattern starting their sales on a Sunday and ending them the next Saturday. In addition to these weekly flyers stores follow a general sales cycle that runs every six to eight weeks depending on the store. What does this mean to you? Simple, it means that store will sell all there items at rock bottom prices at least once during this time period. When the item is at this lowest price it is your goal to buy enough of this item to last until the next time it is on sale or six weeks. This way you are not buying it at full retail before the next sales cycle. This is the beauty of couponing: controlling how much you pay for items instead of the store telling you how much to pay.
Collecting coupons is easy. If you are not sure how please read the Coupon Info blog for more on collecting coupons. The hard part is putting them to the best use.
The first step in collecting coupons is obtaining a newspaper subscription. Call your local newspaper and ask what coupon inserts they carry and on what days of the week. Most newspapers carry inserts on Saturday and/or Sunday, but occasionally they may be in a mid week edition of the paper.
There are three major inserts: RedPlum (RP), Smart Source(SS) and the P&G Saver(PG). The RedPlum and Smart Source are given almost every week and the P&G Saver is monthly.
You will want to subscribe to at least 4 Sunday papers a week. Be aggressive and tenacious you want to make sure you get the lowest price possible for your papers. In my area a Sunday paper is $ 1.50. I feel I should pay .75 or less per paper since I’m ordering 4. Let that be a guideline for you. Initially, I know that four papers seems like a lot, but it really isn’t. You will need this many sets of coupons so you can stockpile when items are cheap or even better free.
If you happen to live in a very rural area where coupon selections may be poor or non-existent you have some options. You can order coupons from a clipping service such as Coupons by DeDe, Collectable Coupons or The Coupon Clippers. Please remember that coupons cannot be bought or sold you are paying for the person to collect and clip them.
You can also print coupons on your home printer. These coupons are called internet coupons (IP). An internet coupon can only be printed twice per internet protocol address. If you want to print more than the allotted two you will have to switch to another pc. The best sources for internet coupons are Coupons.com, Redplum and Smartsource. Be wary of sites that claim to have free coupons for you to print most of these sites are not legitimate and have fake coupons.
Coupons are everywhere if you pay attention. There are other types of coupons besides manufacturer coupons (MQ) and internet coupons (IP) there are blinkies, peelies and store coupons.
- Blinkies- are coupons in coupon holders inside stores near shelf items. The boxes usually have s small blinking light to help you notice them; thus the name blinkies.
- Peelies- are coupons on the packing of a product. These coupons can be peeled off and used later or immediately on a purchase.
- Store coupons- store coupons are either attached to a store flyer or inside the store in a catalog or booklet when you enter the store. These coupons also have print restricting their use to the store who issued them. The best thing about store coupons is they can be stacked with manufacturer coupons. Stacking is using a store coupon and manufacturer coupon together to maximize savings.
There are two primary organization methods: The binder method and no cut method. I will list the pros and cons for each method.
Binder method- I am a binder girl. I feel it works best for me because I like seeing everything in front of me and I also have all of my coupons at my fingertips. Everyone has a different method that works best for them.
Pros
- · all coupons at your fingertips
- · having coupons available for unadvertised sales
Cons
- takes more time to initially setup all the categories and file the coupons
- time investment to clip and file week’s coupons and clean out expired coupons
- little bit of an investment to get the binder setup
- can be heavy and cumbersome to carry (especially for moms with young children)
Pros
- less time spent organizing and cutting
- always having all the coupons from every insert available
Cons
- spending extra time before going to store to find coupons and clipping them
- missing unadvertised sales and clearances because your coupons will not be on hand
Now that you have your coupons, you have them organized it’s now time to visit Alabama Coupon Diva and look at the great deals and specials to use your coupons most effectively. I can’t wait to hear about your great savings.
