The first key is getting your subscription to the local paper at least every Sunday. In our Sunday papers come the Smartsource, Redplum and occasional General Mills coupon inserts. We also receive a Proctor & Gamble coupon insert 14 times per year.
If you are a savvy couponer then you will be purchasing more than one of your paper. The rule of thumb is one per person in your household. After 5, you are probably good or if you really want to get extreme, you can do up to 10 inserts but you'd have to be a diligent couponer in order to utilitze that many!
Printable coupons are a GREAT resource, here are a few: coupons.com, couponnetwork.com, smartsource.com and redplum.com - sounds like the inserts, true they are a smiliar and sometimes the same, but it is better to have access to both the inserts alongside these printable coupons.
There are loadable coupons too, here are a few sites for these: cellfire.com, shortcuts.com and krogerecoupons. Manufacturers also produced coupons on their own websites and facebook pages. The best way is to subscribe to this blog, we will keep you up to date, when you need to print and when you should use these coupons. This will save you a ton of time!!!
All You Magazine is the best magazine for coupons. It is only sold on the newsstand at Walmart, so I suggest a subscription, go here.
A few other companies have their own programs such as: P&G brandsaver has coupons here and Right @ Home does the same here.
Be on the watch for: peelies on the product, hangtags under the product, and blinkies machines that blink throughout the store while you are shopping.
Of course some companies will print coupons in their ads as well. Others even produce full coupon booklets; books found in the store that contain coupons. One great example is Vons (Safeway) will publish at least one book quarterly that is full of manufacturer and store coupons too.
Tip:
Now, do not think that because there is a coupon for $1 off of 2 frozen meals that it is a good deal. Most of the time those meals are $7-$9 and buying two well then you have really wasted some money on something you don't even know if you will like. So, don't jump on it if you are unsure. There is also a right time to play your coupons. This is essential to being successful alongside stockpiling at these rock bottom prices. How do you know, check out the matchups. We will let you know if what is hot and great for stockpiling. Each grocery/drug store matchup will contain all coupons found against the sales in the ad. That doesn't mean they are all a good buy. So, check out a matchup to see what that is like by going into weekly advertisements and select a store. Using a coupon is better than not. For need based items, try a low price leader store, such as Walmart or Target, they will be your best bet when an item is not advertised at a higher end store.
Different Types of Coupons:
There are 2 different types of coupons: a coupon is either a manufacturer coupon or a store coupon. Meaning that the manufacturer of the product is sending out the coupons and will reimburse the store where it was used or the store will take an adjustment to the price of the item. One tip is that most stores will take one of each per item. This is called stacking. We tend to see this at Vons, Walgreens and Target. Stacking 2 incentives can be very profitable!
Organizing Your Coupons:
Being organized with your coupons is key. It is hard enough if you are a mom shopping with your kids in the first place. If you are not a mom shopping with kids or like me, I try and never take them....being focused on a list will help you buy items that may not be cost effective to purchase at the time and you are more likely to go over budget. Having a plan is the best way to save.
My preferred method is to keep a binder of all your coupons by category. We do not clip them all or most - just store the extras and file the whole inserts by date in a filing crate. I recommend the MyCityMommy Binder, you can order it here. Keep in mind though that our matchups point to the week of that the insert is in, you will not need this part of the matchup, you will just comb through your binder to the category.
Here are some abreviations in the matchups that we use. I use SS for Smart Source, GM for General Mills, PG for Proctor and Gamble, K for Kelloggs, and detail any printable match ups in the advertisements. I will list the matching coupons to the sales advertisements by writing, (1/25, RP) this means the coupon is in the Red Plum insert on January 25th.
Now that you have a stockpile of coupons it's time to match them up to the sales ad's. Each week it seems as if the same coupons come around so you should have at least 3 coupons for dish washing liquid when it finally goes on sale for .99. Being aware of the sales is really key to making all of this work. If you just go to the store with your coupons and no sale is going on then the Palmolive you just bought for 2.85 with the .25 coupon didn't really help matters. You have to watch for the sales. Again, that is where the groupings in my matchup will help you, I utilize the price points and since this is my job, I can tell right away if it is hot or not. You will benefit from this without having to keep your own log, but you could if you wanted to. I wish there was a straight up percent, but 25% off on milk is not the same as 25% off cereal. Also deals come in cycles, 12 week ones mostly, that doesn't mean the deal will be the same, it just means that they coupon popularity will be back and that many stores will have a deal.
Last but not least is creating a stockpile of items so you don't have to purchase out of necessity. This means your non-perishables, toiletries, etc. pick them up when they are on sale and don't just purchase one purchase as many as you have coupons for. If you just get one then the previous purchase that cost $1 may cost you $4 next time even with your coupon. This impacts your budget monthly and not just one time.
That is just the beginning - please subscribe to the blog for more tips, tricks and how-to's!
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