Let’s Get This Party Started…

Okay, this is my first official post, so we are going to get this party started with the basics.

Everyone has to shop, in particular for grocery items.  I find grocery shopping to be both one of the most expensive and unrewarding ways to spend money– a necessary evil, to be sure. But I want to talk about how to save a little money when you do go grocery shopping.  My primary weapon of choice?  Coupons. In particular, I want to talk about some various ways to get coupons on your favorite products, and focus on one in particular.

Ways to get coupons:

• Local newspaper
• Magazines
• Requesting coupons directly from companies/ manufacturer mailing lists
• Coupon & sample companies
• Online coupon websites

Now, most of us are probably familiar with opening the newspaper, and there are sales papers and coupon booklets.  Many companies continue to put their coupons in newspapers, and will even notify you when their coupons will be featured in upcoming booklets.  The good news: you can get a lot of good coupons this way.  The bad news: If you live somewhere like I do where our local newspapers do not include coupons, I would have to buy a major city paper in order to pay for the privilege of having coupons– not worth the expense in my opinion.

Magazines can feature coupons from time to time as well. However, once again, you should only order the magazines if you plan to read them, not just to get the very few coupons that may be enclosed, as that would not make financial sense.

I submit my contact information to many manufacturer mailing/ emailing lists, and that is a way that I get coupons that may not be available to the general public.  These coupons can be mailed out to you or emailed to you, whether automatically or by your request from time to time.  I receive everything from hair care to cereal to dog food to baby supply coupons through these resources.  Another option is to connect to companies via social networking sites, as they increasingly use these as mediums to give out special coupons to loyal customers.

I will talk more about this in later posts, but you can sign up with companies that allow you to test products and attain coupons for both yourself and family members.  Very often do I receive samples of items, along with some marketing materials, and numerous valuable coupons (sometimes even for a free item!) for myself and extras to pass along to others.  This can be a great resource to get high value grocery coupons that otherwise are scarcely available.

Finally, I want to discuss the primary way that I get coupons these days, as it is the most reliable, inexpensive, and easiest way in my opinion: online.  You would be surprised how often I go to the store, and I am checking out with my stack of coupons, and the cashier asks me about how I got them.  Even they are surprised to find out how easy it is to get great coupons on all of your favorite brand names right from your computer, and they normally say that they will have to check those out for themselves.  All you need is a computer and printer.

Here are some websites that I utilize on a weekly basis to get grocery coupons:

• Coupons.com http://print.coupons.com/couponweb/offers.aspx?pid=13306&zid=iq37&nid=10
• Smartsource.com http://smartsource.com/smartsource/index.jsp?Link=5S2ZUA6PWPEPO
• Box Tops For Education http://www.boxtops4education.com/earn/clip/Coupons.aspx
• Red Plum http://www.redplum.com/SetLocation.aspx?redirect=/pages/Grocery.aspx

There may be other coupon websites out there (feel free to share any that you are aware of), but these are the ones that I have found to be most reliable.

A few things to be aware of when using online coupons:

• Not all stores may accept them, though more and more are.  For example, Walgreens used to not accept them, and after a year or two, they now do.  Check your local store(s) to find out for sure.
• Coupons must be in good printed condition (color or black-&-white) with bar codes able to be scanned.  I use my coupons at Wal-Mart, but they are not allowed to manually enter them according to company policy– if they do not scan, technically they cannot accept them (though if you have one in a pile that does not scan, they sometimes do make exceptions, but don’t count on it).
• DO NOT get them wet— the ink will run and the coupon will become unusable.
• You will still need to cut them out like any other coupon.
• Normally you can select the individual coupons that you want and just print those instead of all coupons that are available.  Many will print 3 on a page, which helps to save paper.
• They may have shorter expiration dates than other coupons–normally a month from the day you print them (sometimes longer).
• They do change, often from week to week, or sometimes a company print limit may be reached, during which you cannot print that particular coupon any more.
• Coupons normally cannot be doubled or tripled at stores that participate in such a program.
• You may have to download a free software program from the individual website (often Java-based) in order to print the coupons.  Normally once you download a website’s particular program, you do not have to do it again.  Different coupon websites may use different printing programs.
• I find that I have to print many online coupons only from Internet Explorer.  They are starting to allow them to work with Mozilla Firefox, but pretty much none work with my personal fave Google Chrome yet.

In order to save money since I print so many online coupons, I print them on the blank backs of papers that my kids may bring home from school or my husband has used for his work or that I printed on in error instead of new printer paper.  When I cut them out, I recycle the scraps, and if they expire prior to use, I recycle them.  The stores normally don’t mind the print on the back as long as the coupon scans without a problem, and all things considered, I end up with very little waste and expense in the process.  I would also recommend that you file the coupons in a coupon organizer, and periodically go through them to remove expired coupons.

I hope this helps you dive into the world of shopping with coupons. Though some people may consider it an inconvenience, if you are truly committed to saving the most money possible on something that is a necessity (like groceries), coupons are a great way to get the items you like for less.