Finding Coupons

"I can never find any coupons—where do you find all those deals?" Those of us who use coupons hear this all the time. Non-coupon shoppers feel like we have some sort of magic ability—like prospectors for gold. It isn’t that hard if you follow a few tips.

THE SUNDAY PAPER. Sometimes you have to actually pay for the best coupons—at least buy the newspaper they are in. Our best food and grocery coupons come in the Sunday paper. Usually the bigger the area the more the coupons. I get my regional paper for coupons, not the local paper.  I order only the Sunday paper at $4.25 a month but save about $50 a month on the paper coupons from that newspaper. Not a bad investment is it? put in $4.25, take out $50 during the following four weeks? If you subscribe only for Sundays yet wish you got the paper all week long just wait a few weeks and they will call to offer you 7 day service for the same price.  I have never paid for more than the Sunday price in the last 2 years but got the paper all week long.

ENTERTAINMENT BOOKS. Another way to “purchase coupons” is buying the entertainment coupon book most towns have. These usually go on sale late September early October and cost about $30. Check local stores or the internet to find where to buy them specifically. They are usually good until November 1 of the following year and they are packed with deals. If you wait until March they often get discounted to about $10 plus shipping so I get another one for the last 6 months of the year.  I get every cent invested in them back in about 2 weeks.  Every use after that is “profit.” Sometimes local youth groups or schools offer their own card or book of coupons. These are worth checking out because often they are the local places you may frequent more often. 

JUNK MAIL. That junk mail you throw out without looking at it—there are lots of coupons in there!  They are usually booklet types with lots of offers. 

PHONE BOOK Have you ever checked inside the phone book?  They have their own section of coupons often in the middle.  Oil changes and pizza coupons are common and the savings can be significant and they are often undated coupons.

ORGANIZING COUPONS. It helps to keep your grocery coupons very organized. I have three envelope size file folders I take every time I go to the store.  They are listed in categories like drinks, cereals, fridge meats, frozen, pizza, ice cream, bread etc. It also helps to keep these in order of how you walk through the store.  Every new month go through and toss out the expired coupons.  For all other coupons I just keep them all in one place  so I can grab it quickly if we decide to grab food out that night.

I love to clip coupons. I love it because I love saving money. I know some people dismiss it as “not worth my time.” But when you can find and use a coupon in ten minutes and save ten dollars—well, my time is worth $60 an hour any day.

Seek and you shall find. Once you start seeking coupons out you will be begin to find them! Get your nearby—after reading this I bet you’ll start noticing coupons you overlooked before now!