The reason people use coupons is clear: no one wants to spend money that they don’t have to. The only mystery is why more people don’t snip and save.
Do they want to pay full price? Probably not. It must be that not everyone knows just how easy it is to find coupons for pretty much anything they can think of.
These are the main Ideas on Finding Coupons!
Printables
If you plan on printing up coupons yourself, you should probably start with one of the big three coupon sites: coupons.com, canadiansavers.ca or smartsource.com. Variety is great on these sites but there are restrictions based on area or zip code.
If you have a better idea of what you’re looking for, you may want to try and print coupons offered directly by the retailer or manufacturer. Just visit their websites and see what you can find.
Manufacturers like Pillsbury and Betty Crocker, for example, offer quite a few printable coupons on their sites and Target stores offer savings at coupons.target.com. In most cases, you will have to sign up for a membership to the site if you want to get the savings offered.
Newspaper Inserts
While the thought of clipping coupons from the newspaper discourages many people from getting started in the world of couponing, it is also a very cost-effective way of saving money in the long run.
First, you’ll need to subscribe to a newspaper. If a particular issue has a significantly larger amount of coupons, it’s worth it to go and by a few extra copies, and it’ll pay back in savings.
Most large papers will give you 2-3 coupon inserts per week and some stores, like Target, occasionally put their own coupon inserts into the newspaper.
You can Google previews of upcoming newspaper coupon inserts to better prepare. In fact, with this method, preparation and diligence are your keys to success.
In-Store Coupons
You can pick up manufacturer coupons right in the store.
You can pull them out of blinking devices known as blinkies, you’ve probably seen these.
You can tear them off displays called tearpads, but you may want to get there quick because people have been known to take all of them at once.
You can also find them on the product packaging itself, but you’re supposed to be purchasing said product if you intend to use the coupon, though not everyone follows this rule.
Other Ways
That’s not it. You can find coupons on social media sites like Facebook, this usually involves liking a page first. Also, some companies mail coupons right to your door and you can get more by contacting companies in advance.
You can sometimes find coupons attached to free samples or you can get others via Catalinas (CATS), which is when you order certain products in order. You can also find coupons in certain magazines and purchase or trade for them via forums and even eBay.
These other options are as varied as they are valuable. Next important read and step is Coupon Etiquette
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We purchase multiple papers so we get a lot of coupons.
Great ideas. I never knew that I could google the paper insert ahead of time to prepare for how many papers I might want to purchase.
Thanks for the information! I haven’t noticed many “blinkies” in the stores I usually shop in, but I will start to pay more attention now!
I like the Sunday coupons the best. We don’t have a lot of blinkies in the stores that I use.
Thanks for the tip! More places to find coupons 🙂
This is a great guide! I love that my grocery store now has extra coupons in their circulars now
I use mostly printables and in store ones that I can load to my shopping card.
Thank you very much on these tips on finding coupons. =)
I must say I love any savings or coupon. I use all methods to get them. Today I got lunch meat, Giradelli Chocolate, Pepsi Next…all for free. Warms my heart. Seems my best coupons are from FB or internet giveaway/sweeps.
My husband and I moved to CO a couple months back. I was so excited to find that they mail out coupon packets here. I figure it’s awesome, because you can still clip even if you don’t get a newspaper. Love saving money. Husband is convinced it’s not saving us anything with printables. I need to figure out the cost per printed page.
I love using coupons!! They save me lots of money!!
Thanks for the tips. I kind of new at couponing & this helps a lot!
Great tips on finding coupons!
Great ideas, I can never have enough coupons!
Great tips on locating coupons. I used to see a lot more blinkies in stores, but lesss and less it seems lately.
Have you ever used a service where people clip and mail coupons to you for a fee? I know some extreme couponers use them, but I have never seen an ad for one.
I never was a coupon clipper but now that Ive started I find them everywhere and use them all the time.It’s more money in my pocket.Thanks for the tips today.
I so want to use coupons more often, but I am finding that as I try to move to a cleaner diet (less processed food), there are fewer and fewer coupons to use!
Over a year ago I started couponing, but now, not so much. Most of the coupons I get can not be doubled and some are not worth it.
I just started couponing and wonder why I didn’t do it before. It doesn’t take nearly the amount of time one would think, though it does take a little bit of time… but the payoff is worth it—SAVINGS! 🙂
Thanks for the info! I use coupons whenever possible, too. I know so many people who just couldn’t be bothered, I don’t get it!
Nice tips 🙂
I never really understood how people stack coupons (until recently) to get a big benefit from coupons. Now that I understand it I will use them. I appreciate your information on them, every bit helps.
Thanks for sharing! It’s so great to know that you can google the upcoming coupon inserts! Awesome.
Great ideas, thanks for this awesome post
Thanks for the great ideas!
If you’re brave, newspaper recycle bins are wonderful to check out on Sundays/Mondays, after everyone else has thrown their Sunday papers out. My son loves going with me to look for coupons!