Are you a couponer? Or maybe you are trying to figure out how to get started. I myself am not what you would call the Extreme Couponer, however I always enjoy saving a buck and getting things I need. I started couponing about a year ago thinking that since I stay home that maybe I could take this time to add a little income to our Family. Now, I babysit an 11 month old and a 4 year old, plus I have a 17, 11, and 6 year old of my own and I take care of y mother that just went through pneumonia and fell before Thanksgiving. I also clean houses for 2 ladies and have a husband that never has to need for much of anything. I take care of my house and the yard work, and do all the grocery shopping. With that being said, I don't really consider my self a stay at home mom, I am more like the everything else mom. I never seem to have time to really take care of me at times,because I am so busy taking care of everyone else and in my spare time I clip coupons and blog. Yes, my blog sometimes is that getaway that is much needed.
Now onto where to find the coupons for the weekly sales!
1. Magazines generally have coupons in them, these are sometimes higher value coupons with extended expiration dates on them.
2. Sundays paper, unless it is a holiday weekend like Christmas, there can be as many as 5 inserts in a paper each week.
3. Internet coupons, now these coupons can be found from numerous sources! If you are on Facebook, then liking a companies page may trigger a coupon, you can find them on blogs, almost any social media groups, and websites. My favorite place to get printable coupons is at MyPoints, I not only get great savings but I earn points for every coupon I print and use. There are also Coupons. com and other coupon printing sites.
4. Order them, You can order individual coupons or the entire inserts depending on the site. I have never tried one of these sites so I CAN NOT vouch for them. I know of others whom have asked about them and tried them with no problems, however I haven't taken this avenue yet. I usually just google search when I am looking for coupons.
5. Email the company, a lot of the times you can email a company and tell them how great their products are, or be blunt and tell them you are looking coupons, they may send you a 1.00 off of an item or a FREE item. Naturally I love the free coupons but I love any savings so I am grateful for what they send. Not all companies will send you coupons, they may email it to you or send you to their facebook page, but none the less it is savings.
6. Friends and Family, this sounds like an obvious answer but a lot of people don't a;ways think about the obvious.
7. Store websites i.e. Dollar General has a tab for coupons. You sign up for this site and use your phone number at checkout, Harris Teeter and Food Lion have store cards that you can load coupons to the card, and they come off at the register.
8. Store Loyalty cards, by using these cards you save an automatic amount off. Maybe Pepsi's are buy 2 get 3 Free with your card and $4.99 each without it. These savings add up quick.
Once you get your coupons together you need to think about what stores you have available in your area. It may be Wal-Mart, Target, Food Lion, r a Harris Teeter. Once you have your intended store in mind, you can go online to the store website and get the coupon policy. If you have a Dollar Tree, they too accept coupons but you need to know the policy before you attempt to use the coupons there.
To get your coupons organized, this one is up to the individual. I personally have a binder with baseball card inserts. There is no rhyme or reason to the order they are in but this works for me. I also have a notebook that I write all my sales and deals in to make it easier when I go to the store. You will need a calculator, pen/pencil, notebook and coupons to get started.
Now to find the best deals, get your local store sales papers. You can find these usually in the Sundays paper. If you don't get the Sundays paper most of the time you can find the weekly circular on their website. Once you get to the site, make sure you put in your zip code and choose which store you are looking for info on. For example I have 5 Wal-Marts available in my area, once I put in my zip code then I choose which store is closest or the one I am going to.
The most important thing to remember when looking for great deals is to know what the normal price of items are. If they have say drinks buy 2 get 3 free and the reg price is $6.99 at one store and another store has them for 5/$10.00 then obviously the 5/10 is going to be the better deal. Most stores are pretty competitive in sales and coupon policies make a huge difference in what you can save.
There are also pages on Facebook like Harris teeter deals and couponing at food lion that help break sales down with the available coupons. These ladies
put a lot of time into getting these together and it really saves you and me both a lot of time and headaches of doing the math yourself.
If you can think of any other ways to save with coupons please share so other readers can save too. If I can think of anything else I will update as I can think of them. This is just a heads up and beginners guide to getting started.
Enjoy and we always enjoy reading and hearing about the savings you have made!
never tjoldjlfnever tried one of these so I fjld
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