Get Coupons From The Source
When the subject of saving on groceries comes up, the conversation will eventually move to coupons. You've probably heard the claims of people being able to reduce their grocery bill by 50% or more and have wondered if it is truly possible. SavingAdvice.com will show you how (for free) and explain the dedication you'll need to accomplish this.
While utilizing coupons is a part of the overall strategy to reduce you shopping bill by 50% or more, to accomplish the goal you will need to also adjust to other Grocery Store Factors which are trying to entice you to part with your money. Being aware of these so that your can take control in conjunction with coupons can get you to your goal with a little dedication and a lot of organization.
There are plenty of grocery coupons out there...estimates say over $360,000,000,000 worth! While that is a lot of zeros, the actual amount of grocery coupons that are redeemed is far less at about $1.7 billion. The reason for so many coupons not being used is easy to understand. The coupon inserts that come with your Sunday paper will have some useful coupons, but the majority are most likely coupons for products that you are not interested in or need. So the question quickly becomes how to find coupons that you want.
By far the best way to get coupons that you know you want and will use regularly is to go to the source. Take a look at all the products in your kitchen cabinets that you use and see if they have a website address listed on the package. If so, go to the address and sign up for their newsletter. As a valued member on their list, many will send you coupons for the products they make. If they do not have a readily apparent newsletter to sign up with, you can email them using the same form shown below.
Another effective way to get specific coupons you want is to write directly to the companies through snail mail. While this will cost you the price of a stamp, it will often be rewarded many times over in coupons and samples received. You can use a simple form to send out to all the companies of products you use:
(Company Name),
I am writing to tell you how much I enjoy (name of product). (positive points about product).
If at all possible, I would like to receive coupons and/or samples of your products when available in the future. I would also like to be added to your mailing list(s).
Sincerely,
(your name, address and e-mail)
Coupons From Auctions
While selling coupons is illegal, people have worked their way around this by charging a fee for the time and energy used to find, clip and sort coupons. You don't actually pay for the coupons, but in order to get them, you need to pay for the time the person spent getting and arranging them. While this may be purely semantics, it has allowed a thriving coupon sale business to legally exist on auction sites such as eBay.
Auction sites tend to be a good place to find coupons for items you use in bulk since the coupons sold are usually product specific. That is, you'll get 10 of the same coupon. It is also helpful if you know exactly what you are looking for in the search since there are thousands of these auctions going on at any time. This is also a good place to see that coupons are not limited to groceries. You'll soon find that there are a lot of restaurant, store specific, drug, cosmetic, travel etc. coupons to be had. You can use the links below to see a small sampling of how many different coupons are available.
Coupons & Organization
There are also a number of websites that will provide coupons, usually for a fee such as
CentsOff.com While these sites can be worthwhile if they have the types of coupons you are looking for and regularly use, you will want to make sure that they can provide you savings for the amount of money you must spend for the memberships. Most will have a preview function of the types of coupons they currently have in stock which you should go through when making this decision. Also note if there are requirements for paying a handling fee with each order that can quickly erode the savings the coupons provide.
There are other sites such as
SmartSource.com,
ValPak and
ValuPage that have weekly updated coupons that you can access for free and print from your computer meaning that you don't have to wait for a coupon to arrive by mail and there are no processing or membership fees involved. The variety is usually less than available at the membership sites, but since these are free, it makes sense to check them weekly.
Which leads us to the last point. In order to make couponing successful, you will need to be organized. It is useless to have a lot of great coupons, but not know where they are when you need them. You now know where to get coupons, so now you need a system for organizing them. While you can go out and purchase a coupon organizer, you can also accomplish the organization through envelopes. Purchase a box of envelopes and label them with the different categories of food or products your regularly purchase. Your system can be customized to what is best for you: you can make the envelope categories broad such as "Fruits & Vegetables" or focused with the exact brand of canned fruit you purchase on the outside. What works best for you with how you like to organize is the important key here. Then you simply place the coupons you have gathered into the appropriate envelope for later use.
You can increase the worth of the coupon by using them not necessarily when you first get them, but waiting until the item goes on sale. This way you get a discount off an already low sale price. If there is a grocery store that doubles or triples coupons on certain days, you should make every effort to shop during these times since it will add significant savings to your grocery shopping. Also remember that if you have multiple coupons and your buy in bulk when items go on sale, you can usually use a coupon for each individual item you purchase. That is, if you have four $0.50 coupons for canned fruit and you buy four cans when they go on sale, you can use all four coupons at the store. Your goal when you make your shopping list should be to have coupons for 50%+ of the items you plan to buy and of course you want to make that as close to 100% as possible.
Grocery Coupons
