So I have actually been pretty lazy lately with the whole blogging thing. I just don't seem to have time for it the way I want to. Hopefully things will change in the fall since my older daughter will be starting school. So I know that some of you may be wondering how I go about getting the deals and coupons that I do get.
Step 1: Finding coupons
The first step is of course getting the coupons themselves. Most of the fancier couponing sites don't really go into all this. They just seem to assume everyone has a stack of coupons laying around. Well, I have looked into trying to get coupons free and I still don't have a clue how those extreme couponers have a stack of 200 coupons for the same item. I will tell you how I get my coupons. I buy newspapers. That's it. I am not an extreme couponer where I need to buy 100 of an item. I buy 4-5 newspapers a week which costs me $12-$15. I know some of you may not have that in your weekly budget so I will give out some ideas on how to get free coupons.
One way to get free coupons is printing them from the internet. For every computer that you have you can print 2 of the same coupon. I only have one computer so I can only print two coupons for an item. However for those of you who have multiple computers this is a great way to get free coupons. I know someone who has 5 computers in there house, that is 10 coupons for them. These printable coupons are not the exact same as the ones that are in the Sunday inserts. You can find all kinds of coupons from children dvds to brita filter coupons. These coupons also update all the time so there are always new coupons coming out. Also don't forget to like facebook pages of products that you love and also check out the manufacturers website. These places will frequently have coupons to draw consumers to buy their products. Some websites to check out are www.coupons.com, www.redplum.com and www.smartsource.com.
Another way to see go to a gas station or convenience store and find out what they do with left over Sunday newspapers. I haven't had a lot of luck with this one. I usually get "We send them back for credit." I read from other bloggers that this works but again I haven't had that luck. But its worth a try.
A third way to get free coupons is to write or email manufacturers. Tell them that you love their product or that you want to try their product. Supposedly they will send product coupons to you. I haven't tried this one either but I don't see why this wouldn't work. Of course don't just come out and say you want coupons, apparently this doesn't work.
And finally, always sign up for your store's loyalty card or program. I have 5 different loyalty cards in my wallet. Signing up for these programs will allow you to access their coupons on line. My main grocery store, Kroger's has digital coupons that can be automatically loaded onto my shopper card. The coupon will come off at the register once I buy the qualifying item.
So these are just some of the ways you can get free coupons. Of course there are other ways which I may not have mentioned (ie. dumpster diving which isn't really an option) but I feel these are probably the best options out there.
Step 2: Getting Organized
The second thing I do is once I get my coupon inserts, I write the date of when I got them on the first page. This is way less work than cutting out all the coupons. Of course of you choose to do the binder thing that works really well too. Here is a link to my favorite couponing site which will explain more about coupon binders
http://thekrazycouponlady.com/beginners/. Go to day three for how to organize your binder. I feel like I should mention that having the binder allows you to save on items that you find on clearance once you get to the store. Since the idea of having the binder is you bring it to the store every time you shop. This allows you to have every single coupon at the reach of your fingertips if you were to find a sale in store. I just find this is not an option for me because I seriously do not want to carry a 40 lb binder with me to the store along with my girls and purse and whatever else I need to bring to entertain my kids so I can actually shop.
Step 3: Getting ready to shop
First things first, I wish I could take all the credit for actually finding the deals and matching all the coupons but I can't. I use several different couponing sites to help me find the deals that I do. I still spend a good amount of time getting ready and clipping, printing and organizing once I have found the deals that I found. As I mentioned above my absolute favorite, favorite, favorite couponing site is Krazy Coupon Lady.com. One of the ladies that runs the site was featured on the show Extreme Couponers (she might actually be the one that went dumpster diving.) This website posts deals every single day to all the major retailers ie. CVS, Walgreens, Rite Aid. Once a week on Saturday, there will be a match up on the new weeks deals along with the coupons to use to get the best deals. I check the website at least 3-4 times a day to see what has been posted (I know, its a little obsessive.) So here is what I do:
Saturday: I check the website to see the new deals for the week. CVS, Walgreens, Rite Aid and Target have their new sales week start on Sunday. So the sale goes from Sunday to Saturday. I then write down all the items that I feel my family will need or use. I mostly only look at the items that have this symbol on them
or this one
This denotes that the price is a stock up price. Of course if my family needs a certain item and its on sale I will buy those items too. For example my post from yesterday was a prime example. After writing down the sales, I go to my bag of coupons and look for the inserts the coupons are from. Or I print them from the link. That's pretty much all there is to getting ready to shop.
Step 4: Shopping Time
When I have gathered all my coupons, I go shopping. I have to warn you that you are not always going to find every deal that you want. About 90% of the time, I have to readjust my strategy in the store. Please don't let this discourage you from couponing. There are people who are at the store at crazy hours on Sunday and they will clear the shelves. I want to say that I do not advocate doing this. There is no need to take 30 of the same item so there is nothing left for other people. Of course if its the last two or three, I have no problem taking those. Its the ones that feel they need 100 bottles of lotion who I get made at. Seriously who needs 100 bottles of lotion or 200 things of chap stick? I have found that if I go after Thursday the store will have had time to restock their shelves. I like to go on Saturdays because I feel that the store will have to have stocked their shelves for the next week's sale. I haven't actually done research on this theory, I just have found that most of the time, the items I want to purchase are available. Again this is not a fact, this is just a theory. So that's pretty much it to how to coupon. I will do individual posts on how to shop at each store since every store has their own rules on couponing. But the basics are the same. So get out there and start saving!!
Side note: If a store is out of a sale item, most stores do rain checks. Rain checks allow you to purchase the item after the sale has ended at the sale price. So for example, about a month ago Kroger's was having an amazing deal on Bailey's coffee creamer. When I went to the store they were sold out. I went to customer service and asked for a rain check. The CS rep gave me a slip of paper with the item and the sale price written on it. The rain check was good for 30 days. This allowed me to go back to the store anytime within 30 days and get the item once it was back in stock at the sale price. So that is always an option too if the store doesn't have the item you want. However, if the deal involves getting Extra Bucks, Register Rewards or Balance Reward Points, I don't think that they will be given out once the sale is over. You can still get the item at sale price you just won't get the extra.
Redbox and Kroger has teamed up to give us a free movie today May 26th. Just enter code KROGERFREE at Redbox locations located at Krogers. This may work at Kroger affiliates such as Smiths. (found this on Krazy Kroger). This code will only work today.
