Thursday, November 11, 2010

Couponing 101 or How to save money on everything.....

My Mum was (and is) the ultimate bargain shopper. With three kids to feed she bought in bulk and got most of our clothes at rummage sales. Some were disasters like the three years in a row all my friends got Hollie Hobby bath kits for their birthdays because she got a deal on them or the Christmas presents she bought on sale in February and hid away never to be found again. But mostly she did well and she is where I get my love of bargain shopping from. One thing my Mum didn't have though was coupons. When she come to stay this year I proudly taught her how to use coupons at the grocery and drug store to get things free and she was so impressed she went back to England determined to find the same deals there. (She's still looking!)

If you've been following the blog I'm sure you've had a taste now of how you can use coupons to your advantage to get free or nearly free items. And you may be wondering where you can get them from. I get most of mine from the coupon inserts inside the Sunday papers. Most Sunday papers have two inserts a week from Smart Source (listed on the blog as SS) and Red Plum (listed on the blog as RP). Each week I go through these and remove coupons for any items that I regularly buy at the store. The rest I file away for a sale. The other insert that comes is from Proctor and Gamble. that is usually in the Sunday paper on either the last week or the first week of the month. This one is always good for drugstore deals. Now these coupons are great and they will save you money but the best way to use them is to hold on to them and wait for a sale. You can combine the sale price with your money off coupon to get your item for next to nothing. Also many grocery stores will double the amount on your coupon up to a dollar making your $0.50 off coupon actually $1 off. And some stores will let you combine a Buy 1 Get One Free sale with a Buy 1 Get 1 Free coupon allowing you to purchase both items for free! To find grocery deals and which coupons to use for your local store go to www.couponmom.com.

How can you get hold of these inserts? Well you can buy it full price at the newsstand. The cheapest paid way is to sign up for a subscription . The LA Times often has sales on their subscriptions where you can get a one year subscription for as little as $10. (If you are reading this on Nov 11 then click here to get one today). If you live in a big apartment building often people will leave the coupon books and circulars in the junk mail box by the front door for anyone to take. You can also try asking at coffee shop and libraries to see if they mind you taking them. Most won't mind.

There are also sites on the web where you can find coupons to print out. The most notable are www.coupons.com and www.redplum.com. Also Target and Rite Aid have their own coupons on their web-sites which you can couple with a manufacturer coupon for additional savings.

And what can you do with all the coupons you don't use? You can send them to Military families abroad who can use them at the commissary up to 3 months after they expire. To find out more about that program, click here.

No comments:

Post a Comment