How to Coupon Series: Where to Find Coupons
COUPONING 101: WHERE TO FIND COUPONS
Where do you find coupons? It’s the most common question non-couponers ask die hard couponers like myself, and my answer is always the same: “They’re everywhere!”
It’s true. Coupons really are everywhere – in newspapers, in magazines, in the grocery store and, of course, online. And while this variety of resources means you have lots of great places to find coupons, it also means there are lots of places for coupons to hide. In other words, it actually makes couponing a little harder than it was in our mother’s Sunday paper days.
But don’t worry. Although it might be difficult at first to narrow your gold mine down to a few manageable sources, you do fine. Here a few places to start your search:
- Newspapers – The newspaper – specifically, the Sunday paper – still represents one of the most common places to find coupons for things you need. The only drawback is that the Sunday paper costs a few bucks but you’ll probably find $20 or $30 worth of useful coupons, so it kind of pays for itself. To save money you can subscribe to the paper (most papers offer a Sunday only subscription) or ask friends and family members to give you their papers after they’re done with them. The hand-me-down method is also a great way to accumulate multiple copies of particularly valuable coupons.
- Blinkies – Those little machines with the blinking lights that are mounted on the shelves at grocery stores? Those are blinkies, and they’re your friend. You won’t find a ton of coupons via blinkies, but the ones you do find are usually pretty good.
- Junk mail – You know the stuff you used to toss out without a second glance before you started couponing? Don’t do that anymore! That so-called “junk mail” is actually a treasure trove of valuable coupons.
- E-mail – Your mailbox gets junk mail and your email in-box gets spam. Or at least it used to. Now that you’re a genuine clipper, that “spam” can contain money-saving deals on restaurants and other goodies. Sign up to receive emails from your favorite stores and brands and soon you’ll be reaping the rewards.
- eCoupons (a.k.a. digital coupons) – Unlike Internet coupons, which are printed out, eCoupons are downloaded directly to your grocery store rewards card. That’s right, no need to clip and sort. The cards are scanned automatically when you check out, which makes these coupons very easy to use. Some of my favorite places to find eCoupons are Cellfire, Upromise, SavingsStar and Shortcuts.
- The Internet – Oh, the wonderful world of the worldwide web. I could (and probably should) spend an entire blog entry discussing the hundreds of places you can find coupons online but I won’t. Truth is, some people do all of their couponing online, and for good reason – there are a ton of coupons to be found there! Grocery store websites are good place to start, but you’ll also find coupons on the “big three” couponing websites like Coupons.com, RedPlum.com, CouponNetwork and SmartSource.com.
Be sure to check out all the informative articles on How to Coupon here.
———>>>Sign up for my FREE Daily email of awesome deals, freebies and coupons!
