Coupon Sources

I promised a post on where to get coupons, so here ya go! 

One easy source is to get the Sunday newspaper coupon inserts.  Most Sunday papers will have anywhere from 1-4 coupon inserts.  These are from various sources like Redplum or Proctor & Gamble (great for CVS and Walgreen's deals).  The Sunday paper in my town sells for about $1.75 so it can be a little pricey to buy it not knowing if there will be any coupons in it that you can use.  You can always get a subscription at a discounted rate although I'm not certain you can do a Sunday only subscription.  You can check this site to get a preview of what coupons and inserts will be in the coming Sunday's paper before you buy it.  You can check local store ads to see if there are any good coupon matchups to make a great deal.  (Or you can do what I do and check the sites in my sidebar who have already done all the work!)  You can always hit up your friends and family to save the inserts from their papers for you if they do not use coupons.  I have a few people that give me theirs. 

Another great way of getting insert coupons is to order them online through sites like My Coupon Hunter.  You only buy the coupons that you need and shipping is only the cost of a first class stamp.  (Technically, you are not buying the coupon, but rather paying for the person's time since selling coupons is illegal.)  The great thing about using a site like this is that you can order multiple copies of a particular coupon.  I have 4 high value coupons on order now that I will use for great Register Reward deal at Walgreen's this week.  (I will post about that after I make the trip.)  It's takes about 3 business days to get them so make sure you don't wait until it's too late to make the deal.

There are many online where you print coupons for free.  These cost nothing more than a little paper and ink.  Just make sure you set your printer on the draft setting to save ink.  They do not have to be in color.  The sites that I  frequently use are:  Coupons.com and Smartsource.com.   I am sure there are others as well.  Typically, these coupons change every month and will have a print limit.  Once the print limit is reached, you won't be able to print it.  If you run across a coupon for something that you know you will use at some point, go ahead and print it before it's gone.  Hang on to it and watch for a good deal!  These sites typically allow you to print each coupon twice per computer so you could easily stock up if you can print it multiple times. 

Don't forget about store coupons!  Store coupons are great because you can use them in addition to or "stack" them with manufacturer coupons.  This is huge at both Target and Walgreen's and has gotten me tons of great deals.  Walgreen's puts out a coupon book at the first of each month that you can pick up in store and they often have weekly in-ad coupons.  Target has a link to all the coupons on their website to print out.

How do I organize all these coupons?  My way may not be the best way out there, but it's the easiest for me.  I purchased an inexpensive zipper binder with pockets and baseball card sleeves.  I organize them by letter of the alphabet.  I don't alphabetize them, only keep them with the correct letter.  This way I'm not rearranging them each time I add more. That would be way too time-consuming.   I clearly write the expiration date on the front of each coupon and place it in a sleeve.  Like coupons are stored in the same sleeve.  Every so often I go through and pull out the ones that are expired.  Each week when I go through my ads and do my coupon matchups it's easy to locate them.  (Certainly with the help of the sites in my sidebar!)   Coupons that I am going to use are placed in the pocket to pull out when I head to the store.  You might consider taking the binder with you when you shop in case you run across and unadvertised deal, clearance item or you realize you've forgotten something.

I'll admit that I used to think couponing was a waste of time and too much of a headache to keep up with.  Now that I've gotten a system down that works for me, I love doing it.  I find myself excited when the mail comes on Tuesday so I can go through the grocery store ads and see what kind of deals there are!  My system may not work for everyone.  I'm certain that there are probably better ways of doing it.  This is just the easiest way for me. 

I hope I've given you a little insight into the crazy world of couponing.  Feel free to ask any questions and I will do my best to answer or point you in the right direction.  Happy couponing!!