I hope you’ve been getting some useful information from this series so far, but we’ve got a way to go, so hang in there with me. So far, you’ve learned what couponing is and the two types of coupons and how to properly use them.

Today we’re talking about where to find all those coupons. They can be found in paper form, online printable form, and electronic form.

Paper Sources

• Newspaper Inserts - The inserts come in the Sunday paper each week. There are usually two or three, most commonly a Smartsource, Redplum and about once a month a Proctor & Gamble insert. Occasionally, there will be even more. Here is a 2010 insert schedule. Inserts do vary by region, so you may not get the same coupons as someone in another town, or the coupons may even be for a different value. I recommend getting the biggest paper you can in your area and at least two papers per week in the beginning. This way you will always have at least two coupons when an item goes on sale, particularly a buy one get one sale.
• Magazines - Magazines can be a great way to add to your coupon collection. If you subscribe to any magazines, be sure to keep your eyes open for coupons as you flip through. However, the best magazine for coupons is All You Magazine. You can find it at Walmart up by the registers or you can subscribe to it. I have a monthly subscription and it is well worth it, because it’s packed full of really good coupons.
• Store Booklets/Flyers - Store booklets and flyers can be found occasionally in many stores. They may include store coupons and/or manufacturer coupons. The best places to find them are close to the store ad when you walk through the door and on displays throughout the store. Really though, they could be anywhere, and some stores don’t seem to ever have them. If you don’t see any, try asking customer service because sometimes they keep them at the counter.
• Blinkies/Tearpads - Blinkies are the little boxes that stick out from the shelves in grocery stores and have a red light that blinks. They contain coupons and are usually hanging close to the product the coupon is for. Tearpads, like blinkies, are usually hanging next to the product, but these are small pads with a stack of coupons that you can just reach up and tear the coupon off. Check the expiration date and please only take these for products that you will purchase if they go on sale and only take a couple of each. This way everyone gets an opportunity to save on that product.
• Peelies/Inside Product Packages - Both of these will be found with the actual product. Peelies are attached to the outside of the product box or package. You have probably picked up a package and saw a tag that said, “Save $1 Now.” You can pull these off and use them immediately or save them for later if you already have a coupon for the product that is either a better value than the peelie or expires sooner. You can also find coupons inside product packages. Sometimes they will be on a piece of paper inside the package, or they may be on the package or box itself. Be on the lookout for these coupons too.
• Samples/Home Mailers - One of my favorite ways to get high value coupons is through samples. Occasionally manufacturers will offer free samples on their websites and most of the time along with those samples come coupons. Walmart even has a section on its website where you can order samples. You can also get great coupons through home mailers. Examples: Home Made Simple and Nabisco occasionally allow you to request coupons booklets to be mailed to you. I suggest creating a separate email account just for registering on these sites. This way any information you receive regarding coupons will not interfere with your personal email account. (By the way, once you find a few coupon match-up sites you like, they’ll alert you to these samples and mailers. You don’t have to find them all yourself.)
• Ebay/Coupon Clipper Services - If you find that you need additional coupons for certain items, but don’t want to buy lots of extra newspapers, there are ways to get more coupons for the things you really love. Ebay and The Coupon Clippers are great places to look. You are paying them to cut and mail the coupons to you. I have ordered from Ebay before and was very pleased. I have not ordered from The Coupon Clippers, but have heard they are very good.

Online Printable Sources

• Coupons.com
• Smartsource.com
• Redplum.com
• Home Solutions News
• Pillsbury
• Betty Crocker
• Eat Better America
• Simple and Delicious
• Snack Picks
• Other Manufacturer’s Websites

On these websites, you’ll find manufacturer coupons that you can print. The first three are the most common places to find many printable coupons for various products. Many stores that accept manufacturer coupons will take printable ones, but you’ll want to double check with the individual store to be sure.

You will have to install a coupon printer onto your computer in order to print these. It will not hurt your computer, just follow the instructions for installing it. Generally, there is a limit of two prints per coupon per computer. If you have access to more than one computer, you will be able to print more coupons.

For the remaining links, you will most likely be required to register in order to print coupons from those sites. Again, when registering, I suggest using a separate email account from your personal one.

Electronic Sources

• Shortcuts
• Cellfire
• Upromise

Shortcuts and Cellfire

Shortcuts and Cellfire are both websites that allow you to load manufacturer coupons onto your store savings card. You can look here for shortcuts and here for cellfire to see if there are any participating stores in your area.

Here’s how it works. If you’re purchasing a product for which you have saved a coupon to your card, the coupon will automatically be deducted from your bill at checkout after scanning your savings card. You don’t have to do any clipping for these coupons.

Things to note regarding electronic coupons:

• Once loaded to your card, the only way electronic coupons can come off your card is either by you using them or the coupon expiring.
• Electronic coupons do not double or triple.
• You can only load one of each coupon from each site to your card, until you use it or it expires, and the coupon becomes available again for you to re-load.

It is sometimes possible to use an electronic coupon and a paper coupon for one item. However, I cannot recommend this in good conscience because you would then be using two manufacturer coupons on the same item. I feel this is against good coupon ethics. However, you will have to make your own decision.

On the other hand, if you are buying two of a particular item and have both an electronic coupon and a paper coupon, then it is fine to use one of each. The electronic coupon will come off for one item and the paper coupon can be used for the other one.

Upromise

Upromise is a program designed to earn money for college savings when you purchase certain products online and at grocery and drug stores.

You set up a Upromise account and register your store savings cards. Then a percentage of those certain products purchased will be deposited into a college savings account when you use your store card. To read more about how Upromise works you can go here.

Whew!! This post was a long one. I hope it wasn’t too much all at once.

Now that you’ve got all those coupons, what do you do with them? Organizing coupons is going to be the next topic in this series. Stay tuned.

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Welcome back to my series on using coupons! If you missed the first post you can check it out here.

Okay, so now you know what couponing is about, so let’s take a look at the actual coupons and the proper ways to use them.

There are two types of coupons.

• Manufacturer’s Coupons
• Store Coupons

Manufacturer Coupons

Manufacturer’s coupons are provided by the manufacturer of the product. (Examples include: General Mills and Procter & Gamble) These coupons will say “Manufacturer Coupon” somewhere on them and will include a remit address for the store to redeem them for reimbursement.

When you see a manufacturer’s coupon, it means the manufacturer of the products is telling you that if you buy their product, they will give you a discount when using their coupon.

Store Coupons

Store coupons are provided by specific stores. (Examples include: Publix and Target) These coupons may or may not say “store coupon,” but they will have the name of the store on them somewhere. They will also have a different type bar-code and/or number than you will see on manufacturer coupons.

When you see a store coupon, it means the store is telling you that if you will buy a certain product at their store, they will give you a discount when using their coupon.

Stacking Coupons

Now I’ll tell you the wonderful thing about these two types of coupons. You can combine them, also known as stacking coupons. In other words, if you have a manufacturer coupon and a store coupon for the same item, you can use both at the same time for that one item.

Here is why this works. The store doesn’t care if you use a manufacturer coupon because they will get reimbursed after you buy the product. The manufacturer doesn’t care if you use a store coupon because they are only interested in the fact that you purchased their product. Everyone wins!

Proper Coupon Usage

There are five main things to remember when using coupons.

1. Always go by the wording on the coupon, not the picture, and read the fine print to see if there are exclusions or inclusions. The most common will be sizes exclusions, like “excludes trial sizes,” or inclusions, like “only good for 20 oz or larger.” If the coupon does not exclude, or only include, certain sizes, it can be used for any size, even a trial sized product. Also if the coupon states that is is good for $1 off 2, that means you must buy 2 of the product to use the coupon.
2. You can only use one manufacturer coupon and one store coupon per item. If you buy two of a particular item, you can use up to two manufacturer coupons and two store coupons, unless the store coupon prohibits usage of more than one store coupon per transaction, per customer, or per day.
3. Use two coupons on a Buy One, Get One sale. It is a common misconception that if a product is on Buy One, Get One sale, you can only use one coupon, however, you are still purchasing two items. This is the case whether it rings up as half off each item or whether it rings up with the first product at regular price and the second as free. The store will still get reimbursed from the manufacturer for both items because they still sold you both items. In rare cases a store may deny the use of the coupon for the free product in a buy one, get one sale, but generally they don’t mind. (The exception to this would be if,  for instance,  you had a coupon for $1 off 2 items. Then you could only use one coupon because the coupon requires the purchase of two products.)
4. Know the store policy regarding coupons. Obviously different stores will have different coupon policies. Some are set by corporate, such as Walmart and Target, and others are determined locally. It is up to you to find out the policy at your store(s). Some things you want to know are:
   • Do they double or triple coupons? If so, everyday or just specific days?
   • Do they accept internet printable coupons? If so, are there limits to how many or the dollar amount accepted?
   • Do they accept competitors coupons? If so, who do they consider a competitor?
5. NEVER copy coupons!! I have to add this one because some people do not realize that you cannot copy a printed coupon. Just because they look like a copy when you print them on a black and white printer does not mean you can copy them. The manufacturer only allows a certain amount of coupons to be printed and then the coupons are no longer available unless they reset the print limit. Most of the coupons have specific pin numbers on each one. Therefore, once the manufacturer reimburses for a coupon with a specific pin number they will not pay anything for another coupon with the same pin. If you use an original and a copied coupon, the store will not get reimbursed for one of them.

Well, I think that pretty much sums up coupons and how to use them. Now I’m sure you want to know where to find all those coupons, so come back tomorrow for Where to Find Coupons.

If something didn’t make sense or if you have any questions, please let me know in the comments sections and I’ll do my best answer your questions.

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Yesterday, I told you I am beginning a series on couponing. Well, I’m really excited about it because I love helping people learn how to save that hard-earned money. So, here we go.

First, let’s talk about what real couponing is NOT. Couponing is not simply collecting a few coupons throughout the week and running to the store and using them immediately, maybe saving only a few bucks in the process.

If you’re like I use to be, I hardly ever bothered to deal with coupons because overall it just wasn’t worth my time. I’d grab the few coupons I had run across during the week and take them with me to do my shopping. I almost always ran into the same problem.

Here is a what I mean…

1. I’d have a coupon for a name brand product.
2. I’d stand comparing the regular priced name brand product and the store brand product.
3. Then after all that work, I’d conclude that even after using the coupon on the name brand product, I would still be paying more than just getting the store brand.

It was very frustrating and quite frankly a waste of time!

Thankfully though, about a year ago, I learned how to really use coupons and I now get name brand products for a fraction of the cost of store brands. As a matter of fact, I now get almost everything cheap and sometimes even free, and I’ll tell you how I do it.

Couponing is composed of two main components:

• Combining Coupons with Sales
• Stockpiling

Component #1: Combining Coupons with Sales

The best way to get rock bottom prices on almost anything is by using coupons when items go on sale. This means holding onto coupons when you get them and waiting for the items to go on sale instead of running out and purchasing those products right away, which is the tendency, especially for items you use regularly.

Sales usually run in cycles (four, six, eight, twelve weeks, etc), which does vary by product and store. Also many times when a manufacturer releases a coupon for a specific product, you will see that item go on sale somewhere before the coupon expires. This is not a definite, but much of the time this is the case. It is at that time you want to use your coupon because that is when you’ll be able to get that product at it’s lowest price.

It is also important that you not be too brand loyal. Sure there are always going to be certain items that you only buy a particular brand and that’s okay, but the best way to really save on name brand products is to be flexible.

Component #2: Stockpiling

The purpose of stockpiling is to build a stash of items you will use between sales/coupon cycles. Since you are buying products at their lowest price, you want to buy enough to last you until that item goes on sale again and you have more coupons for it. This way you never have to pay full price for that particular item.

Basic Illustration:

Let’s say toothpaste regular price is $2 per tube and you use four tubes in a four month period. At regular price you would pay $8 for four tubes of toothpaste over the course of the four months.

However, let’s say that same toothpaste is on sale for $1.50 per tube and you have four 50 cent coupons. Now if you go ahead and purchase four tubes and use the four coupons, you’ve just got that same four tubes of toothpaste for only $4, or at 50% off.

You’ve stocked up on the extra three tubes while they were on sale. Now you have enough to last you until toothpaste goes on sale again and you have more coupons.

Combining coupons with sales and stockpiling is basically what couponing is all about. Be sure to check back tomorrow. We’ll be looking at the types of coupons and proper usage.

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