Day 1: We all have to shop! Why not save money while doing it?
Day 2: The Language of Couponers – Translated!
Day 3: Where Art Thou Coupons?
Day 4: Know Thy Coupon (What does that fine print mean?)
Day 5: When to Use Your Coupons
Day 6: Buy Groceries, Pay for College with Upromise eCoupons
Day 7: eCoupons the Alternate to Clipping
Day 8: Don’t Get Mad, Get a Rain Check
Day 9: Advance Your Couponing Skills with Rebates
Day 10: Stockpiling
Day 11: Organize Your Coupon Stash
Day 12: Surviving the Checkout Lane
Coupons are lurking everywhere. You just need to learn to sniff them out. My main source of coupons is the Sunday Newspaper. (Subscribe to your discounted subscription through Discounted Newspapers.) You can visit TaylorTown Preview to find out which inserts will be available for the week. I subscribe the newspaper but if I need extra inserts I will buy additional newspapers. Other places to find coupons include:
- In Packages/Out of Packages Don’t throw that package away. There may be a coupon inside the box.
- Magazines Many magazines have coupons in them scattered throughout the magazine. There is one magazine which has over $30 in coupons every single month – All You magazine. I highly recommend subscribing to this magazine.
- In the mail When you sign up for samples, newsletters for a product, many times they will send up a coupon with it.
- In Store Brochures Don’t overlook the in store pamplets. Look through them quickly to see if there is coupons in it before passing by.
- Doctor’s Office Keep your eye out for coupons at the Doctor’s or Dentist offices.
- Newspapers Besides insert coupons, sometimes you can score coupons in Parade Magazine, or in the actual print pages of the newspaper. Keep your eyes open when reading the paper. Or you can be like me and never read any of it and just scan for the coupons.
- Blinkies at the Supermarket Many grocery stores have “blinkies”, called that because they blink, near products. These coupons are ones youusually can’t find anywhere else and can be used at any store, not just the store you find them in.
- Tearpads Coupons, you can tear off, near a product are called tearpads. These are usually manufacturer’s coupons that can be used at any store.
- Peelies Sometimes you will get lucky and there is already a coupon on a product you want to buy.
- Product Testing Sites You can receive coupons from product testing sites like She Speaks, Vocalpoint,Pssst from General Mills, and Biotrue Challenge Sweepstakes
- Fair/Conventions/Festivals I was at an airshow last summer where they were giving out $5 off coupons for a new dog food! You could score big.
- Recycle Bins You can usually find Sunday Coupon inserts right on top without much effort. Always ask the recycle first if it is okay as there may be local ordinances against it.
- Coffee Shops/Airports/Other Public Locations Many people just read their Sunday paper and don’t want the inserts. You may be able to score some this way.
- Buy Insert Coupons Online You can purchase already clipped coupons on Ebay or other internet sources. You are paying them for the time to clip them/sort them/mail them and not for the actual coupon.
- Coupons to Share At the front of my Marsh store, there is a place where you can give or take coupons. Check with your store or maybe suggest they set aside a place where couponers can share.
Search the Bargain Briana Coupon Database for more coupons!
Printable Coupon Sources
- Coupons.com – Currently there is a $5 and $3 Huggies printable as well as other valuable coupons. These are reset each month.
- Betty Crocker
- Box Tops for Education
- List of “Bricks” printables available on different manufacturer’s website
- Eat Better America Coupons
- Pillsbury
- Red Plum
- Very Best Baking (Nestle)
- Smart Source
- $1.50 off MAYBELLINE NEW YORK shadow or liner
As you can see there are many places where you can find coupons as long as you keep your eyes open.
Any other places you have found coupons? Any unusual places?
The 15 Days of Couponing will guide you through the art of couponing. It is a skill that you can learn and maximize to the full potential to help your family and help others. So if you are interested in cutting your grocery budget in half or more, read yesterday’s edition and stay tuned for tommorrow’s edition where I will tell you what the fine print on those coupons mean!
So what do you do if you don’t have a printer?
What are some of the best newspapers that you have found coupons in. I am from Oklahoma and I always pick up the Sunday Oklahoman but I would like to find another paper as well. Any ideas?
Supercarrot has a good tip. Example – there are coupon swap boxes at most of the library branches in the Monroe MI area.
your library might also have a coupon trading bin.
We have a PO Box as well as our home address so we get two copies of all of the weekly mailings (and my Mom usually gives me hers as well). But I have also found, when leaving the Post Office, many people throw their red plum and advertisements in the garbage and I can grab extras right out of the trash – especially “after hours” when the post office is closed but access to the PO boxes is still available (that way people don’t look at me like I’m nuts).
Another great way to find coupons online is to try the product’s website. They usually have some kind of coupon to give out.
You can subscribe to your regular stores e-weekly ads and get them delivered right to your inbox. I regularly go to Kroger and Walgreens and I get them sent directly to my email when a new weekly ad comes out. :-)
If you’re not too proud, hit the Paper Retrievers (paper recycling dumpsters). You are not going through trash. You are aiding the recycling process. Most papers are neatly stacked in bags. Perfectly clean. I find that Paper Retriever dumpsters near libraries are the best. In just a few minutes, I’ve walked away with a grocery bag half full of coupon inserts. I usually check out my Sunday paper and if it’s full of good coupons I’ll hit the retrievers later that same week. I always put my old papers in, I do wear gloves, but have never ever seen trash or even wet things in the dumpster. And I pass on the coupons I don’t need. However, I only get out what I can reach…I don’t actually dive in. So next time you are taking your recycles to pitch in, look and see what you can find.
Another good way to get really good coupons that are rare to find is to e-mail companies to praise their products. I received a ton of coupons this way and I only started e-mailing them two months ago. They really come in handy when matched with a sale especially when the store doubles or triples them. If you like I could e-mail you a list of what I have received so far.
Christina,
Please email your list to me. It will be greatly appreciated.
Judy
Can you email me your list also?
The recyling center has been my greatest way to get extra inserts. I can get 20-30 inserts within 15 minutes and it’s easy when DH helps.
Do you live in an area where there is a Kroger store? There are three or four ecoupon services that can be linked to a Kroger shopper card.
It looks like your coupon sources, while enormously helpful, are mostly for offline shopping. More and more grocery stores, home goods stores, baby/child themed stores offer coupon codes for purchasing online (Genuardis.com, Diapers.com, Safeway.com, etc.). This sounds like a plug, and it kinda is, I guess, but check out Saving.com for online coupon codes…they’re totally free as well. Pretty soon, we’re going to have printable coupons on the site too for groceries, restaurants, and whatever else. And we’re always accepting user submitted deals, so if you or your readers find some killer deal and want to share it with everyone, keep Savings.com in mind. :)
What is your advice Briana on ordering coupons from a clipping service I have never done so, but am considering it b/c I am having a hard time finding a paper here with inserts and only manage to get coupons from ALL YOU mags and from the internet printables.
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Thanks! Great tip!
Good roundup.
Now, another tip: make a coupon buddy with someone who subscribes to a different Sunday newspaper. I live in a community where three metro paper districts overlap, and I subscribe to two of them. Sometimes I get coupons from my mother. She lives an hour away from me and gets three newspapers at her home (not the two I get).
You may find different coupons in the different newspapers. We’ve noticed that from time to time.
Or you may collect a lot of duplicates because you use that product (but your coupon buddy doesn’t) and now you have two, three, four, etc. of the same coupon available when that sale hits.
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