How to Begin Your Couponing Adventure Part 2

Coupons Unleashed - Part 2 of the Couponing Series

     

Most people ask me how to get the best coupons, where do I get mine? Well, that’s simple: the Sunday newspaper! Around 70-80% of the coupons used come from Sunday papers’ inserts nationwide, while the other 20-30% come from online printables, peelies/blinkies, or accompanying samples. Now a lot of you are probably staring at your screen thinking I’m speaking in another language, which I kind of am. It’s called couponing! It’s simple, I promise.

Where to get coupons:

The first place you’ll want to look for coupons is the Sunday newspaper. They each have inserts, usually labeled Redplum, Smart Source and P&G. There may be others as well. Be aware that every region has a different set of coupons. For example, Texans may get different coupons than Ohio and Washington, etc.
Most couponers sign up for their local newspaper subscription. The general advice is to get 1 newspaper per person in your family. For example, a mother, father and 3 kids would get 5 papers every Sunday. If you don’t want or cannot get a subscription, you can also order inserts or papers online at a reasonable rate. You can check grocery stores and gas stations as well, but that can get very pricy, and you will want to beat the newspaper stockpilers to the stacks in the morning.

You’ll want to get more coupons online. There are plenty of sites that offer printable coupons and mobile coupons.
You can see a list of the ones I use here.
The sites listed in my post are safe and reliable. There are a ton of sites that offer printable coupons but are NOT trusted and may give you a virus or even worse, an illegal coupon! Please be aware of those!

Riteaid offers digital coupons as well.
Target offers mobile coupons

Ibotta and Endorse are two mobile apps that you can earn cash back on your purchases. I love them!

You may also find coupons attached to products, which we call peelies, as well as in blinkie machines in aisles and tear pads at your local stores. You may even get some in your mail box! If you sign up for freebies you will find a lot of companies send coupons with their samples as well.
Rule of thumb for peelies, blinkies and tear pads: do not take more than 4 coupons and do not take the coupon off the product unless you are buying it. Be considerate and leave some for others.

Now let’s go over how to organize coupons. There’s more than one way, so here’s just a few that you could try. Use what’s best for you! Organization will help keep you on track and locate what you want/need without hassle.

Most couponers get more than one insert a week. Some find it easier to stack your inserts together. Here’s a simple method to stacking your inserts.

1.    Take the coupon inserts out of the newspaper

2.    Sort by type of insert such as all the Smart Source with each other, all the P&G with each other, etc.

3.    Rip the covers off and place into a pile and separate the other inserts into their own stacks.

4.    Take one page at a time and stack together ontop of the cover you ripped off. Say you have a page with Purina coupons in each of the Smart Source inserts, stack them together ontop of the cover, and then repeat with all the following pages.

5.    You now have one giant insert with all like pages gathered together. Write the Sunday’s date on the cover.

6.    Place inside one insert holder in your binder if you choose to have one, or place inside a file folder inside your coupon holder. Mark each folder or holder with the date of the inserts.

The next method is the organizer binder. This method takes a lot more work so if you have some time to spend on couponing, this method makes finding coupons easier.

You will need a large binder, at least 2” and sheets of baseball card holders (the plastic holders) with 9x slots on each sheet. Get as many as you can.
Organize the sheets into groups using paper or some kind of label marker to label each group (use groups like dairy, meat, veggie, fruit, etc.) Each like coupon will go into one pocket. So if you have 3 like inserts, and each insert has a coupon or $1 off Purina, put all 3 $1 off Purina into one pocket, not separate pockets.

Keep your coupon organizer with you at all times. You never know when you’ll need a certain coupon or when you’ll find a good deal and go home to find you could have made it better!

Also, print out each store’s coupon policy and keep it in your binder or organizer. You can find a list of them all here.

See the next set of tips below:

Types of Shoppers and Couponing Language Part 3

Stockpiling Part 1