Thursday, February 2, 2012

Where Do I Find Coupons???

The big question everyone has been asking me the last two weeks.  Where do I find coupons? 

Before I begin, here's something I want to tell you in keeping it completely honest, I, like every other blogger out there, have links on our sites for Coupons.com or Red Plum or whomever.  We are called Affiliates.  (Hence the "Compensated Affiliate" below my name.  What that means is that when you click on one of the links and print a coupon, we get an incentive.  With that said, I can honestly tell you:  A)  I don't do this blog for that reason and B) as long as I have been doing this blog, I have yet to make enough money to get a pay check from either of the companies.  You make like $.02 a coupon and the threshold I think is $100.00 and trust me when I say, I won't be getting there any time soon.  Honesty said, with that first, let's move along.

There are so many places to find coupons that for some one to say they can't find coupons is almost an invalid excuse.

1)  First the circulars.  They will be in the Sunday paper every weekend with the exception of holidays.  Circulars don't run on holidays.  (Everyone needs a break)

2)  Second Printables. As I stated before, you can get printables through Coupons.com, Red Plum, Smart Source and a whole host of places out there.  Couple of things to remember on printables:

A)  Printables are reset at the beginning of every month.  For example, say there is an Alpo coupon out there for $3.00 off 10 cans.  The manufacturer sets the limit of the number of coupons that can be printed.  Maybe it's 10,000 or maybe it's 100,000.  Only the manufacturer knows.  Once that limit is reached, the coupon comes down or says the "campaign" is over.  However, on the first of the next month, the coupon could be reset again for you to print more.

B)  Normally on the sites like Coupons.com, Red Plum, etc. you can print two coupons.  For example, say you scroll through all of the pages and select 15 coupons to print, after you have printed those 15 coupons, you can go back and select them again to print again.  Once you have printed them a second time you will not be able to print them again.

C)  Coupons from manufacturers like General Mills, Pillsbury, etc (The Big Guys) are also on their site so if you don't feel like printing them from a bloggers site (Ahem), then by signing up at the manufacturer's site you can print the exact same coupons with the exact same 2 coupon limit.

3)  Third, All You Magazine.  This magazine is an exclusive of Wal-Mart and more times than not has a ton of coupons in it.  The magazines are different each month and the coupons are different each month.  This is the best magazine for having coupons.  My advice to you on All You is check it out in the store before you buy it.  I grab one, scan through it and see if there are enough coupons in the magazine that warrants me paying the price to purchase the magazine.  Or, you can subscribe to the magazine on line.  They usually have 30, 40, 50 coupons in the magazine each month.  I find some months that I can use 40% to 60% of the coupons and other months, well, not so much.  Make certain you aren't buying the magazine for just 1 or two coupons.  That's not cost effective.

4)  Fourth, Other Magazines.  Sometimes you will find coupons in magazines like Woman's Day, Good Housekeeping, etc.  These magazines have anywhere from 3 to 10 coupons in them.  Again, check to see if the coupon is worth buying the magazine for.  Or, if you are like me, another way to get these magazines free is to go on My Coke Rewards and enter the codes from your coke products and use those points to get the magazine subscriptions.

5)  Fifth, Manufacturer Sites.  This is a great way to get printables, coupons in the mail and special deals.  Now if you are not a person that likes to read your emails, then don't bother doing this because once you start signing up at these sites, you will get lots of e-mails.  I get a minimum of 100 e-mails a day.  If you don't have time to check them, then don't bother because they will fill up your inbox quickly.  However, if you do have time to check them, this is one of the things I always tell people to do.  The reason is once you register on a manufacturer's site, then you are considered a "loyal" customer.  That loyality does pay off from time to time.  I have received coupons from the manufactuer online and in the mail that I never saw come out in the flyers on the weekend, nor did I find in any magazine.  It's there way of thanking you for being a loyal customer.

6)  Sixth, Specialty Sites.  These sites are sites like Healthy Essentials, etc.  They are sites set up by the manufacturer and they normally offer different coupons then what is offered at Coupons.com and Red Plum, etc.  They are generally a little higher value but don't offer as wide of a variety as they are only coupons from that manufacturer.  They also are generally different than the coupons that are listed directly at the manufacturer's site.

7)  Seventh, Other Sites.  These are sites that you go to for other things.  For example Swagbucks.  One of my favorite sites for so many reason, but they also offer coupons.  These will be the same coupons that are on Coupons.com and Red Plum.  However, when you print from Swagbucks or Mypoints.com, you get an additional incentive.  For example, say I went on coupons.com and saw 10 coupons I wanted.  I print them and get my 10 coupons.  However, if I print those same coupons from Swagbucks I get points when I use them and the same for Mypoints.  It's an additional incentive.  Who doesn't like getting Swagbucks points?  Trust me they add up.

8) Eighth, Home Mailers.  Another incentive for registering on the manufacturer's site is the home mailers.  Some manufacturers just send them to you without notice.  Others like Procter & Gamble, you have to request from their site. 

9)  Ninth, "Peelies".  These are coupons that are on the product at the store.  The idea is that when you purchase the product, you peel off the coupon and hand it to the cashier.  This one has always been interesting to me because I have actually seen people stand in an aisle and peel the coupons off of several products and just put them in their pocket or purse and leave.  SHAME SHAME SHAME

10) Tenth, Flyer Purchasing Sites.  There are sites out there that sell the flyers.  Coupons by DeDe is the main one that comes to mind.  You can register on their site and say we had a week where there were killer coupons out there and you wanted more.  You go to their site and order and pay for them and they ship them out to you.  I am not registered with any of these sites because I do it another way but I know a few people that are.  I don't do it because I don't like to waste all of the coupons on products that I don't use.

11)  Eleventh, Ebay.  Now this one is interesting because you can find coupons for just about everything on the site.  If it was in "A" flyer, you can find it on e-bay.  Now, when you go on E-bay you will see the terminology that you are "buying the time to clip and organize the coupons."  The reason you see this is that legally, it is against the law to sell coupons.  So you aren't purchasing the coupon, you are purchasing someone's time to find the coupons for you and mail them to you (Ahem).  With that said, I use this method whenever there is a coupon out there that I love and really want more of.  For example, 1.5 years ago there was a coupon out there for $2.00 off  one box of Snuggle Dryer Sheets (I think it's Snuggle).  Wal-Mart had them for $1.86.  You guessed it, I went on E-bay and purchased the time for some sweet person to clip and send me 20 of the coupons.  Now I paid $1.49 (I think) for the coupons and ended up getting 20 boxes for free.  SSo, in all reality, it cost me $1.49 for 20 boxes of Snuggle.  By the time the cashier was actually done, they owed me.  They couldn't figure out how to make the register work and I was just happy to get the product free (plus the cost of the purchased coupons) that I told them to keep the money.  Anyway, this is a definite way to get specific coupons that you are looking for without having to purchase extra flyers.  Also, I have found it interesting that different parts of the country get different coupons so while my area may have gotten a coupon for $.35 off 1 of product "A", your area of the woods may be getting a coupon for $.50 off 1 of product "A".  I often find coupons on here not from my area that are higher value.

12)  Twelth, Product Inserts.  This is one that people sometimes miss because they don't pay attention to the package their product comes in.  When you purchase a product, before you recycle the box or bag, check the inside.  It's not uncommon for the manufacturer to print a coupon on the inside of a carboard box or slip a special coupon in the bottom of the package.  For example, two weeks ago I purchase a bag of Gorton's fish fillets.  I opened the bag and was dumping them on a cookie sheet and out popped a coupon in a little plastic protector sleeve if you will.  When I opened it up, the coupon was good for $1 off any one product and the coupons doesn't expire until the year 2015!!!  Of course I loved that coupon. 

Now, I have given you 12 ways to find MANUFACTUER coupons.  Now you have no excuse to say you don't have them.  I'm certain there are probably other ways to locate coupons, but these are the top ways to get them. 

Next we will talk about how to organize them! 


 Compensated Affiliate

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