How to Find and Use Coupons

Places to Find Coupons:

1. Sunday Paper—The paper has coupon inserts called Red Plum (RP), Smart Source (SS) and Proctor and Gamble (P&G)
2. Printable coupons--The following websites have printable coupons: Coupons.com, SmartSource.com, Red Plum.com, You can also find printable coupons on your local newspaper's websites.
3. Manufacturers Coupons--Go to the website of the product you plan to buy, often you will find printable coupons.
4. Coupon Swap Box--See if you library has a coupon swap box. If they don't have a box ask if you can put out a box with a sign saying, “Take or Leave coupons”. You could also put a box out at your place of work.
5. Friends or Family—Ask friends or family to save coupons for you.
6. Coupon Train—Join a coupon train which usually consists of 4-5 members who mail each other approximately 40-50 coupons.
7. Coupon Dispensers--You can find in stores next to the product which often don't expire right away.
8. Magazines—Many magazines have coupons for a variety of products.
9. Email Companies—Ask for a coupon for the products you like and tell them you love their product, usually they will send you a coupon.
10. Weekly Circulars—You can find store coupons ($5 off $25 purchase) or manufacturers coupons in the weekly circulars sent to your house. Be sure to look through even stores you don’t shop at since most grocery stores will accept competitor coupons and a manufacturers coupon can be used anywhere.

How to Use Coupons:

1. Combine Coupon—Combine coupons with sales, in-ad coupons (from the store), and rebates. You can use an in-ad store coupon, a manufacturer’s coupon and a rebate (Walgreens or Rite Aid which has their own rebate programs or a mail-in rebate through the manufacturers) all for one product. When you do these you can get items for free or almost free or even earn money if the store allows.
2. Buy One Get One Coupons (BOGO--If you combine a BOGO coupon with a BOGO sale you can get two products for free since it is actually two different sales, one from the manufacturer and one from the store.
3. Save Coupon Inserts—First clip coupons you need and then file all your coupon inserts with the date on top. If you see deals (posted on my site http://www.swapsavers.com/ or other sites) with the coupon insert name (such as Red Plum) along with the date of the insert you can then easily refer back to the insert and get the great deal.
4. Use Coupons with BOGO Sale—If you use 2 coupons during a BOGO sale you will can get items for a great deal or free. For example if a product is $3 and it is BOGO and you have 2 coupons for $1.50 off each product you can get both items free.
5. Double or Triple Coupons—Some grocery stores will double or triple your coupons. The rules for this vary with stores so check your grocery store to find out the rules regarding double or triple coupons.
6. Buy the smallest size—Some coupons do not have a size requirement so if you buy the smallest size with the coupon you usually get the best deal. You should do the math first to figure out the best deal per unit.
7. Coupon Organizer—In order to see all your coupons and use the coupon before it expires, you should organize the coupons any way which works for you. You can read my blog post about purchasing a coupons organizer.