Coupons and Ads 101

Let's talk about two of the most basic components of saving money in stores:  Coupons and Ads.  For the longest time, I didn't clip coupons or pay much attention to store ads, mainly because I thought if I used coupons, I would end up buying things I wouldn't ordinarily buy and just end up spending more money.  I was actually right on the first count--I do buy brands I didn't buy before, but I'm getting good brand names for less money than I was paying for the store brands.  The trick is to use the coupons in the best possible way!

COUPONS

First of all, where can you find coupons?  If you're willing to put in a little time (or, I must admit, quite a bit of time sometimes!), you can find many, many coupons.  The easiest, handiest way to collect coupons is to buy your Sunday newspaper.  I began this process in January, and so far there has never been a Sunday paper without coupons, though some weeks are more slim than others.  But I've always been able to save far more than the $1.50 cost of the paper.  (I've heard rumors that some "dollar stores" sell the Sunday paper for $1, but I don't know if that's true around here.)

Find the coupons and clip them all!  Even if  you think you'd never use it, you might know someone who will! Well, okay, I have thrown away coupons before--true confessions! :)  I shouldn't advertise that, though.  I might start getting hate mail.  But, I'm sure I'm supposed to tell you to never skip over a coupon! :)

Another awesome source of coupons is the internet.  Just Google "online coupons" or something like that, and you will find many options.  Make sure "Manufacturer Coupon" is printed somewhere on the coupon or it may not be legit.  I had an embarrassing incident involving a faux coupon, and I would NOT want to repeat a humiliating experience like that again!

You can sign up with different websites to receive e-mail notifications of new coupons or deals. One of the main ones I use is Coupon Surfer.

"All You" is a magazine that I've heard has tons of coupons, though I haven't tried that one yet.

I will give you the links to some of my favorite sites in future posts.

What should you do with all those coupons, once you have them?  That's another thing you can Google for different ideas, but I'll share with you what I do.  I created a coupon organizer using just a plain old 3-ring binder I had already (though I'm tempted to buy something prettier--pretty things are just more fun!), tabbed dividers and my son's extra pages from his sports card binder.  This way I can see each coupon individually.  Sometimes I have to fold the coupon in strange shapes to make it fit, but I like this system.

My sister and her friends in her part of the country :) use page protectors, instead of the sports card holders.  You can use as many tab dividers and categories as you wish.  Also, in the front pocket of the binder (or you could use a 3-ring pencil holder thingy), I have a pen, scissors, and some other things I'll talk about in another post.  A highlighter is good to have when you're looking at ads.

Now, I must admit that when I first started all this, I was too embarrassed to take my coupon organizer with me into stores.  Can you imagine?  I was actually self-conscious about that!  I would just plan everything out and bring only the coupons I knew I would use.  My sister kept exclaiming, "You DON'T take your coupon binder into the stores?!!!!"  It was foolish of me, of course, because when there were unadvertised specials, I couldn't take advantage of extra savings.  A couple months into my money-saving venture, I decided to bite the bullet and I walked with my head held high into Meijer, planted my organizer down in its rightful place at the front of the cart, and was able to save more money than I planned!  Only once did I notice anyone looking at me "funny," but when I was closer to the woman, I noticed she had scads of coupons in her hands and I just KNEW she wished she had a groovy coupon organizer, too! :)

Now, here's the secret to using coupons:  Don't use them unless the item is already on sale!!  I mean, if you absolutely HAVE to have something and it HAS to be that brand, and you HAVE to have it right now for some reason, then, yes, at least you get to save a little bit.  But if it's not something you NEED right now, or if you can get by just as well with a store brand, DON'T DO IT!!!  You won't believe the deals you can get if you just wait for the right time to use that coupon!

Another hint is to check out the store's website to see if they either have printable store coupons (Meijer, Kroger, Target) or e-coupons (Kroger).  I don't have much experience with the e-coupons yet, but most stores will allow you to use 1 of their store coupons for a particular product AND a manufacturer coupon for the same item.  If the item is on sale AND you have the use of two coupons, you can save a bundle.

Here is an example:

I look at the Meijer ad and see that a box of Cheerios is on sale for $1.99.  I have a $.50 off coupon for Cheerios AND I print a $.50 off coupon from the Meijer website (the coupon will have the Meijer logo on it and I can only use it on Cheerios AT Meijer).  The Meijer coupons usually can't be doubled but they will double manufacturer coupons up to 50 cents.  So, my $.50 manufacturer coupon is now worth a dollar and I can also use the $.50 Meijer coupon, saving $1.50 off the already-reduced sale price of $1.99, making the final price $.49 for a box of Cheerios.  That's far less than you can get the Aldi brand!

ADS

Also enclosed in the Sunday paper are many, many store ads.  These ads, or the stores' websites, are essential in planning how to make the most of your coupons and cash.  Don't get rid of them until you have made your purchases and are satisfied that you got the deal they promised.

I think this is enough to chew on for now.  I have much more to say about ads and other ways to save lots of money, but let's just leave it at this, and hopefully tomorrow, when the ads come out, I can give you some real-life scenarios of how this works before we go on to some of my favorite stores to talk about--Walgreens and CVS! :)

Happy Saving! :)