A long time ago, I was a coupon cutting fiend. But I let it slide and forgot about coupons. Living on my own with a tight budget, I have learned to love coupons again. But cutting coupons out of the newspaper on Sunday is not the only way to go anymore. There are many innovative ways to save money at the grocery and drug store.
First - go to the dollar store and buy one of those little accordian style coupon holders. This will keep you from having coupons scattered willy-nilly all over the place. Plus it's easy to slip into your purse when you head out the door. Word of caution - clean out the coupon organizer about once a month so you don't end up with a plethora of expired coupons.
If you subscribe to the Sunday paper, great - you already have a source for coupons. But don't buy a weekend subscription just to get the coupons. If you have a neighbor that gets the Sunday paper, ask them if they use their coupons - if not, politely ask if you can have them. If you go to McDonalds on a Sunday morning, they usually have newspapers laying around. See it there are any coupon inserts just laying there for the taking. There are even people that go to newspaper recycling places and get permission to dig out the coupon inserts.
One of the easiest things I've found is to print coupons off the Internet. You can print the coupons to any kind of printer - the one drawback is you have to download and install the coupon printing application. This will ensure that you have the readable UPC code on the coupon. I've never had any trouble with the application and Norton software approved its installation on my system.
Check out CouponMom.com or HotCouponWorld.com. Both are great sites and give you many tips/insights including coupons to print. It's not just grocery store coupons either. This past Christmas, my son wanted to buy a "Sit And Spin" for his nephew for Christmas. It just so happens that there was a $10 off coupon on one of the Internet coupon sites. It wasn't limited to any specific store. He took the coupon to ToysRUs and got the toy for $10 cheaper than the advertised price. Pretty cool, huh? You can find pet product coupons, baby item coupons, etc on these sites. All you have to go is click the little checkbox and then print when ready.
Another great source of savings is the "customer savings cards" offered at many of the chain grocery stores, like Kroger, and chain drug stores, like CVS. Years ago, they were considered a pain in the butt - now they are a staple to every savy shopper. Not only do you get discounts on items listed on sale, but you can earn extra "bucks" to use in the store (or in the case of Kroger, at the gas pump). By having the customer savings card, you are also added to their snail mail list and you may receive coupons/free samples in the mail from participating manufacturers. You don't have to pay for the customer savings cards at Kroger or CVS. Some places, like BooksAMillion, charge a fee for their card so think how much you plan on spending at a store annually before you purchase a card.
And last but not least, don't forget to check the weekly sale papers. You can find these online and even have the link sent to your email. Many will allow you to click an item in the online sale paper and it will print out a shopping list for you. Great time saver!
The best feeling in the world is to look at the register total prior to the cashier scanning your customer savings card and your coupons then watch the number drop as the system calculates your savings. I'm just a rookie and I can save anywhere from $30-$50 with my customer card and coupons on my bimonthly grocery trips. And that will pay for a pedicure or even a haircut. All just from clipping coupons...
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