Where besides the Sunday paper do you find your coupons?

[Chicago526]

Everyone here always says they shop with coupons. I've tried cliping coupons for groceries from the Sunday paper, but I usually only find one or two a week that I can actually use. 99.9% of the coupons are for products or brands I don't use and don't want to try. Sure, I can save 20 cents on a can of Swanson chicken breast chunks, but the store band is 50 cents less, so I'd pay 30 cents MORE to use the coupon.

Am I missing something? Where do you all find these great coupons?

 

[dturner]

www.couponmom.com
www.boodle.com
www.coolsavings.com

A lot of manufacturers like Duncan Hines, Pillsbury have coupons on their website. I register with everyone I can find and they usually send out emails with specials, recipes and coupons.

 

[Cindy B]

Well you may need to branch out on brands then. The whole point of couponing is for your to try a brand/item you normally wouldn't use and have that product become a staple.

If I was unwilling to try new things/brands, I would have never saved money on couponing.

Sometimes the store brands are cheaper. That is when you compare unit price to see what is the better brand with the coupon.

 

[mshrm]

Good topic, Ive been getting bored with my coupon sites but here they are. You just pick the ones you want and print them..

http://smartsource.coupons.com/gmsb/Register.asp?JN=1001&pid=11581&zid=vg27&NID=2&From=Member

http://www.couponsurfer.com/index.cfm

http://www.latimes.com/shopping/coupons/la-couponfront,0,314188.htmlstory?track=hpleftnav-coupons

 

[Gillian]

By me, most stores double coupons up to 50c or 99c, so I'd get 40c on your 20c coupon above. If I liked the name brand better, I'd probably be willing to pay 10 cents more than for store brand, but chances are there will be a sale on the name brand that I can combine with my 40 cents off.

So if you have
name brand $1.00 - 20x2 = $0.60
store brand $0.50

but name brand goes on sale for $0.60 - 20x2 = $0.20 I'd buy that one.

I buy multiple papers sometimes, and/or order from a service. The problem I'm having lately is that I'm trying to cut out some things from our diet (hydrogenated oils, high fructose corn syrup & splenda/sucralose) that many packaged foods have. Cleaning products, paper, bath/body are good for couponing, but I'm really trying to change some of what we eat, even if it's free or really cheap.

 

[Chicago526]

Well you may need to branch out on brands then. The whole point of couponing is for your to try a brand/item you normally wouldn't use and have that product become a staple.

If I was unwilling to try new things/brands, I would have never saved money on couponing.

Sometimes the store brands are cheaper. That is when you compare unit price to see what is the better brand with the coupon.

That's just it, I guess. I use store brands for almost everything! The only things I can think of that I do national brands on is Kraft Mac 'n' Cheese and Campbell's Cream of Mushroom soup! Oh I'm sure there are a few other things, but really, I do store brand for about 90% of what I buy, from canned goods to dairy to frozen pizza and frozen veggies. I don't buy much conveinance food, I make most meals from scratch (except for the frozen pizza )It has to be a big coupon for a national brand to beat my store brand prices. I tried for over a month and I think I clipped maybe 15 coupons, it added up to $3 or something, if it wasn't for the fact that DH works for a newspaper and we get the Sunday paper for free, I'd have lost money because the paper would have cost more than what we saved in coupons!. Not worth the time or effort I put in to it. Did I just run into a few weeks of "bad" coupons? Do they seem to run in streaks where a lot of good ones are sent out, then a run of not-so-hot offers?

 

[Chicago526]

By me, most stores double coupons

Stores around here don't double coupons. In fact I'd never even heard of doubling (or trippling) until I came to these boards!

 

[madge]

I use The Coupon Clippers

I have found that it's better for me to pay a few cents each for coupons/brands I know I'll use. I get my sale ads on Sunday and check this site that evening, and I have the coupons by the end of the week.

I'm only brand loyal on a few specific things, that might help my savings.

 

[Gillian]

Chicago526, I buy a lot of store brands too, but I am willing to try national brands.

I found that there were some cheap sunday papers that still had good coupons, and I'll buy 4 of them because that's what my store will double.

I have also used thecouponclippers.com and if I order saturday night I get the coupons in time for shopping that week.

 

[allysmom1218]

Try Dealcatcher.com. They have coupons a freebies. If you can't find what you want, just go to the forums!!!!

 

[kc10family]

Some rewards sites offer coupons, I have found a bit many of them I have used.

 

[donnajon]

Try www.thegrocerygame.com. It is $1 for a 4 week trial. She basically tells you when an item is on sale at it's lowest point for the next 12 weeks and what coupon to use. I find that I can get a name brand item for less than a store brand. The key is to use your coupons at the right time. The first time I used the list, I saved $52. If you have any questions you can PM me and I'd be happy to help. I typically save over 65% each week at the grocery stores - and this includes buying things that I used to buy at Target and Wal-mart because I assumed they were cheaper there. I have more food in my house and have saved a ton of money!
Another tip is to buy a paper from a bigger city. My state newspaper (SC) has good coupons but I have found Atlanta has better coupons so I buy that one at the store and have the local on delivered.

 

[Cindy B]

I tried for over a month and I think I clipped maybe 15 coupons, it added up to $3 or something, if it wasn't for the fact that DH works for a newspaper and we get the Sunday paper for free, I'd have lost money because the paper would have cost more than what we saved in coupons!. Not worth the time or effort I put in to it. Did I just run into a few weeks of "bad" coupons? Do they seem to run in streaks where a lot of good ones are sent out, then a run of not-so-hot offers?

Some weeks are just bad coupon wise. I swear if I saw anymore porcelain plates or velcro shoes in coupon section I would scream!

It is a lean time for some manufacturers I think. I'm sure production cost, promotional costs, and other factors contribute to a lack of coupons to pass to consumers . (sounds like an economics lesson in there somewhere)

Anyway, I will coupon only if the product is cheaper than the generic equivalent.

 

[kydisneyfans]

It's not unusual to have coupon "down time" in the summer. My file is about as empty as ever, and with no coupons over the 4th and many June 30 expirations, there won't be much to use the next few weeks.

Big city papers have thicker coupon books-the Lexington KY paper stinks in terms of coupons, for a quarter less, we buy the Cincinnati Enquirer with double the coupons. We have doubles everyday to .50, last week we had triples to .50.

USA Today is becoming a source of good coupons. Dennys BOGO dinner were found on Friday, Quiznos had free flatbread salads a week ago Monday. Free 2 liter bottles of 7 UP were in about a month ago. Fazolis had free spaghetti dinners and powerade had free Powerade option coupons twice in the past. Look at the boards as i will usually post early in the day if USA Today has a free product.

Fall and winter will bring on better coupons-hang in there.

 

[kfeuer]

With your shopping habits and lack of doubling near you, coupons for groceries may not pay for you. You're the kind of shopper who would probably do very well at Aldi's if there's one near you.

The one area where I can almost guarantee you'd save with coupons is on health and beauty products. CVS, Walgreens, Eckerds and Rite-Aid all have amazing deals on a regular basis.

For example, this week Eckerds has a coupon in their flier for $10 off 3 Olay cleansers or moisturizers. I coupled that with a $3/2 manufacturer coupon and a $1/1 man. coupon and got 3 Olay cleansers for 68 cents.

Walgreens has products free after rebate every month, and even if you use a coupon you get a rebate for the full amount (and you get a 10% bonus if you get your rebate in the form of a Walgreen's gift card) so I often get back more then I paid, and then I roll it into the next month.

CVS has some good deals with their Extra Care bucks, particularly when you combine them with coupons.

Anyway, you might look into trying to save on your health and beauty costs more then your grocery costs. There's boards dedicated to each major drug store chain on: http://www.dealagogo.com/

One caveat--if you're brand loyal, you're going to find alot less deals. I'm willing to try anything once for free, and there's very few things I've tried that were absolutely unusable. But hey, if it's free what have you got to lose? You might find things you like better then your regular brand.

 

[rach2674]

Try www.thegrocerygame.com. It is $1 for a 4 week trial. She basically tells you when an item is on sale at it's lowest point for the next 12 weeks and what coupon to use. I find that I can get a name brand item for less than a store brand. The key is to use your coupons at the right time. The first time I used the list, I saved $52. If you have any questions you can PM me and I'd be happy to help. I typically save over 65% each week at the grocery stores - and this includes buying things that I used to buy at Target and Wal-mart because I assumed they were cheaper there. I have more food in my house and have saved a ton of money!
Another tip is to buy a paper from a bigger city. My state newspaper (SC) has good coupons but I have found Atlanta has better coupons so I buy that one at the store and have the local on delivered.

I tried them and see that you could save a lot, but yo have to have coupons from months ago. My problem was that I wouldn't have the ones that were from 2 months ago so it never saved me much. It's a great idea, but never worked for me.

There is a coupons exchange on here, but no one can join it. I'd love to do something like that, because then I could possibly get ones that I actually use. And I agree with the person that said they don't have many I can use..like dog or cat food. There just haven't been that many good coupons lately.

Rachel

 

[midwestdee]

Since we have some Chicago area postings - i wanted to jump in with this - some merchants will give you a hard time over internet coupons. I had gotten the $5.00 coupon for Fresh Step cat litter - it had been an option to print it - but I requested they mail it to me - it was a colorful coupon, printed on both sides - but the clerk did not want to take it! this was at Jewel - she asked the older cashier in the line next to her and that lady also said they couldn't take an "internet" coupon ! I was pleasent but said I wanted a manager called over - the manager said they could take the internet coupons, just not for over $5.00 OR a freebie. Just wanted to give you a heads up - happy bargain shopping.

 

[GraysMom]

I really wish the grocery stores around here would accept internet coupons. NONE of them do, even if the coupon is from the store's website . So unfortunately the only choices I have are newspaper inserts and the occasional snail mail coupon/coupon on package. Our stores also only double coupons up to .50.

GraysMom

 

[staceyfe]

I've found the best way to save money using coupons is to combine the coupon w/ a sale or clearance. For example, 2 days ago Nice 'n Easy hair color was on clearance at Target for $2.75. I bought 3 boxes and had 2-$2 coupons and 1-$1.50 coupon. Three boxes cost me $2.75. Another key is to save all coupons. The $1.50 coupon I had was from at least 2 years ago and it had a "no expiration".

I cut out coupons even if I'm not sure I'll use them. I typically don't use a coupon w/o a sale also unless I'm totally out of the item or really need it. The point is to buy something you may not use right now (but can buy it now on sale), but eventually you will use it. The only caveat--make sure you'll use it before the expiration date. I never pay more than $1.50 a box for name brand cereal because I wait for it to go on sale for $2 a box, then use a $1 off 2 boxes coupon. Right now I can't really buy any more cereal because we probably won't eat it before it would expire (I have a ton of cereal stocked up).

 

[donnajon]

I tried them and see that you could save a lot, but yo have to have coupons from months ago. My problem was that I wouldn't have the ones that were from 2 months ago so it never saved me much. It's a great idea, but never worked for me.

There is a coupons exchange on here, but no one can join it. I'd love to do something like that, because then I could possibly get ones that I actually use. And I agree with the person that said they don't have many I can use..like dog or cat food. There just haven't been that many good coupons lately.

Rachel

I started TheGroceryGame with only two weeks worth of coupons. It does take 12 weeks to get full cycle but I found that in about 4 or 5 weeks, I had most of the coupons she was using. I did not coupon before using TheGroceryGame because I would forget which Qs I had and get frustrated at trying to find them at the checkout. I love having her tell me which coupons to use - and she lists when they were in the paper so you know whether or not to look for them. For about the first 6 or 7 weeks, I was spending about the same amount at the store but bringing home so much more. Then at about week 8, my grocery bill dropped significantly. And it dropped again at about 12 weeks - the time it takes to fully cycle thru the game - because grocery stores have a 12 week pattern of putting items on rock-bottom sales. After the $1 trial it is $10 for 8 weeks - that is only $1.25 weekly to save so much. I can't tell you how much I love that game!