Lots of people struggle with their finances. If you are having difficulties getting by, consider clipping and using coupons for items you buy regularly like food and household products. While this may seem hard to believe, everyday millions of people are taking advantage of the power of coupons. Keep reading to find out more information.
Don’t rely only on your Sunday paper. Look for deals on several different weekend newspapers, and purchase them. This will help ensure that you get the widest variety of coupons possible. In addition, you may be able to get more than one coupon for an item that you use often, allowing you to stock up when it is on sale.
Keep your coupons in order and catagorized by different areas of the grocery store. You should keep a book that you will take to the store with you and also keep extra coupons ou will not be using in a different book or filing folder. You will not be overwhelmed when you go.
A good tip when clipping out coupons is to place them in a pouch or somewhere you can easily keep track of them. This will prevent you from creating a mess and you’ll have your coupons readily available when you need them so you won’t have to dig around to find them.
Put your scissors down! Instead of spending time clipping coupons that you may or may not ever use, just keep the whole circular. Organize them in a file chronologically. There are many blogs and databases online that will match up coupons with in-store sales and refer you to the dated insert with the corresponding coupon. When you find a deal you want, just look up the inserts and clip only the coupons you’ll need.
To have a basic filing system for your coupons, it’s a good idea to put them in a shoe box stacked in chronological order or just arrange them by an expiration date. In doing this, you do not have to waste a ton of time organizing. However, you always know which coupons are about to go out of date and become useless.
Set coupon saving goals each week. Try to come with a dollar amount you need to save every week and use that as motivation to help you find those money saving coupons. By working this strategy it puts you in the mindset of always looking for those great coupon deals.
You don’t have to waste costly color ink printing coupons on your home printer. If you have an inkjet printer, you can set your preferences to print in black and white or simply remove the color cartridge. This way, everything will print in black and white. Retail establishments will still accept these non-colored coupons.
To get the most coupons possible, sign up for more than one Sunday newspaper subscription. You will receive tons of coupons this way and may even get different ones with each subscriptions. Also, ask your family and friends to save the coupons from their papers for you (if they are not using them).
Organize your coupon collection. As you get more and more into coupons, you’ll reach a point where coupons are everywhere. You need to create an organization system so that you don’t miss out on any of those great opportunities. Consider organizing them by brand, by store or even by expiration date
Don’t clip coupons for items you don’t need. Don’t buy something simply because it’s on sale. Lots of people stock up on unnecessary items just because they have coupons and they think that is saving them a lot of money. But, if you are purchasing something you don’t want or need, the expense is unnecessary.
Know which stores near you offer the lowest price to begin with, then go to them with your coupons. If store X is selling an item at two dollars more than most and your coupon is for a dollar off, you are just selling yourself short! Do the basic legwork and maximize your total savings!
Get familiar with your chosen store. If you’re not shopping online, you are going to have to navigate store aisles and deal with cashiers. It will ease your couponing process if you can easily find the items you have coupons for, so that you’re not wasting time in the wrong aisles. It also helps if you can find cashiers that can deal with the whole couponing process properly.
Don’t just use coupons for yourself. If you see a great deal that can be had using coupons for a product you don’t use, you might want to get it for someone who can use it. Especially for products that end up being free, this is a great thing to do.
Build a bookmark folder for your browser, which contains any coupon sites you use. Browse these sites regularly for new deals. That way, you don’t miss great deals that make you bang your head against your walls.
You can even find coupons and special promotional discounts for services online. A lot of rental car agencies will allow you to use a coupon or promotional code to get a discount for their services. Just do a quick search to see what you can find and you can wind up saving a good amount of money.
Check the packaging and contents thoroughly of everything you buy and use before you throw it away or recycle it. You never know where you might find a coupon. Sometimes they are hiding on the bottom of a box, or have slipped down to the bottom of the inside of one.
Clip coupons and then shop online. Many online retailers will accept manufacturer coupons, which means big savings for you. Because of the low overhead with an online store, costs can be reduced, thus saving you more. Many times this can be like doubling your coupon savings, which is always a treat.
Lots of people are struggling due to the declining economy. The good news here, though, is that you can begin to save a lot of money on your grocery bills if you’re only willing to apply a few solid tips. Give it a try to see for yourself!
