Tip #4: Know Where To Find Coupons
Before we get to where to find them, I guess we should first talk a little about what a coupon is!
Coupon: a coupon is a ticket or document that can be exchanged for a financial discount or rebate when purchasing a product.
The word “Coupon” is of French origin from the word “colpon” meaning “piece cut off”
The first coupon was actually put out in 1888 by the Coca-Cola company to help get their product in soda fountains nationwide. Coca-Cola put out free drink coupons in various magazines and mailings all over the country to get people to try their product.
Do you think it worked? 
I’d say their marketing strategy definitely paid off!
Marketers know that coupons are very influential in the mind of consumers… they want us to buy products that we normally would not because we have coupons for them.
But just because marketers WANT us to spend more money while using coupons doesn’t mean that we have to! We can use coupons and spend much MUCH less than we otherwise would.
But before we get to that… how do we find coupons? Here are the top 5 places to look for coupons:
Newspapers
Newspapers are what most people think of first when they think about finding grocery coupons. Most large-city Sunday papers have a couple of coupon inserts in them each Sunday. The most common ones are the Smart Source and Valassis (or Red Plum) inserts. Proctor and Gamble also puts out a monthly coupon insert.
On Saturdays I publish the Coupon Preview which lets you guys know how many inserts there will be in each Sunday paper, along with a link to see which coupons will be in each insert.
Online Printable Coupons
More and more companies are making their coupons available to print right from your home computer! These coupons are accepted just like the newspaper insert coupons at grocery stores and drug store across the country.
We post a Printable Coupon Round-up each day with many of the new printable coupons that have become available that day.
Some websites that always have grocery coupons available to print are: Coupons.com, Redplum, Coupon Network, All You, Mambo Sprouts (lots of organic/natural food coupons), and Smartsource.
Magazines
Yep, there are lots of coupons in your favorite magazines!
All You Magazine is the magazine that BY FAR has the most coupons in it each month.
Be sure to check through any magazines that you get in the mail for coupons that you might want to keep!
In The Store
There are a several types of coupons that you can find right in the store:
Blinkies: These are coupons that are usually right by the product, usually from a box that has a red blinking light on the top (thus the name “blinkies”). When you take one coupon out the machine will spit out another one.
Catalina coupons: These are coupons that print out at the register after your purchase (sometimes it is attached to your receipt and sometimes it comes from a separate machine) – we will talk more about these types of coupons in another post!
Peelie Coupons: Coupons that are stuck to the package and you have to peel it off. NOTE: Please don’t take peelie coupons unless you are buying the product!
Tearpads: A pad with several coupons (sometimes refund forms) hanging from a store shelf or display. These are also usually near the product.
Winetags: A coupon found in the wine section or hanging on wine bottles. Many times these are for meat & cheese items. Depending on your store/state they might say “no wine purchase is required.”
In The Mail
Probably one of the most overlooked places for finding coupons is the MAILBOX! You can get these coupons by emailing companies directly and asking for them (many will even send free product coupons!), or for signing up for company mailing lists. Whenever I see a new coupon booklet available to receive in your mailbox I make sure to post about it here on Surviving the Stores!
Where do you feel like you find the best coupons? Newspapers, online, magazines, in the store, or in the mail?
| << Tip #3: Menu Plan Off The Weekly Store Sales Flyers | Tip #5: Match Coupons With Store Sales >> |
Newspapers and online
Oh, and by trading with other couponing friends.
I’ve discovered two cheaper ways to get newspaper coupons than subscribing to the Dallas Morning News. The Dallas Morning News offers a free paper that is delivered Wednesday – Saturday called the Briefing. You can subscribe on their website. The Wednesday Briefing contains the grocery store ads, and the Saturday paper contains COUPONS – the same ones that will show up in the Sunday paper! But the best part is, they are free:-)
The other place to get these cheaper is through community papers. I live in Mesquite and subscribe to the Mesquite paper (delivered every Thursday) for $20 per YEAR. This Thursday paper also contains the same Smart Source, Redplum and P&G coupons that the Sunday News contains.
The only drawback to getting coupons this way is that since you are getting a community paper version, there have been a few times that the coupon values were different or that different coupons were featured. However, when I realize how much I’m saving not buying a Sunday paper, I don’t mind a few differences!
Oh, I am going to try this!! I hadn’t heard of the Briefing, but I’m going to subscribe right now. THANK YOU!!!
awesome advice!!! i never knew about that! I’m hoping they’ll deliver to Arlington, just signed up, awesome!
I love my sunday papers!! Websites can also be extremely helpful, especially from specific stores like Target!
Another way is to order from a coupon clipping service. There are several out there. It’s great to sign up with several since they do run out of *HOT* coupons eventually!
A couple favorites are
http://shop.BlissCoupons.com
http://TheCouponClippers.com
I think the newspaper since it does cost to print when the come from on-line. I wish our local store had a card so I could load them on them and save the cost
EBAY!
I am new to couponing, if you print a coupon off the computer, can you color copy it?
No you cannot duplicate coupons. That is coupon fraud.
That’s a great question, Robyn! Most online coupons have a unique number on them that can only be used once, so you cannot copy them and use multiples. Usually you are able to print two of each online coupon per computer, but each of those coupons will have a different unique number on them. I hope that helps! Let me know if you have any other questions about it (and I will be addresses this issue in a post later in this series as well).
I print most of the “healthier” coupons that I can use at Whole Foods and Trader Joes online. But I receive most of my coupons through the Sunday newspaper.
Rachel — I watched the TLC show, “Extreme Couponing” and was sorely disappointed!! I was hoping to learn tips and tricks that I could use immediately.
I was shocked to see the grocery hording these parents were involved in. Who in the world will use 52 16oz bottles of mustard?? If you have extra coupons, leave them on the shelf for others. With the dozens of cereal boxes I saw, how do they use them before they get stale? Their personal ‘grocery stores’ overflowed into their kids rooms and for some, every room in their house.
Although these shows were showing a new addiction of food hoarding, it did inspire me to search the Internet to learn some good tricks. I found your blog and have spent so much time here. You have taught me so much. The first time I used coupons; double coupons; sale items with an automatic store coupon, I saved more than $44 on 17 items!! Only 5 different products were purchased, but in multiples. I was thrilled! I’ve now started a “Florida Fund” to put my coupon savings in.
You’ve taught me a lot, and I can’t begin to tell you how much I appreciate it. Thank you so very much.
Donna
hey what do u say in the email to the companys to get coupons