Couponing

My name is Laura and I am addicted to coupons.  I have never been a coupon user before.  And the more I use them the more I realize how much money I have been wasting all these years!  There are a few things that I didn’t know about coupons that I have recently learned.

1–Lots of places that you wouldn’t expect take coupons.  Rite Aid, CVS, Walgreen’s and of course Target, Walmart, etc.  Even gas stations will take coupons!

2–You can use coupons on clearance items (unless otherwise stated).  I always assumed that if something was on clearance that I couldn’t use a coupon on it but most places will let still let you use coupons on those items.   They are not losing any money–they still get paid by the manufacturer for those coupons.

3–Kroger’s and Martin’s will double coupons.

4–You can use coupons on Buy One Get One Free items.  So if you have two coupons for the same item and it’s BOGO free (such as Breyer’s ice cream–that is one that is frequently on sale at Food Lion) you can use both coupons and save even more money! 

5–You can ‘stack’ coupons.  For instance, let’s say you have a Target store coupon for $1 off of Lysol.  You also have a $1 off Lysol manufacturer’s coupon that you found in the paper.  Target will allow you to use both coupons on one product!

6–Most stores will take coupons printed off the internet.  Some won’t, but I use them at Food Lion and CVS without any problems.

As far as finding coupons, I use google a lot!  When I find something I need and don’t have a coupon for it, I just google “huggies coupons” or “printable huggies coupon” for example.  I am usually able to find several coupons this way.  I don’t subscribe to the paper but I do buy the local Sunday paper every week as well as the Washington Post.  However, I realized that buying the Post was going to cost my over $100 a year.  So I have started looking through the recycling bin at work for coupons.  (I also look in the bottom of the paperbox when I buy my weekly paper because a lot of people toss their coupons at the bottom!). 

I bought some baseball card plastic organizer sleeves to keep my coupons.  I put them in a 2 inch binder.  It makes it very easy to sort through and find what I need.  It is also easy to go through and pull out expired coupons.  I take my binder right in the store with me.

I have a few links on my sidebar of different places to find coupons.  I have signed up for coupons at a lot of different places on the net and get tons of e-mails with coupons included.  I would highly recommend that you set up a separate e-mail account if you do sign up for a lot of internet coupons because you will get overloaded with e-mails!  I sometimes get over 50 in one day.  But I have found some very good deals by sorting through them! 

Here is a link I just found to some more coupon tips!

Happy couponing!