Calling All Coupon Shoppers

http://neverpayretailagain.blogspot.com/

http://www.moneysavingmom.com/money_saving_mom/

http://www.commonsensewithmoney.com/

each one of these sites/blogs offer ideas on organizing coupons and will also email you once a day with updates on daily/weekly bargains. I also use couponmom.com. I tried the grocerygame.com but the lists don't post until Sun noon time and I could never organize myself before the sale prices switched on Tuesday. Couponmom is free so if I don't use it I don't feel as guilty!

Hi,
I like to read www.moneysavingmom.com. Also, she has her coupon filing system on her website, if you want to use that as a idea.
I get my coupons from the Sunday paper.
M.

Wow, you have a ton or responses for coupon answers. However, I don't see a system for organizing them as good as the one I'm using. It was actually referred to me by a client of mine and I love it! (I'm a Professional Organizer.) Go to www.couponizer.com The system was invented by a Mom and it absolutely is wonderful!

Hi K.,

I've started couponing in the past few months, and the Grocery Game is the best site around, as far as I can tell. It does cost money and it takes a bit of time each week (something you may have in short supply with a new baby), but you can get a one month free trial to see if you like it. There's also a site called Couponmom.com which lists grocery store sales and the coupons that they match up with, but it isn't as comprehensive. I like both of these sites because they don't just tell you about sales; they tell you which coupon to use with which sales to get your purchases free or very, very cheap. This week I bought $23 worth of toiletries and medicines at Kroger, and I spent less than $4 total!

Grocery Game advises you to use coupons from a variety of sources; PGeSaver.com is a site where you can upload Proctor & Gamble coupons to your Tom Thumb or Kroger cards. I buy two copies of the Star-Telegram ($2.89 for 2, vs. $5 for 2 Dallas Morning News) and save coupons from both. Most grocery store websites (plus Target) will have online coupons that you can either print out or add to your frequent shopper card. Two more sites for coupons are cellfire.com (loads onto your shopper cards) and coupons.com (print these out at home).

Since I started couponing, I consider my trip a failure if I don't save at LEAST 50%, and I sometimes save much more. I rarely buy anything that's not on sale, and I do most of my shopping at Tom Thumb, Kroger or Albertson's because my local stores double and triple coupons. The key (other than combining your coupons with sale ads) is to plan your menus around sale items (including what you've purchased and saved from previous weeks) and to stockpile when you find a good deal.

Moneysavingmom.com is a great blog because she gives links to lots of online coupons and tells you which store has the best deal on those items.

As for organizing, I keep my coupons in a small accordion file divided by type of product (meats, paper products, health care, etc.). I clip coupons for products I wouldn't necessarily use, because very often I can get products for free. For instance, Kroger and Albertson's both do 10/$10 sales a lot. If I have a 50 cent coupon, that gets doubled, and I can buy one 10/$10 item for free (you don't have to buy 10 to get the deal). I donate any free stuff my family doesn't use to our church's food pantry.

I hope this helps! Good luck - and have fun with that new baby!

N.

Make sure you still look online for coupons, if you have a printer you can get a ton of coupons online. Start with http://www.coupons.com and you can try http://www.redplum.com and http://coupons.smartsource.com

Also check websites from your favorite manufacturers-Kraft foods does a lot of coupons online as well. Many even send out free samples or coupons in the mail or allow you to participate for feedback and get free items or coupons. One site that gives you samples/coupons to try is: http://www.vocalpoint.com
There is a lot to do online and you are only paying the price to print the paper.

I also get doubles of the newspaper if the coupon preview looks good for that week. I also check many blogs to see deals in my area- http://www.commonsensewithmoney.com/
and http://happycouponing.blogspot.com/ are good ones, and many other people responding to your message use other great ones. I've heard about the grocery game and it sounds great, but I've been able to just use the blogs for my coupon matchups and tips on deals and not have to pay any subscription fees. Hope this helps, good luck and happy couponing.

try...... www.mydallasmommy.com she has great website for coupons and free items.

Hi K.,

You already have a ton of advice, but I want to point you to my friend's blog. She says her part-time job is couponing, which allows her to stay at home with her kids. It is absolutely amazing how little she spends to keep everyone fed with healthy, organic food. Check out her advice on
http://wendypsaves.blogspot.com/

Everything from groceries to arts and crafts to movies is covered.

Peace,
M.

K.,

I tried the Coupon Game for one month, but I have found several blogs that give me the same info without a monthly fee. Check out moneysavingmom.com and dealseekingmom.com for some good ideas. You will find tons of links to other blogs with lots of different tips. I've had fun finding some good deals at CVS and Walgreens by reading those blogs.

C.

We get our coupons in the Sunday and Wed. paper, too. I also signed up for Kroger's coupons (online) that you can transfer on your Kroger card or print out. (These are the only printed coupons they take, to my knowledge.) You can also add yourself to their mailing list, and they send a bunch of coupons through the mail for free eggs or deodorant or stuff like that. You can also combine the store coupons with manufacturer's coupons AND sales, if they are having them on that item for MAXIMUM savings! I love it!

On storing them...we store them in those file boxes by date. I DO NOT cut them until I need them. I use the Grocery Game (www.theGroceryGame.com), which tells me the dates/coupons/value to use and when on their Grocery Game list. But if you don't use the Grocery Game, you can find the coupon you're looking for on Taylor Town Preview (www.taylortownpreview.com). I just pick a date (on TTP) and then, click on "Master List". Then, I click on the "Edit" button on the top of my browser and click "Find". Then, you can type in the product or brand you are looking for a coupon for.

If you want help with The Grocery Game (I love this site) or Taylor Town Preview, let me know. I'll be glad to share more. Take care, and I wish you the best in your couponing! It's so much fun! :D

Check out http://afrugalfriend.blogspot.com/. It's amazing and really helps people save money with coupons. Good luck!

K.,

I teach a couponing class - check out the basics at www.yourcouponbuddy.com. If you would like more info about it email me at ____@____.com class includes Grocery Store ideas, CVS & Walgreen's.

Hope this helps,
L.

Couponing is an art. The best place to really get the best information on all your coupon questions. www.refundcents.com I found them about 8 years ago before it was cool to coupon.I love it because there are so many sources from where to find coupons to trading coupons with other people. Be careful thoug.. it is very addictive...

The bad part about the Grocery Game is that they only list a coupon once in their system. Here's an example.
Say cheese is on sale at Kroger this week for $2 off. They'll list a $1 off coupon next to the Kroger sale and tell you that you'll save $3. Sounds great. But you end up busy and don't get shopping that week. Bummer.
Next week, Kroger has a BETTER sale for 1/2 off each cheese, which makes it $3 off. If you combine that with you $1 off coupon, you'll save $4, which is better than last week. However, GG will NOT list the $1 off coupon because they used it last week.
Does that make sense?
If you use the local blogs, like Surviving the Stores, they'll match every coupon with the sales until they expire. That makes it really useful and it's free. That is why I quit the GG two years ago.

I didn't read all the responses, so I may be repeating what others have said.

I get my coupons online, mostly. I check redplum.com, smartsource.com, coupons.com and http://www.hotcouponworld.com/forums/archive/index.php/f-... (you have to search through these a little more, but there are always some I can use!). I also subscribe to a few blogs that tell you about coupons (a search through Google will probably find them...if not, email me and I'll give you the exact addresses):
TheFreebieBlogger
Money Saving Mom
Deal Seeking Mom
Freebies 4 Mom

To organize mine, I have an index card organizer I bought at an office supply store. It's like an accordian file, but it's plastic. I divide my coupons by category (baby, snacks, personal, paper goods, etc.).

Hope this helps!

Check out www.thegrocerygame.com
You'll save a ton

I use The Grocery Game on the internet. It is great because it tells you what is on sale, where EXACTLY to find the coupon, and what percentage you are saving. The website is http://www.thegrocerygame.com (say I referred you). I pull the coupon sections from the newspaper on Sunday and a few on Wednesday and put the date on top of the first page. Then, I file them in a file notebook. The grocery game tells me what section and day the coupon is in and I just go and pull it from the file. I then only clip the coupon when I know I need it. I save between 50-60% on groceries - mostly name brands!

This may sound odd, but bear with me...
The Dallas Morning News has a Spanish publication called Al Dia. Al Dia is a FREE subscription with delivery on Wed and Sat. It has the same coupons that the regular paper does! Can't lose, and if you're conscious about paper waste, the two papers together are probably not as big as one Sunday paper. Plus, you get your coupons on Sat!

I've become a coupon maven and average 34% savings on our groceries. The best source for coupons is the Sunday paper. I subscribe plus a friend in the neighborhood gives me hers so I get two sets every week.

Join the "Grocery Game". The cost is minimal and they offer a free trial. It's a great way to know what's really on sale and how deep the discount is.

I go through the coupon inserts and clip the coupons for items we regularly use. These I file in an accordian file that's the size of a business envelope. You can get them at Target or Wal Mart. What's left of the coupon inserts, I date and throw into a drawer. The "Grocery Game" will often direct me to a coupon that's 1-2 months old but the discount is awesome. In the last 2 week's I've gotten 3 oral B toothbrushes and 4 tubes of Crest toothpaste for free using those old coupons.

You can go online and load coupons onto your grocery store reward card at Proctor and Gamble eSaver and shortcuts.com

Shop at stores that double and triple coupons. And shop between Sat. and Tues when the best sales are offered

Check at your grocery store to find out whether they accept coupons printed from your computer. Most do not, but if yours does there are endless sources of coupons online.
Happy shopping.

Log on to grocerygame.com. Great source!

There are always good coupons in the Sunday edition of Dallas Morning News, also if you go to the website of the store you're going to, they often have coupons you can print as well. Additionally, you can Google "coupons" or "coupons + XXXX--whatever you're looking for" and usually many great things will come up, as well as "coupon sites".

I buy the double edition papers at the grocery store on Sundays...they come with double coupons! There are also websites where you can get printable coupons, but I honestly don't do this very often.
My friend makes a very cute & practical coupon organizer called the Coup"ON" the go. You can visit her blog to order one: http://www.couponthego.blogspot.com/
I keep mine in my purse and now I always have my coupons with me! :)
The big trick for coupon shopping is to try to use your coupons along with grocery sales so you are getting the most savings possible (you can somtimes get items for FREE!)
Good luck! It takes time and strategy to coupon shop...but when you see how much you can save, it can be addicting!!

K.,

I am an advid coupon saver. My shopping trips are usually over $200 but I will walk out paying 40-50 bucks! I live off less than $125 a month in groceries for my daughter and I and that includes bath stuff like shampoos etc...

I get the double coupon sunday paper, check all ads and do www.couponmom.com now. It is FREE compared to Grocery Game which is what I use to do. Same concept just a lil different. You sign up on the sign and sign up on the forum alerts etc!

She will tell you when to clip so you don't spend a whole day clipping.

HTH

E.

I organize my coupons in a 3 ring binder and use the plastic sheets for trading cards to organize them by category. In addition to getting the paper, I go online to Tom Thumb and Target and get check out their online coupons. By signing up on line with pampers,proctor and gamble, huggies, etc. you usually get them in the mail. Also, I know with Target, if something goes on sale within 2 weeks of buying it, you can go back and get the price adjustment. I don't know who else does that. Hope that helps!

i use coupons from time to time when i shop at target, you can go online and have them mail you some and also print them out. these are for items i actually buy - not because i have a coupon for it. the newspaper coupons might as well not be in there for me. i don't buy frosted flakes and rice a roni, nor will i because i have a coupon.
a good organization for coupons might be that little plastic accordion book, that has a several different slots. it'll fit easily into your diaper bag or purse. i know you can get them at container store, or maybe even the dollar store.
congratulations on your new addition!!

hi well the place i get most coupons is out of the news paper every sunday or their are some web sites to sign up bu be carefull they seem to suck you in to their now buy this theam... and some magazines are a good place to look at their web sites and in have a kraft site that i vsit sometimes also
I SELL TUPPERWARE PRODUCTS THAT WILL HElp YOU REDUCE THE WASTE YOU HAVE FROM THROW AWAYING PLASTIC CONTAINER AND SAVE YOU MONEY AND ALSO YOU CAN EARN FREE PRODUCTS OR EVEN SELL TUPPWEWARE YOUR SELF... VIEW MY WEB PAGE AND I HAVE WONDERFULL FOOD PREP IDEAS AND RESIPES TOO www.my2.tupperware.com/tracyharvey and thanks

Some of the Krogers stores have a coupon exchange at an entrance to the store. It's free and can help you. LATER

I don't think anyone has mentioned this website. It is not only a great source but also a great teacher:
http://www.afullcup.com/

I would contact B. Sandefur aka "The Coupon Detective". She will show you how to work the coupons and store fliers to your benefit. Go to www.MyCouponDetective.com for more information.

Good Luck! B. P.

You'll find the bulk of the coupons in the Sunday paper and you can just subscribe to get the Sunday paper only if you don't want M-S. I use both www.grocerygame.com (free trial for 4 weeks) and couponmom.com (free all the time) to get the best deals. It takes some getting used to and a bit of time, but for about 1-2 hours per week I have my grocery bill (including diapers, cleaning supplies, toilet paper, paper towels, etc.) for about $400.00 per month for my family of 5.

Try New Value Net on your browser.I get a lot of products free by following the advice.

IF you have a printer there are tons of coupons on line. Google coupons and you will find a lot of sites with a lot of offers. Just print them and go to the store. Coupons used to have much longer expiration dates so now I sort mine by expiration date then by item. Two or three zipper bags hooked with a jump ring are not that much to carry. Make sure when you cut coupons you are getting things you would normally use or you wind up buying extra stuff just because you have the coupon and spend more money just to save a few dollars on what amounts to impulse buys.

The Sunday paper is a great place to find coupons and you can also go online and print them out. Good Luck!!

thegrocerygame.com is amazing. You don't cut out all the coupons and organize them. You date the top of your coupon book that comes in the Sunday paper and the list tells you which book and date to pull the coupon from so you don't cut coupons you'll never use. The grocery list usually goes in order of the isles at the supermarket. Even my husband loves to go to the store with me to see the savings.

If you are really looking to save money, I recently learned to take the flyer for my grocerry store and make my weekly menu off of that. Then I take the coupons I get out of the Sunday paper and almost always save even more money.

I'll give you an example- last week Kroger had a sale on cereal at 2 for $5, Name brand cereals that my family would eat. And I also had a coupon for the same cereals at by 2 get a $1.00 off- so I paid $4 for both cereals-huge boxes that normally are nearly $4 a peice!!!

We've been able to save on average $30-50 everytime we go to the store. We do the same around the meat specials and see what they have on sale first, then get the reciepe's out and see what we want to make!

Although, I am glad you asked the question, b/c now I have several different places to go look for more coupons- might be able to save even more!!!!

I am a big coupon clipper :) I am registered with coupons.com and I get an e-mail with lots grocery coupons from them. I also get the Sunday paper and there are always lots of grocery coupons in it.
If you have a printer then you can usually sign up for weekly adds from your local grocery store like United and Walgreens and they usually have coupons as well.
I am sure there are some other coupon sites on-line as well you would just have to look, in fact I think one of them is freefly.com
Also, if you have some favorite stores then you can google them and sign up for a news letter or mailer and they will also e-mail you coupons. I know it works for Jo Anns fabrics and crafts, Michaels, Hobby Lobby, JC Penneys, Old Navy and probably others but you will need a printer since they just e-mail them. I hope this helps!

I don't use regular coupons...only the specialty ones from Market Street for $10 off purchase or something like that.

As for the other coupons, I get bombarded with them in Sunday and Wednesday paper. Also, read the grocery ads. Tom Thumb has weekly coupons in their add that look pretty good. I saw one in today's ad for Breyer's ice cream $1.99

Although I am not a coupon clipper, I do read the weekly ad from Tom Thumb and Market Street which are the main 2 places I shop, Market Street is a daily thing for me. When I see something in an ad that I want to stock up on, I go to that store. Both are very conventiently located so I am not running all over town to get a "deal". Example, last week Tom Thumb had buy one get one free on Ballpark Beef franks and those go like crazy around here....we use them for dog treats.

I think you can also print coupons from the Tom Thumb and Market Street website as well.

Good luck.

The Other TF (anti walmart one)

Get the Sunday paper for the biggest coupon sections.
Also, check out TheGroceryGame.com, I have been using for 4-5 mos now with great success. I also take the tactics I have learned from it, and apply to my organic foods and clothes shopping.

EVERYONE has the BEST way of organizing them, but the cheapest way I have found, is with an openable ring (not sure the proper name, from office max or target) about 1.5 inches in diameter and Index cards for "dividers". I hole punch my coupons and organize by exp. date into different categories: dairy/deli, frozen, pasta/cereal, etc.
I only organize by exp date for when I am at a store that matters: like Target, or Sprouts. HOWEVER! I know that my local Albertson's and Kroger always accept my expired coupons (or they just don't check I suppose) so don't throw out ANY. It is worth a chance with something small at your local store to see if one or two go through, then you will know! Good luck!

Coupons.com has a large variety of coupons you can choose from and then print out. I also use the ones in the Sunday paper. If there are a lot of good ones I'll purchase several papers. Walmart lets you use as many as you want at one time.

I used to be an avid coupon user when Albertson's did triple coupons. The best way to organize all of them was to buy a large 3 ring binder. I then purchased the plastic baseball card holders (they have 3 wholes on the side to put in a binder...they can be purchased at walmart or target). They are see through, obviously, so you can use each side. I seperated my coupons and bought dividers and labeled them into sections so everything was easily accessible.

I don't cut coupons but, I do shop the different grocery ads. I take the all to Walmart because Walmart will honor any competitors prices. can't beat that!

They are usually in the Sunday paper.

K.,
I posted once but I am excited to tell you that couponsense.com is here in Texas. I used it in Arizona and saved so much money. Unlike Grocerygame it charges $10 for all stores instead of one. I love it because I can sort for products I want and can compare all the stores prices. Example chicken will show the category and stores advertised sales. Now you can use the service for a trial period of $4.99, then it's $10 after that. You can either and go do the crazy notebook/binder and categorize your coupons like me or use their suggestions(like many others) and label them per week. I did it in the begining. Please take a look at it. I highly Highly recommend it. Mother of four, 18,8,6, and 4. I resorted to coupons when money got tight and it was getting to be tiresome to pay $400 at every Costco shopping trip. One thing to remember about coupons is stocking up and wait till the item is on sale or free. good Luck!

I get mine online at coupons.com and in the newspaper. Kraft foods has some coupons as well. Usually if you go to the brands website there will be some online for you to print.

A.

I have a coupon you can use at diapers.com to save money on any of their diaper products. The coupon code NICK5305 will get you $10 off of a $49 order and FREE shipping ... not too shabby!

I hope that helps :)

You may get a few coupons in the mail, but the majority of them come in the sunday paper.