Here is Marcia’s first blog post and it’s all about making the most of our coupon savings-
Think you’re saving a lot of money with coupons? You may be, but just wait until you try some of my tips for finding high value coupons on products you buy every week. With a few of these suggestions, you could save much, much more.
The first step in boosting your coupon savings is to find more – especially high value coupons and those good on products you buy regularly. Everyone knows that about 90% of all coupons originate in the Sunday newspaper inserts. And if you only clip those, you can save a decent amount. But if you look beyond the inserts, for the remaining 10% of all coupons redeemed, you can find some great values.
Here are some of the lesser-known, but very valuable sources of coupons:
Clipping services. For a fraction of the face value of a coupon, you can pay a clipping service to find and clip specific coupons for you. Through clipping services, you can often find regional coupons that weren’t offered in your area, and you can buy several to allow you to stock up when terrific sales come along. Some of the ones I like are http://www.thecouponclippers.com/, http://www.clippityq.com/, and www.couponsthingsbydede.com.
eBay.com. Working much like a clipping service, eBay sellers offer to clip batches of coupons via eBay. When you’re buying 10, 20, or 50 of a particular coupon, this can be quite economical. Search for the term “coupon” and the product you need on eBay’s home page.
Craigslist.com. Similar to eBay, you can find local coupon clippers who have the coupons you’re looking for. The benefit of ordering from local clippers is that you can get the coupons in your hands faster, rather than having to wait 2-3 days for mail delivery.
Magazines. While the newspaper insert is king, magazines for women and parents may be queens, often offering small coupon inserts stitched in the center. The best magazine of all for coupons is All You, which is published by Wal-mart and has page-after-page of coupons, many you won’t find anywhere else.
Facebook. Manufacturers now offer incentives to shoppers to “Like” them on Facebook, rewarding fans with coupons for free products.
Your phone. More stores are turning to text messaging to provide coupons on products that you can then combine with manufacturer coupons; Target, for example, is big on mobile coupons. Check with your grocery store to see if they send out e-coupons.
Manufacturer websites. There are some great coupons to be had right on the websites of consumer products manufacturers. Head to the home page of companies you buy from and look for a section offering coupons or promotions
Complain. Another way to get high value coupons is to let a manufacturer know when you were less than pleased with their product (assuming you’d try it again). Reporting a problem is almost guaranteed to yield some nice coupons for your trouble.
Ask. Even better, ask a company whose products you like to send you some coupons. Tell them how much you like their product and indicate that you would buy more if you could have some coupons.
Gathering more coupons makes it possible for you to have a coupon for each and every product you buy next week. The more coupons you present, the less you’ll have to spend.
Marcia Layton Turner is an avid coupon clipper who saves thousands of dollars a year by using them. She is also the author of Extreme Couponer: Insider secrets to getting groceries for free.
