GREYHAIRED MOMMA: FCBF -- The Coupons

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

FCBF -- The Coupons

"All right! All right! You've told us about many things regarding the use of coupons. Except one thing. Where do we get the coupons???"

Uh, yeah. Small matter.

Sorry to have overlooked it previously.

There are many ways to obtain coupons. I usually get my coupons from the Sunday paper or Coupons.com.

When looking at the websites I've recommended*, if there is an available coupon, the author will list where to find that coupon. After doing this for a couple weeks, I realize that there are myriad of ways to get coupons. Buy coupons. Clip them out of magazines. Find them on websites. Friend the product on Facebook and print the coupon. Badger your friends and family into sending you the coupon inserts out of their newspapers. And there's probably many, many more ways that I don't even know about. Or want to know about. At least not yet.

If you are just beginning, I would advise starting small. Get a Sunday paper. Go through it and keep the coupon pages. Then, go to one of the couponing websites* and make your list. Many times there will be a link for a printable coupon. Print it. Save it for a future sale. Or use it now. Whatever makes your skirt fly up.

You'll also see that it takes time to build up a database of coupons from which to pull. For instance, I might see that Hefty bags are on sale BOGO at Publix and that there was a coupon in the Sunday, 1/16 Red Plum insert. Well, I wasn't couponing then, so I don't have that coupon. Might still be worth buying because it's BOGO, but would be sweeter with a coupon or two! Eventually I'll have a database which will allow me more freedom to shop only when the item is on sale AND I have a coupon. That's where the big savings comes in!