Getting the Most Out of Coupons at the Grocery Store
It isn’t always easy finding the coupons that you need when it comes to grocery shopping. Yet, if you’re smart about the way that you go about it, you can save a bundle of money at the store, just by taking a little time and effort to search and organize.
A key to saving money when using coupons is to have several copies of the coupons that you know you are going to use. Some coupons are good for only one item, so if you have a coupon for a can of soup and you know you’re going to buy 5 cans of soup, that coupon can only be used for one of them. In order to get the most savings, you’ll need 5 of that coupon-one for every can of soup you purchase!
Make sure that you look through your local Sunday newspaper and circulars throughout the week for coupons. Cut out the ones that you need and store them in an organizer. If your paper arrives and you don’t have any coupons, call the newspaper’s office because you’ve actually paid for the coupons when you purchased the paper.
If you need extra coupons and you find them in the paper, consider buying an extra copy. However, weigh the expense of the extra copy of the paper versus the savings that you will get for the coupons.
Try starting a coupon collection box at school or at the office. It’s a fun way to recycle coupons that are good deals but not necessarily useful to you. Ever so often, have someone go through them in order to dispose of the ones that have expired.
Share coupons with friends. This is a good way to recycle coupons as well. Most people are working from a budget these days and you might have something that someone you know needs. Likewise, your friends might have something that you need as well-perhaps even an extra copy of the newspaper.
Print off the coupons that you need online. This is also a good way to get multiple copies of needed coupons. There are many websites that allow shoppers to search for coupons by zip code.
Restaurants, hotel lobbies, and airports are a good place to pick up free papers that may contain coupons. In general, you can take as many copies as you want as most of these are tossed out at the end of the day.
After collecting your coupons, store them in an organizer. When you go shopping, take only the coupons that you need for that particular trip so that you can easily find them. Knowing where the coupons are, so that you can use them when the time comes, is a key to using coupons effectively.
Most of all, keep your eye out for “double coupon days” at your local stores. This is when you will save the most money on your coupons. If you use double coupons, or purchase the items when they are on sale, you might end up getting the item for a little of nothing.