Finding Coupons - Company Websites and Online Printables

Another place to find coupons is on the web. Go to the websites of your favorite companies and stores. They may have an email newsletter or mailing list that you can join. If so, they may email you links to printable coupons, reminder of upcoming sales or when coupons for their products will be in the Sunday paper, or even send you coupons in the mail.


You might also want to use the "Contact Us" link at their site to tell them how much you enjoy their products. Be sure to include your name and address and you may be thanked with coupons in the mail.


On the other hand, if you've had a disappointing experience with one of their products sharing your thoughts might also get you a free item coupon. Recently I bought a product that had a coupon inside but that coupon was expired. I contacted the company and they sent a duplicate coupon with a later expiration date as well as a coupon for a free product.


While you're online check out SmartSource, Red Plum and Coupons.com. You can pick and choose coupons from these sites to print. You may have to download and install something. These three sites a reputable sites that don't include spy ware with those downloads. Be wary of other coupon printing sites that want you to download something and use at your own risk.


Remember to make sure your favorite stores accept "Internet Printables". Due to some people abusing the printables (printing massive amounts of the same coupon or using a graphics program to change it to suit them) some stores no longer accept any printed coupons. Some stores only allow a set number of printed coupons per transaction.

Finding Coupons - Newspapers and Magazines

Most everyone knows that at least one Sunday paper in your area will have coupon inserts. Find out which of your local papers include them and buy those papers, subscribe to a full week, just the Sunday edition or just run out and buy one Sunday morning. If you subscribe to a Sunday paper from outside your area that's mailed to you, coupons won't be included as they're regionally based.


If more than one paper in your area has Sunday Inserts you may consider buying it too. Sometimes the coupons are slightly different, sometimes you'll want more than one copy of a coupon for a really good deal. You could of course buy multiple copies of the same paper also.


Some people ask the stores what happens to the unsold papers and make deals with them to get those papers. If one of your friends or a family member regularly gets the paper but doesn't coupon, you can arrange to get their coupons.


On the first Sunday of each month, in addition to the usual Smartsource and RedPlum inserts, Proctor and Gamble usually adds one packed with coupons for their products (Always, Bold, Bounce, Bounty, Cascade, Charmin, Cheer, Clairol, Comet, Cover Girl, Crest, Dawn, Downy, Duracell, Dryel, Eukanuba, Febreeze, Fixodent, Folgers, Gain, Gillette, Head &Shoulders, Herbal Essence, Iams, Ivory, Joy, Luvs, Millstone, Mr. Clean, Pampers, Pepto- Bismol, Pringles, Puffs, Scope, Tide, and Zest just to name a few.)


On holiday weekends, the Sunday before Memorial Day of the Sunday after Thanksgiving for example, there are no inserts. So if you're buying the paper strictly for the coupons don't bother on those days. The planned shedule for the rest of 2010:



April

4 – No Inserts

11 – Smart Source & RedPlum

18 – Smart Source & RedPlum

25 – Smart Source & (2) RedPlum

May

2 – Smart Source & RedPlum & Procter &Gamble

9 – Smart Source

16 – Smart Source & RedPlum

23 – Smart Source & RedPlum

30 – No Inserts

June

6 – (2) Smart Source & RedPlum & Procter and Gamble

13 – Smart Source

20 – (2) Smart Source & RedPlum

27 – Smart Source & RedPlum

July

4 – Procter and Gamble

11 – Smart Source & RedPlum

18 – Smart Source

25 – Smart Source & RedPlum

August

1 – Smart Source & RedPlum & Procter and Gamble

8 – (2) Smart Source & RedPlum

15 – Smart Source & RedPlum

22 – (2) Smart Source

29 – Smart Source & RedPlum & Procter and Gamble

September

5 – No Inserts

12 – Smart Source & 2 RedPlum

19 – Smart Source & RedPlum

26 – Smart Source & RedPlum

October

3 – Smart Source & RedPlum & Procter and Gamble

10 – Smart Source & RedPlum

17 – Smart Source & RedPlum

24 – Smart Source & RedPlum

31 – Smart Source & RedPlum

November

7 – (2) Smart Source & RedPlum & Procter and Gamble

14 – Smart Source & RedPlum

21 – Smart Source

28 – No Inserts

December

5 – Smart Source & RedPlum & Procter and Gamble

12 – Smart Source & RedPlum

19 – No Inserts

26- No Inserts



Also don't forget to check any "magazines" included in your Sunday paper. Often there will be coupons tucked inside.


Another place to get coupons is your favorite magazine. There may be a tearaway insert or coupons printed on the pages. These coupons are geared toward the target audience of the magazine so look for beauty coupons in Cosmo, Diaper coupons in Parents, and food coupons in Ladies Home Journal.

Why Bother Using Coupons?

A lot of people think that they won't save money using coupons. I used to be one of them. I would see coupons for name brand things and think to myself " I could just buy the store brand and it would be cheaper". Or I'd look at the coupons available and not find any for the brands I preferred.


But then I started making changes. Everyone is looking to save a little money these days so I thought I'd share. Yes, it's a little work and yes it takes a little time, but if it was easy everyone would do it.


I'm going to post a series of blog posts with some couponing basics and tips. I'll write about the different types of coupons and where to find them, making a price book, checking your stores policies on coupons, taking advantage of seasonal sales, double and triple coupon days, getting freebies, planning for your shopping trip, donating food and coupons, keeping your coupons organized, and how not to scare the cashier.

Church lady Recipes

In my quest to learn about food preservation I've been looking through some old cook books of the type where all the church's ladies submit recipes, someone has them bound into a book, and it's then sold to raise funds.

Most of the recipes are old fashioned, simple and quick which is to be expected. However there are tons of "recipes" that call for pouring Jello pudding into a store bought graham cracker crust and then topping with Cool Whip.

Is it just me, or is this not a recipe?

Learning to Can and Freeze

One of the things I resolved to do this year was learn to use canning and freezing and other food preservation methods. The lack of knowledge I have about these things is frustrating!

Cooking shows and cookbooks these days don't even mention these things. No one does them anymore. It's really annoying. I wish there was some one around her that could teach me these things. L talks a lot about canning and such when she was younger but with her memory loss she's not exactly a reliable source of information.