Attention New Members!
If you haven't started yet, it's time to begin collecting coupons
NOW!
If you haven't started yet, it's time to begin collecting coupons
NOW!
In order to maximize your stockpiling efforts, it's important to have a nice supply of coupons ready when a sale begins. In this blog, I'll quickly share with you a few ideas that have helped me greatly in this new journey.
WHERE TO GET COUPONS
Clearly, we all know that most Sunday newspapers have at least 2 coupon inserts included inside each week. These are a must-have! Purchase as many newspapers each Sunday as you can justify spending the money on. Here in my area, my local city paper is actually quite lame in the way of coupon inserts- most of the time there is a flimsy little "few page" insert that usually contains more "Fingerhut-ish" type item ads than actual coupons. This is a waste of my time and I've learned not to buy them. We have the Joplin Globe (next largest town) which has more in the way of coupons- and they have the store circulars (Walgreen's & Target) that I need each week, so I purchase 1 (one) copy of the Globe. Better still is the Kansas City Star. This paper has more coupons, better coupons- and I've never purchased one that had missing inserts. They are more costly than my other options, but I MORE THAN make up the money in my weekly savings. I always buy 5 Kansas City papers which cost me $10.00. I bring them home, quickly retrieve the inserts, MAYBE glance at a section or two of the news (not local, so I don't spend much time on it) then stack the papers aside. These will be donated later to the humane society who is always needing newspapers for the kennels.
It's so important to have multiple sets of the weekly coupon inserts- that way, when a teriffic deal comes around, you'll have several coupons to use and can buy more than one of that item. If you're planning on starting a stockpile, this is just a FACT. Analyze your situation. Ask yourself how serious you are about buying in bulk. Decide how many newspapers you can afford to buy. Commit to it.
The next step is to get creative! I recently read an article that stated only 6% of all printed coupons from newspaper inserts are actually redeemed! Now that I've been doing this, I just can't imagine the percentage being so low! That means 94% of all of those lovely (and extremely valuable!) coupons are filling our landfills- and wasted. Now, this article was dated a few months ago, and I wouldn't be surprised to find the percentage of redeemed coupons is on the upswing- but still! There are SO MANY out there just begging to be rescued and used! What to do? Ask friends who don't use them if you can have theirs, ask neighbors, ask people from church! People are usually more than glad to pass them on to someone who will take the time to use them. If you have a recycling center nearby, the chances are excellent that you'd be able to grab quite a few. I was lucky enough to find a convenience store in my town (Casey's in Carthage- all you locals better back off!!! :) whose manager and I have struck up a friendly relationship. I go in on Monday afternoon and he allows me to have all of the inserts from the unsold Sunday papers. (In order for the store to get credit for the unsold issues, all he has to do is tear off the front page and turn them in to the newspaper carrier.) This week, I was given 45 inserts from the left-over KC and Joplin papers! I was positively giddy! Combined with the 5 papers I'd bought the day before, I now have 50 full sets of coupons. Plenty to share! With a little "digging", you can find your source, too.
WHICH COUPONS TO CLIP
Honestly- my recommendation is to save every coupon you can get your hands on! You never know when one of our "savings stores" is going to run something on special for a week that includes the register rewards. You may be like me and have tons of coupons for Robitussin cough syrup or Maalox, see an opportunity where utilizing your manufacturer's coupon along with store coupons and sales will result in a profit for you in the end! Even if it's not necessarily a product you or your family use or would regularly purchase, you could always donate the item(s) or save it back to have a big garage sale in the spring- all the while, pocketing the excess money the store GAVE you for taking the item off their hands!
Here's a little tip I've found out: the coupons you get from your newspaper most generally will not match up with a sale for about 3 or 4 weeks later. The psychology behind this (especially for brand-new products just released on the market) is that the manufacturer releases a coupon hoping to generate interest in their product to get the consumer to run out and buy it because it's: A. a new product you may have been noticing advertised on TV commercials, now you have a coupon and you're just DYING to try it; and B. it's seasonally-timed just right and it's a type of product you may be needing during that particular time of the year. Usually, about 3 or 4 weeks after the release of the coupon in which the manufacturer hopes you've already used, the item goes on sale. SINCE you've supposedly already bought it, tried it, loved it....they are hoping that now you see it's on sale, you'll buy it a second time. It's proven that once a consumer buys twice, they're more than likely to then be "hooked" on the product and will then be a loyal, repeat buyer. Moral of this story? Get your coupons, hold on to them for a few weeks to wait for a coordinating sale, THEN use the coupons! Any time you can match coupons with a sale, you're going to come out ahead of the game!
ORGANIZATION
This whole couponing experience can easily turn into a huge mess! You may wonder: what's the best way to keep organized, how do I keep it all straight, and how do I match coupons with weekly sales? Simple answer- GET ORGANIZED! The best way I've found is by using what others have referred to as the Binder Method. At first I was using a 1" 3-ring binder and after the first or second week, I realized it wasn't big enough. I've switched to a 3" 3-ring binder, and that's working out a lot better. I bought a package of the plastic pages used by baseball/trading card collectors that are 9 pockets per page. Then I bought some self-stick tabs to be able to easily flip to the page in my binder I'm looking for. This works out nicely, as I'm not having to flip through a small accordion-type organizer typically used for coupons, because it allows me to view 9 coupons at a time instead of only one, and keeps all "like" coupons together. Some coupons need to be folded to fit into the pockets, but I just fold it so that I either see the product name or a picture of the product while flipping through the book. This method of organization is also nice, because binders have pockets to keep my sale ads (circulars) or other items I may need while out shopping. My sister-in-law, Nicki, uses a zippered binder, and has reported how much she likes it. Some people keep a pencil case inside that attaches to the rings of the binder to keep pens, a small pair of scissors, a notepad and maybe a calculator.
I'm hoping this blog helps you discover the best way (that works for YOU!) to accumulate multiple sets of weekly coupons as well as provide assistance in helping you get organized! Please, if you have other ideas that could help someone else, please leave a comment we can all read!
Next blog: a "Diaper Update" and a few links to some free (or really cheap) goodies you can take advantage of NOW! I'll post again later this afternoon......
WHERE TO GET COUPONS
Clearly, we all know that most Sunday newspapers have at least 2 coupon inserts included inside each week. These are a must-have! Purchase as many newspapers each Sunday as you can justify spending the money on. Here in my area, my local city paper is actually quite lame in the way of coupon inserts- most of the time there is a flimsy little "few page" insert that usually contains more "Fingerhut-ish" type item ads than actual coupons. This is a waste of my time and I've learned not to buy them. We have the Joplin Globe (next largest town) which has more in the way of coupons- and they have the store circulars (Walgreen's & Target) that I need each week, so I purchase 1 (one) copy of the Globe. Better still is the Kansas City Star. This paper has more coupons, better coupons- and I've never purchased one that had missing inserts. They are more costly than my other options, but I MORE THAN make up the money in my weekly savings. I always buy 5 Kansas City papers which cost me $10.00. I bring them home, quickly retrieve the inserts, MAYBE glance at a section or two of the news (not local, so I don't spend much time on it) then stack the papers aside. These will be donated later to the humane society who is always needing newspapers for the kennels.
It's so important to have multiple sets of the weekly coupon inserts- that way, when a teriffic deal comes around, you'll have several coupons to use and can buy more than one of that item. If you're planning on starting a stockpile, this is just a FACT. Analyze your situation. Ask yourself how serious you are about buying in bulk. Decide how many newspapers you can afford to buy. Commit to it.
The next step is to get creative! I recently read an article that stated only 6% of all printed coupons from newspaper inserts are actually redeemed! Now that I've been doing this, I just can't imagine the percentage being so low! That means 94% of all of those lovely (and extremely valuable!) coupons are filling our landfills- and wasted. Now, this article was dated a few months ago, and I wouldn't be surprised to find the percentage of redeemed coupons is on the upswing- but still! There are SO MANY out there just begging to be rescued and used! What to do? Ask friends who don't use them if you can have theirs, ask neighbors, ask people from church! People are usually more than glad to pass them on to someone who will take the time to use them. If you have a recycling center nearby, the chances are excellent that you'd be able to grab quite a few. I was lucky enough to find a convenience store in my town (Casey's in Carthage- all you locals better back off!!! :) whose manager and I have struck up a friendly relationship. I go in on Monday afternoon and he allows me to have all of the inserts from the unsold Sunday papers. (In order for the store to get credit for the unsold issues, all he has to do is tear off the front page and turn them in to the newspaper carrier.) This week, I was given 45 inserts from the left-over KC and Joplin papers! I was positively giddy! Combined with the 5 papers I'd bought the day before, I now have 50 full sets of coupons. Plenty to share! With a little "digging", you can find your source, too.
WHICH COUPONS TO CLIP
Honestly- my recommendation is to save every coupon you can get your hands on! You never know when one of our "savings stores" is going to run something on special for a week that includes the register rewards. You may be like me and have tons of coupons for Robitussin cough syrup or Maalox, see an opportunity where utilizing your manufacturer's coupon along with store coupons and sales will result in a profit for you in the end! Even if it's not necessarily a product you or your family use or would regularly purchase, you could always donate the item(s) or save it back to have a big garage sale in the spring- all the while, pocketing the excess money the store GAVE you for taking the item off their hands!
Here's a little tip I've found out: the coupons you get from your newspaper most generally will not match up with a sale for about 3 or 4 weeks later. The psychology behind this (especially for brand-new products just released on the market) is that the manufacturer releases a coupon hoping to generate interest in their product to get the consumer to run out and buy it because it's: A. a new product you may have been noticing advertised on TV commercials, now you have a coupon and you're just DYING to try it; and B. it's seasonally-timed just right and it's a type of product you may be needing during that particular time of the year. Usually, about 3 or 4 weeks after the release of the coupon in which the manufacturer hopes you've already used, the item goes on sale. SINCE you've supposedly already bought it, tried it, loved it....they are hoping that now you see it's on sale, you'll buy it a second time. It's proven that once a consumer buys twice, they're more than likely to then be "hooked" on the product and will then be a loyal, repeat buyer. Moral of this story? Get your coupons, hold on to them for a few weeks to wait for a coordinating sale, THEN use the coupons! Any time you can match coupons with a sale, you're going to come out ahead of the game!
ORGANIZATION
This whole couponing experience can easily turn into a huge mess! You may wonder: what's the best way to keep organized, how do I keep it all straight, and how do I match coupons with weekly sales? Simple answer- GET ORGANIZED! The best way I've found is by using what others have referred to as the Binder Method. At first I was using a 1" 3-ring binder and after the first or second week, I realized it wasn't big enough. I've switched to a 3" 3-ring binder, and that's working out a lot better. I bought a package of the plastic pages used by baseball/trading card collectors that are 9 pockets per page. Then I bought some self-stick tabs to be able to easily flip to the page in my binder I'm looking for. This works out nicely, as I'm not having to flip through a small accordion-type organizer typically used for coupons, because it allows me to view 9 coupons at a time instead of only one, and keeps all "like" coupons together. Some coupons need to be folded to fit into the pockets, but I just fold it so that I either see the product name or a picture of the product while flipping through the book. This method of organization is also nice, because binders have pockets to keep my sale ads (circulars) or other items I may need while out shopping. My sister-in-law, Nicki, uses a zippered binder, and has reported how much she likes it. Some people keep a pencil case inside that attaches to the rings of the binder to keep pens, a small pair of scissors, a notepad and maybe a calculator.
I'm hoping this blog helps you discover the best way (that works for YOU!) to accumulate multiple sets of weekly coupons as well as provide assistance in helping you get organized! Please, if you have other ideas that could help someone else, please leave a comment we can all read!
Next blog: a "Diaper Update" and a few links to some free (or really cheap) goodies you can take advantage of NOW! I'll post again later this afternoon......
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