Free Coupons

Posted on Tuesday, June 30th, 2009 at 10:48 am

When I first started clipping coupons, the whole thing was pretty easy. You got your coupons from the Sunday inserts and occasionally cut them from a magazine. Today, things are a lot different, and there are multiple sources and types of coupons that you can use. You can often combine some of these coupons as well.

Here is a breakdown of the different kinds of coupons and where you can find them.

Blinkies: These are coupons that come out of a little machine that is attached to a shelf. They have little lights on them that blink. When a coupon is pulled out of the machine, another one takes its place. These coupons usually can’t be doubled.

Booklets: Often mailed to your home when you sign up, these booklets will often contain a number of coupons for different products by a manufacturer. They may also contain recipes and other product information.

Catalina Coupons: These coupons print out from a machine that is attached to the cash register at the grocery store after you pay for your purchase. They are often prompted by the purchases you make, and can be an incentive to try a different brand. Catalina coupons may also be announced in a sales flyer, such as getting money off when you buy a certain combination of items. They can generally be used for that specific store only on a future order.

Hangtags (winetags): These coupons are attached by a string or a cord around the neck of a bottle. They are usually associated with wine, but I have found hang tags on bottles of corn syrup and other products.

Magazines: Coupons can also be found in popular magazines. The magazine, All You, is famous for the number of coupons to be had each month.

Mailed: Mailed coupons are sent in the mail to your home after you sign up for them, usually on a website (coupon booklets are often sent in the mail, too) or contact the product manufacturer by phone. Many mailed coupons are high value coupons, such as coupons for free products.

Packages: Manufacturers often put coupons into their packages for future purchases. The coupon will be advertised on the box. Some common product types that do this are boxed cereals and prepared foods.

Peelies: Peelies are coupons that are attached to a box or container of a product and can be peeled right off in order to use the coupon right away.

Printables: Printable coupons can be printed off of the internet using your own computer. You can find these coupons at manufacturer websites, store websites (such as Target), SmartSource, RedPlum and Coupons.com. Depending on the site and your computer, you may need to download special software in order to get the coupons to print, and these sites are not always Mac compatible.

Sunday Inserts: These are the collections of coupon pages that often appear in the Sunday paper near the comics. There are three main publishers of these Sunday inserts: Smart Source (SS), Red Plum/Vlassis (RP) and P&G BrandSaver (PG). The coupons are regional, meaning that different areas will get different coupons or different amounts off for the same products, depending on the market.

Tearpad: Tearpads are coupons that are usually attached to the shelf near a product in the form of a pad. You can tear off the coupon from the pad and use it right away.

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Posted on Monday, June 29th, 2009 at 11:53 am

Using coupons the right way can save you money

Over the years, using grocery coupons has saved my family thousands of dollars. But, coupons can also cost you money, too, if you aren’t careful. Here are five questions that you should ask yourself before you use that coupon.

1. Even after using the coupon, will your usual brand or the store brand be less expensive?
Check the unit prices and bring a calculator if you aren’t great at doing quick sums in your head (I used to be before having three distracting kids). Many times the store brand is cheaper, even after applying a coupon to another brand.

2. Is the item likely to go on sale soon?

There is nothing better than combining a coupon with a loss leader sale. Sales on grocery items tend to come around on a regular basis, depending on the item. If you keep a price book, you should no if a product is likely to go on sale before your coupon expires.

3. Can you use the item or items before they go bad?

Some coupons require you to purchase multiple copies of the same product or products in combination. If you live alone, do your really need three large jars of mayonnaise, for example?

4. Does the deal require a lot of driving or effort on your part to use the coupon?

If the coupon is only good at Target, but the nearest Target is a 20 minute drive, it might be better to pay a few extra cents at the store just around the corner. If you spend more money in gas than the coupon is worth, then you have lost out.

5. Are there any special promotions coming up when the coupon might be worth more?

Some examples of coupons being worth more later include double or triple coupon days, or in combination with other coupons (buy three General Mills products and get an extra $4 off)? There may also be clearance deals coming up. Have a coupon for plastic wrap? Use it right after Christmas when Red and green plastic wrap gets put on the clearance rack.

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Posted on Thursday, June 25th, 2009 at 5:49 pm

We have two inserts in the newspaper this weekend, a Smart Source and a Red Plum. Look for a coupon for free Ideal sweetener. This is a new product, and a great way to introduce it.

Next weekend is the July 4 holiday. There will only be one insert on that day, a Proctor and Gamble Brandsaver. This is unusual, inserts are usually not published over holidays.

We’re noticing a trend in stores to help you use more coupons – and come into their store to do it. Walmart this week has many free samples on their website to register for. Visit Walmart.com and find free samples of Playtex Gentle Glide, Kotex, Aveeno, Scott products, and Sun Crystals. Walmart also has links to printable coupons. Some of these take you off site to the manufacturers website. These tie into sales and rollbacks at Walmart. Find printable coupons this week on Walmart.com for Alexia, Hungry Man, Biz, and other products.

Target pioneered the practice of featuring their own coupons and those of manufacturers on their website. Now other stores are following suit. This can only be good for the shopper. By finding ways to encourage you to shop at their stores, and save money with coupons, it is a win win situation.

Find our current inserts here. You can download the list, and take it with you to the store. You don’t have to clip the coupons, just take the insert and refer to the list to find what you need. And as for printables, be sure to check our list of printable coupons which is always being updated. You will find many great values here!

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Posted on Wednesday, June 24th, 2009 at 4:07 pm

If your favorite grocery store does not double or triple coupons, then is it still worth doing all of that clipping? How can you get free items without doubling or tripling? Read on, I have some solutions.

First, be sure that your store really doesn’t double or triple coupons. Sometimes stores will double or triple on certain days, or they will offer coupons in their mailed flyers (but not their in-store flyers) that contain coupons that will allow you to double or triple manufacturer coupons.

Shop stores that have other offers, such as allowing you to combine manufacturer coupons or give you register rewards or rebates. Some stores that do this include Target and Meijer.

Pay more attention to loss leader sales. These are items that the store discounts heavily in order to get you in to the store (they are hoping that you will do all of your shopping there). Often combining a coupon with a loss leader will lead to free items.

Look for coupons that have a high face value. Since you don’t have to worry about doubling or tripling up to a certain amount, a high value coupon becomes even more valuable. Look for coupons that are $1 or more off (for people who have stores that double or triple up to $.99, a $.75 coupon is more valuable.

Focus on purchasing items that you would buy anyway. Even $.50 off something that you normally buy is another $.50 in your pocket.

Contact the store manager or headquarters to respectfully ask for a coupon policy change to allow for doubles or triples. You just might get what you ask for!

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Posted on Tuesday, June 23rd, 2009 at 4:15 pm

Coupon policies vary greatly among stores and even among locations when it comes to store chains. Understanding the coupon policies for your favorite stores can go a long way to saving you money. You won’t wind up getting any surprises at the check out line, and you’ll be able to take advantage of the best policies.

I find it helpful to keep a quick list of the policies for my favorite stores. This way I can do a quick glance to compare where I should apply a coupon and how to apply it. Also, coupon policies can change, so keeping it all straight in your head if you go to multiple stores can get tiring.

So what are the type of things you should learn about store coupon policies?
Does your store double or triple coupons? To what amount of coupon? Do the doubles or triples occur only on certain days? Can you double or triple like coupons or is there a limit of the number of coupons that you can double or triple on a given trip?

Will your store take coupons that are printed off of the Internet? Not all stores do, and sometimes even when they do, cashiers aren’t aware of the policy.

Will your store take expired coupons. There are very few stores that do, but it does happen.

Will your store take competitors store coupons? Do they issue their own, and if they do, where can you get them? Can you stack store coupons with manufacturer’s coupons?

Beside coupon policies, you also want to be aware of other money saving store policies, such as rain checks and price matching.

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Posted on Monday, June 22nd, 2009 at 12:39 pm

Why save with one coupon when you can do it with two coupons?

Some stores will allow you to stack (use more than one coupon on a single product) coupons when you use a store coupon plus a manufacturer’s coupon. A store coupon is a coupon that is issued for use just in that store, while a manufacturer’s coupon can usually be used anywhere that accepts coupons and has the product.

Store coupons are usually found in store flyers, mailed to your home, in magazines, at the store website, and even sometimes in Sunday coupon inserts. Manufacturer coupons are usually found in the Sunday coupon inserts, at the manufacturer’s website or in the mail.

Stacking both a store coupon and a manufacturer’s coupon means that the chances of you getting a product for free are very high. Some stores also give you register rewards or checks even when you stack coupons.

Here are four stores that typically allow you to stack store coupons with manufacturer coupons. Of course you should check with your local store just to be safe before you plan out your shopping trip.

Target

Walgreens

CVS

BJs Warehouse Club

The best way to go about stacking coupons is to first look at the store coupons. These usually have short expiration dates and often last just a week. Once you have those coupons in front of you, go through your list of manufacturer coupons and check online to see if there is a matching manufacturer’s coupon. You can check our printable coupon database for manufacturer’s coupons.

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Posted on Saturday, June 20th, 2009 at 2:43 pm

This week’s coupon insert preview is posted here. There is a SmartSource, and a small Red Plum.

There’s a $2 coupon on Starbucks Ice Cream in Smart Source.  With this new product being offered on sale in select stores, this is sure to be a very good deal.  Publix has these on sale Buy One get One free, so if this is in your area, stock up.  There is also a $1.50 printable coupon for Starbucks ice cream here, and a sign up for a $1.00 printable coupon here.

There are also more coupons for Kraft products, and sales on these continue.  Save them, and match them up for the best deals in your area.

Planning your shopping trip is really important for additional savings.  Just like the Starbucks ice cream deal, it pays to combine insert coupons with printables to take advantage of doubling, Buy 1 Get 1 Free sales, or just to buy as much of a product as you can when it is offered at a really great price.

If you are in Idaho or Utah, be sure to visit Coupons.com. Enter your zip code and get great printable coupons off dairy products – any milk, any yogurt, any cheese.  What a great deal!

Coupons.com also has other super offers.  There’s a coupon for $3 off Huggies Pure & Natural diapers, and a coupon for $5 off any Rite Aid purchase of $25.  Combine this with Rite Aid’s in store rebates for extra savings.

Have a very Happy Father’s day, and enjoy the savings!

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Posted on Thursday, June 18th, 2009 at 11:42 am

To save money, I often buy things in bulk. That usually means getting the largest size of a product. Most of the time this is a good strategy to get the lowest unit price (e.g cost per pound or cost per count). My strategy changes, however, when I have coupons.

When using most coupons it pays off to purchase the smallest size package that is allowable with the coupon. This is true even if the larger size is normally a better deal. By applying a cents (or dollars) off coupon to packages that cost less, you get a greater percentage of savings. In fact, if you apply the coupons carefully, you can often wind up with free products.

I’ll give you a current example. In recent Sunday coupon inserts there have been $1 off manufacturer coupons for both Kelloggs and Kashi cereals. Both of these brands feature cereal bowls, one serving size containers of cereal that come in their own bowls. Apply the $1 off coupons, and you will get these products for free. My first experience with applying coupons to the smallest size of a product happened several years ago, when I was able to stockup on 20 individual servings of oatmeal this way. That was 20 breakfast meals at no cost, something my family was grateful to have.

If your grocery store doubles or triples coupons, you can still apply this strategy. A $.75 coupon doubled will come to $1.50 and tripled will be $2.25. This is usually enough to cover things such as smaller tubes of toothpaste, deodorant and more.

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Posted on Wednesday, June 17th, 2009 at 12:08 pm

One of the great things about the Walmart price matching policies is that you can get all of the best prices in one place. I remember my early days of grocery bargain hunting when I had to calculate the cost of buying somethings at a higher price versus the cost to run all over town to different stores.

One are of confusion for many savvy shoppers is whether or not Walmart will price match on meat. The answer to this is yes, most Walmart stores does price match on meat, but this can be a little tricky and can vary by store. it is important to understand a few things about price matching meat at Walmart in order to be successful.

First of all, when asking about price matching on meat, the cashier is probably the last person to ask. While there are many knowledgeable cashiers, the meat policy is pretty tricky, so go to the manager of the meat department instead.

The easiest price matching can be done with brand name products. So, if you have a flyer with a sale for Tyson chicken nuggets, then it should be easy to price match on this.

For most meat items, different stores have different brands. You can ask the store to price match using the Walmart brands. That will usually give you more successful result.

For whatever reason, shoppers tend to have a harder time price matching chicken than with other meats. I have no idea why it is, just that it seems to be pretty common.

Choose large family packs of meat (you can separate and freeze what you don’t need). These seem to be the easiest type of meat for price matching at Walmart. Just make sure that the ad says “family pack” on it.

Do you have any other Walmart price matching advice to share?

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Posted on Tuesday, June 16th, 2009 at 10:55 am

If you follow me on Twitter, you may have seen me mention Catalina coupons. Very often, Catalina coupons are high value coupons, so it is good to know all about them.

Catalina coupons are coupons that print out from that little printer at the cash register. They can print out during the time that your purchases are being rung up, or sometimes after your receipt is printed. The cashier should hand you the Catalina coupons when you get your receipt.

Very often, the cashier may either not notice the Catalina coupons, ignore the Catalina coupons or accidentally give them to the person who is in line after you, so it pays to keep an eye out on that machine. You may also find some stray Catalina coupons in your shopping cart or in the parking lot, since many shoppers don’t know what these are and tend to leave them behind.

A Catalina coupon is either a reward for purchasing certain products, such as $4 off your next order if you buy two boxes of General Mills cereal, or an incentive to try a new product, such as $2 off 10 containers of YoPlait yogurt after you just finished buying Dannon Yogurt.

Usually, Catalina coupons specify that they must be used in a specific store (the one where you just did your shopping.) But you can use them elsewhere, if you find another store that takes competitor coupons.

How can you increase the chance of getting Catalina coupons? There are a couple of ways. You can check the store flyers to see if they announce any deals. You can follow me on Twitter, because I’ll post deals that trigger Catalina coupons. You can switch back and forth between brands on the items you buy instead of being brand loyal.

Happy Shopping!

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