Which Coupon Gives You Max Benefit
Coupons 101
Coupons 101
Have you always wanted to save money and get free items but never understood the whole concept of couponing?
If you're like most people, you've tried couponing and maybe found that it was too much work to save 10 cents on occasional items. Or maybe you came to the conclusion you can buy store brand items for cheaper than using coupons on brand name items. Perhaps you couldn't find coupons for the products you most use and decided couponing wasn't for you. Once you understand the concept, and apply the techniques, you'll be amazed at how quickly you become addicted to the coupon game.
I started couponing and freebie chasing out of the need to be thriftier, but once I caught the coupon bug I was hooked. I get a rush walking out of a store with $100 in items and paying only pocket change, there's nothing like the thrill of opening the mailbox and finding free items or coupons for free items. Being thrifty is both fun and rewarding at the same time and I consider the money I save as a 'job'. Being able to feed my family on pennies and receiving such items as paper goods, food, and personal items for virtually free really adds up and is a lucrative way to free up cash in a monthly budget.
Now I can't fib and say couponing isn't time consuming, it does take some small amounts of effort to reap the results but once you get organized and into the flow, getting free stuff will quickly become a way of life. In fact, you'll probably look back and kick yourself for all money you've paid for things you can get for Free!
Types of Coupons
There are generally two kinds of paper coupons, manufacturer coupons and store coupons. Many stores will allow you to use both a manufacture coupon in conjunction with a valid store coupon. This is where the big savings come in as the key to saving money with coupons is to combine the coupon with a store coupon, or Catalina sale to double your savings.
Manufacturer Coupons are easily found in the Sunday newspaper, on product packaging, on tear pads next to the product, or mailed from the manufacturer. Manufacturer coupons can also be printed on the Internet from both websites and email and can be used at any store that sells the product in the coupon.Manufacturer Coupons are easily found in the Sunday newspaper, on product packaging, on tear pads next to the product, or mailed from the manufacturer. Manufacturer coupons can also be printed on the Internet from both websites and email and can be used at any store that sells the product in the coupon.
Store Coupons -These type of in store coupons can only be used at the particular store offering the savings, in this case it's Walgreens.
Catalina Coupons -Another type of coupon is a Catalina. These types of coupons come out of the register with your receipt when you make a particular purchase. Catalina coupons can be for $$ off your next order, or can be for money off a particular product. Catalina coupons are in store coupons and can only be used at that particular store.
An avid couponer's dream is finding a deal to use all 3 types of coupons at once on a particular product. These opportunities come up quite often which is a great opportunity to end up with the product for Free. This is a great time to stockpile. Stockpiling can become quite addictive!
Help! How can I organize all these coupons?
I've found several different ways to organize my coupons and all work effectively depending on individuals needs. The most common method is the Zippered 3 ring Binder. This consists of using 9 slot baseball card holds in conjunction with dividers. Coupons can be easily folded and slid into the slots and arranged by category to create a neat way of seeing what coupons you have at a glance. This method is an effective way to keep organized and quickly find what you're looking for. The only downside to this method is the binders tend to get quite heavy and bulky to carry around.
Another method I found is to use small photo albums. I like this method because you can have a separate album for each category. There's really not a need to tote around coupons for frozen goods, meats, or fast food restaurants when visiting a store like Walgreens or CVS. I found it effective to use 3 albums. One album for 'drugstores', one for 'fast food and retail,' and the other for 'groceries'. The downside to this method is the coupons aren't in separate slots as in the binder method and photo albums tend to be a little less organized.
Another easy organizing way to keep your coupons is the file box or accordion coupon holder. This method allows for coupons to be separated into categories only. For the novice couponer, this method is definitely the most frustrating as it takes a lot of fumbling around trying to locate a particular coupon while standing in a store.
by: Syed Tirmizi
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