Hunting and Gathering (coupons that is!)

Okay, I have been promising to give you tips on gathering and organizing your coupons so here it is. The best place to start couponing is with the coupons! There are four main ways to accumulate coupons although there are even more than that. Let's start with these first.

1) Let's say you are new to couponing and are REALLY excited and ready to begin now. The easiest way is to get coupons online known as internet printables (IPs). I will be working on daily posts letting you know of ones that are available to pair with current sales, but for now, your best bets are to do a search engine or once again, http://www.moneysavingmom.com/. Another good source is http://www.couponmom.com/ (she does ask that you donate some of your finds to charity in exchange for using her website). A few pieces of advice:

• Learn your stores' policies on IPs. Some take them without issue while others either do not or have many stipulations due to coupon fraud. Familiarize yourself with them before printing off a bunch and wasting your time, ink and paper.


• You can often print off two on the same printer by hitting the refresh button after your coupon is printing. You can also sometimes print off more if you have access to different computers. Almost all IPs have print limits (with the exception of many of the Target store ones which let you print as many as you want!) but each one can be different. Some websites are login monitored as far as reaching your print limit. So once you have printed it under your login, you cannot print another one. Others monitor it by the printer which means you can print multiple ones if you have access to multiple printers.

2) Another effective method for gathering coupons is through the Sunday paper inserts (usually Smartsource, Red Plum and P & G). You can get these numerous ways such as through subscription to your local paper, buying at your corner mart, buying at the dollar store (for cheaper than anywhere else), buying off ebay or other websites, begging off family and friends from their papers, digging through the trash can at places like Denny's or recycling bins (not that I have done this!! :) ), collecting from papers left behind at your local Starbucks, and many more creative ideas. I have even heard of people getting store managers agree to let them have any unsold papers at the end of the night. There are some tips to keep in mind for how many you should get and when you should get them:

• You can look at http://www.taylortownpreview.com/ for what coupons will be in the inserts which can be a huge help for knowing how many papers to buy. Just click on the week you want to know about. Very user friendly.


• The first two Sundays of every month have the most inserts. This would be a good time to buy more than one paper.


• The Sunday paper before a holiday, especially Mondays, do not typically have coupons. Check taylortownpreview before you go out and buy papers.


• At CVS and Walgreens, Saturday evenings can be a great time to shop as the previous week sales are still in effect and the upcoming week's sales have begun so you can "double dip". But what if there is a coupon you really need in the Sunday paper? Well, you can often buy a weekend edition that will have the coupons in it on Saturday. LA Times does this for sure. Just be advised that the sports page will not be current in case your husband has to have that so you will still need to buy the Sunday paper the next day too!

3) Magazines are a great source of coupons especially one that you can only get from Walmart or through a subscription called ALL YOU. This magazine has so many great coupons...usually each monthly issue has over $100 worth of coupons. It is more cost effective to do the subscription. A great way to get multiple ones of ALL YOU and other magazines is through your doctor or dentist offices. They often recycle, or worse just throw away, the magazines when done so you can ask if they can hold them for you. Just remember to go get them promptly so they are not inconvenienced. Also sign up at http://www.kraftfoods.com/ for a free magazine full of coupons and recipes that is sent out quarterly.

4) Signing up for freebies and samples can be an amazing source of coupons. Plus you get free stuff! You can check http://www.walmart.com/ and again http://www.moneysavingmom.com/ regularly for samples (as well as this blog starting next week; check multiple places though to make sure you get it all!). It is a great way to try new products, get more of ones you love, or just accumulate mroe coupons and items you would use. A word of advice would be when signing up for the offers, use an email such as yahoo that you do not mind having flooded with ads and offers. Not all of the sample websites do this, but enough do that you do not want to give a work email or other limited space email to.

And, of course, there are always more places to get coupons. Buy your local entertainment coupon books or other fundraising type coupon cards/booklets such as the http://www.shopriversidenow.com/ one. I have heard you can check in the wine section of grocery stores where there are often coupons on bottles of wine which you can take even if not buying the wine. Check the little red machines with blinking lights in the grocery aisles which typically offer coupons for items that will go on sale in the following two weeks. Scan your CVS card at the price scanner for printed coupons, and look for tear pads in stores such as CVS, Walgreens, and Target. Look at the bottom of your receipts as well as the backs. And if you have some time on your hands, send letters or emails or even make calls to companies to tell them what you think of their product whether it is how much you love it or maybe a frustration. They will often send you coupons in response.

So get out there and start gathering those coupons! Check back here and let me know if there are any ways that I missed or as you discover more ways. Next we will talk about how to organize them all.

I have to tell you, I feel a little hypocritical offering advice on organizing coupons as I have fallen behind in that. On the flip side though, it means I really can tell you that it is far more frugal and life is much more simplified when you do have your coupons organized. Trust me as I have been learning this the hard way lately!

I am still trying to find the best system. Some people like to just keep them all intact as they come in the paper since most blogs tell you which inserts to get the coupon you need from. For example, they will say, for the Pace Salsa on sale at Target this month, use the $2 off 1 coupon located in the 4/26 Smartsource. You can then go through your inserts, pull that one, and cut out the coupon you need. I think this probably works well if you only go shopping with lists from blogs. This method does not work for me for finding spur of the moment deals. It also just does not work well with how my brain works.

I find it much more frugal for me to go through and cut them all out and then organize them into holders. It is similar to when you take notes in a class and then go back and type them. It helps you get the coupons in your head so you know what you have on hand. And if you cannot remember them all, you can simply go to the section you need to see if you have a coupon. I also like to have them all cut since when they expire, you can mail them to military bases overseas where commisaries will allow our military families to use expired coupons for up to 6 months.

For my system, I have two legal envelope size accordian files that I got in the dollar bins at Target a few years ago although they have them every few months (For my love of all things Target, see here). I have one for all my food items and one for non-food items. Tomorrow, I will go through more specifically my sections in each one. I also have a notebook with clear baseball card holders that I keep all my specific Target coupons in. Since there are so many of those, this method allows me to clearly see them. I keep these in my car almost all the time because I never know when I will need them. This system is working for now but can be cumbersome when trying to balance those and the 4 children I usually have with me...plus my reusable bags and purse and well, you see what I mean.

I have see other ideas that look like they could work too so check those out. The important thing to remember is to start with a system and go from there. You can always tweek it or change it as you go. And ask around too for ideas. Do you have other ideas not mentioned here? I would love to hear them!