Monday Money Saving Tips~~Gathering and Finding Coupons #2

Collecting coupons~ Last week we talked about stockpiling. Well the way to do that is to have more than just one coupon on hand for a product when it goes on sale. That way you can buy several during the sale period and stock up at rock bottom prices!
Here are some of the ways to build up your coupon collection:

1) Sunday Inserts~ Obviously, the most well known! Inserts come in almost every Sunday paper. There are three main types of inserts: SmartSource, RedPlum, and P&G, and occasionally a General Mills or Kraft or Kelloggs insert. Some areas will get their inserts in the mail, instead of the Sunday paper. Check your local Wal-Mart or Dollar Tree as they often sell the local papers at a lower rate (YMMV). I know I can get extra papers for just $1 at my Dollar Tree. You can try to get your hands on extra inserts by watching recycling bins for inserts, checking with local stores to see if they will give away leftover papers, and asking all your friends and relatives to save theirs for you.

2) Printable Coupons~ Check out the Printable Coupon Page here at SavingWithWendy. Most of the Online Coupon sites change monthly, so it is best to check them for the HOT coupon prints early in the month before they run out-some only allow a certain number of prints. Also- make sure to go near the end of the month to print out coupons before they reset on the 1st.- this will give you the longer expiration dates.
Also, many manufacturer sites will offer printable coupons. Facebook is also becoming a wealth of coupons as more and more products are creating fan pages.

3) Tearpads, Hang Tags, Blinkies & Peelies~ Check out the Coupon Lingo Page to the right for further explanation on those types of coupons. Keep your eyes out EVERYWHERE for coupons! This includes grocery stores, gas stations and even doctor's offices. There are coupons everywhere so keep an eye out! Just today I saw coupons at the bowling alley for Kohls! Sitting right on the counter by the register!

4) Writing/Calling Companies~ Many times, simply writing or calling a company to compliment, complain or simply ask a question about a product will result in them sending you coupons, many times even for free items! Check out this forum for address of companies to contact! You can even check out the products in your pantry and look for an 800 number. Give it a call and compliment or complain, you may be surprised by the results. Now not all companies will send coupons, but many will, just ask!

5) Home Mailers/Magazines/Junk Mail~ You just never know what you may find useful in the junk mail at home, store circulars, and of course magazines- my favorite being All You. Also- check all the inserts in your bills, I recently found info to get a $10 Kohls coupons just for signing up for paperless billing!

6) Coupon Trading~ Do you have a couponing friend? You could always trade coupons for ones you may need and pass along ones you do not need.

7) Check Your Local Library~ Most all Libraries have several different News Papers delivered and will pull out the coupons and place them in a special area for people to go through and take ones they need. This is a great free resource- and your kids will love the time in the library!

8) Ordering Coupons~ If you are looking for several of a particular coupon- then ordering may be the most effective choice. There are many coupon clipping sites listed here at SWW as well as Ebay that you can order coupons from. Did you know different ares get different value coupons? Some areas may get a $1 off two products, while another may get .50 off one product. They may sound like the same deal, but if you are able to double coupons, the .50 coupon is actually the better deal! Most clipping services will have a minimum order and shipping fees- not all, some. Ebay you can often get free shipping. If you want a lot of coupons a clipping service is best- they come preclipped and sorted. Gotta love that!
We discuss this more at length in another post.


Keep your Eyes Open~Look everywhere, even on the back of rcpts, inside packaging for more coupons-peelies, tearpads, blinkies, and even rebate forms! Soon you will be noticing coupons more than ever!
Also, never, ever throw away coupons that you have collected and don't think you will use, those coupons can prove to be valuable to you in other ways which will be explained later.

Now, go started collecting coupons! Coming next week- Organizing Your Coupons!