Change The Way You Shop In One Week! - Day Two

Now that you have completely changed the way you think about grocery shopping overnight...

The second step to changing the way you shop is to stock up with all the coupons you need to cash in on all the crazy deals out there.

There are LOTS of coupon resources; let's review a few of them...

SUNDAY NEWSPAPER COUPON INSERTS

A good portion of the coupons I use when I shop come from the Sunday newspaper. If you want to get a newspaper subscription, there are deals to get multiple copies. If you want to do this correctly, you really have to get more than one copy of the coupon inserts so you can stockpile free items. Pinching Your Pennies has a special subscription deal with the Arizona Republic to get multiple papers for cheap:

Wed., Sat., Sun.: $9.75 per month

Wed., Sat., Sun. + 1 Extra Sunday: $14.08 per month
Wed., Sat., Sun. + 2 Extra Sundays: $18.41 per month
Wed., Sat., Sun. + 3 Extra Sundays: $22.74 per month
Wed., Sat., Sun. + 4 Extra Sundays: $27.07 per month
Wed., Sat., Sun. + 5 Extra Sundays: $31.40 per month

Call the Arizona Republic at 602-444-4444 or click here to sign up online for this promotion.

I used to pay for a newspaper subscription, but quickly realized I could get a lot of the same coupons free. I don't subscribe to any newspapers at all. I gather coupon inserts from people who don't want them. I also grab about 10 free coupon inserts from the La Voz or Prensa Hispana hispanic newspapers. See more details here about those papers. 

If you are brave, there is one other place you can go for free coupon inserts ... The Recycling Center! I have never been there myself, but I have heard tales of couponers donned with rubber gloves walking away with 50-100 coupon inserts. Wow! That is dedication!

INTERNET PRINTABLE COUPONS

Internet printable coupons will quickly become one of your favorite types of coupons. They are generally more generous in value than the Sunday paper coupons and are available for a greater variety of products.

I have links on the right side of my blog for all my favorite internet printable coupon sites, but here is a recap:

coupons.com

redplum.com

E-Centives

Generally speaking, you can print two of each type of coupon per computer. Once you are printing the coupon and you see the printer icon on your screen, hit the back button and refresh your screen to start the second print. Occasionally, a coupon may have more than 2 limits, but that is the exception to the rule.

Internet printable coupon limits reset usually the first of the month. This means, if you printed a coupon in last month, you can probably print it again this month. Sometimes, the manufacturer will just randomly allow more prints and reset it. So, if you find a coupon you like, check back often. You can also print more coupons at friends' & family's homes, the library, or work.

Here's another post I wrote on Internet Printable Coupon use!

PEELIES, BLINKIES, & TEARPADS

Retailers want you to use manufacturer's coupons to buy their products. If you ever doubted that, take a walk around your grocery store and see how many coupons are just displayed waiting for a customer to take it.

PEELIE COUPONS - These are coupons stuck to the front of products.

BLINKIE COUPONS - These are coupons in litle machines hanging on the shelves with a red blinking light (hence, the nickname blinkie).

TEARPAD COUPONS - These are coupons in tearpad format hanging on shelves or on free standing displays.

Keep an eye out for these while you're at the grocery store. I always take a couple of each one. You never know when you might need that coupon for a sale. These coupons are rotated based on marketing schedules, so grab a couple when you see them. And when I say a couple, I mean DO NOT TAKE THE ENTIRE TEARPAD. That's just rude and bad coupon karma. And are you really going to use 100 coupons? Be considerate.

E-COUPONS

E-Coupons are coupons loaded to your actual store card before you shop. When you purchase the correct item, the E-Coupon automatically deducts at the register. Load them all to your card and if you use them, great! If not, they'll just drop off after they expire. And sometimes, if you're lucky, at Safeway, multiple EQs will come off for the same item! This isn't a guaranteed thing and is somewhat of a glitch, so enjoy it while it lasts. Oh, and don't rely on the EQs coming off either. Sometimes, they don't deduct for no reason at all. When I shop, I don't assume they'll come off, so when they do, it's a nice surprise!

Here are my favorite E-Coupon sites:

Cellfire - New coupons are added every other Tuesday. Coupons can be added to only one store card per account, so I recommend creating a new account for each store card you have for maximum savings.

Fry's E-Coupons - These are specific to Fry's stores (Kroger affiliates). Along with Fry's store coupons, manufacturers coupons are also listed on this site.

P&G E-Saver - These EQs are recycled quarterly.

Safeway E-Coupons - Safeway seems to release new store coupons every day. Check back daily.

Shortcuts - Similar to Cellfire, Shortcuts releases new coupons every other week. But, check back often because they often release a few here and there.

Soft Coin - I haven't had too much luck with this site, but its newer, so I'm hoping the bugs get worked out.

There is always a question in new couponers minds if it is ethical to stack manufacturer's coupons (inserts, IPQs, etc.) with E-Coupons. Click here to read a post I wrote about this. If you are still hesistant, click here - Safeway included this very thing in their coupon policy and they allow it.

Check back tomorrow for day #3 in this series … “Organization = Savings!”