We’re all looking to save money in the current economic climate. Sure, you could go get a side job or try and make money with online marketing get-rich-quick schemes, but one way to pile up the savings without having to do anything as time consuming as meeting with an Amway representative, is to start clipping those coupons. At first, it may not seem dignified, but using coupons is a really great way to save money on a lot of the products that you already buy on a regular basis. If you’re looking to save some money by reducing your grocery bill, here are a few tips that might help you.
1) Double your search
Everyone knows that you can get coupons every day from the inserts on your local paper and even more on Sunday. But there are a number of other places you can get coupons. Individual manufacturers often have coupons on their sites, and there are a number of coupon aggregating sites like coupons.com or smartsource.com that will give you tons of printable coupons that you can use at your local grocery store. Also, don’t throw away your weekly Money Mailer or Valpak Coupons, open them up and see what kind of deals you can get.
2) Organize
If you are going to be serious about couponing, you’ll need to organize. Keep all your coupons in the same place, preferably in an envelope or index card box—or a small accordion folder, if you’re really sharp. Sort your coupons by item, expiration dates, or by their location in your local grocery store.
3) Be on the lookout out for rebates
Rebates don’t give you the same instant gratification that coupons do, but they can still be extremely useful. Rebates are often worth more than regular coupons, and sending off multiple rebates at the same time can give you a nice return on the time investment it took to mail them.
4) There are coupons for everything
Couponing isn’t just a way to save money on your groceries; there are lots of other items and services that offer discounts from time to time. Restaurants, hotels, theme parks, electronics stores, and more will often have specials and deals than can help you save big. And don’t forget websites like Groupon where you can get deals emailed to you everyday. When enough people hop on board with a certain deal, everyone gets the discount—usually at least 50% off.
Couponing is a great way to save money, and if you can stay on top of the deals that are being given to you all the time, you can really save a lot of money.
About the author:
Diane Johnson primarily writes about Colorado Tech University Online and anything else that interests her. She enjoys traveling, shopping, and sports.
Great tips! My favorite one is to use a coupon swap box–there is one at my library.