Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Coupons 101 - Electronic Coupons



Some grocery stores allow you to load electronic coupons onto your store card that are automatically deducted when you purchase those products. Here are three sites you can go to load coupons onto your card:


cellfire.com

  • Participating stores: Baker's, City Market, Dillons, Fry's, Fred Meyer, Gerbes, Hilander, JayC, King Soopers, Kroger, Owen's, Pay Less, QFC, Ralphs, Scott's, Smith's, Carrs, Dominick's, Genuardi's, Pavilions, Randall's, Safeway, Tom Thumb, Vons, ShopRite, Giant Eagle, Shop 'n Save

shortcuts.com

  • Participating stores: Safeway, Carrs, Dominicks, Genuardis, Pavilions, Randalls, Tom Thumb, Vons, Bakers, City Market, Dillons, Frys Food, Fred Meyer, Food4Less (Fremont), Gerbes, Giant Eagle, Hilander, Jay C Foods, King Soopers, Kroger, Owens Market, Pay Less, QFC, Ralphs, Shop 'n Save & Smith's.

pgesaver.com

  • Participating stores: Safeway, Carrs, Dominicks, Genuardis, Pavilions, Randalls, Tom Thumb, Vons, Bakers, City Market, Dillons, Frys Food, Fred Meyer, Food4Less (Fremont), Gerbes, Hilander, Jay C Foods, King Soopers, Kroger, Owens Market, Pay Less, QFC, Ralphs & Smith's.

If you have a local grocery store that is a participating store, then it is well worth your time to load the coupons onto your store card. The only store in my area is Safeway so I load all the coupons available at all 3 sites onto my card.

Electronic coupons will be deducted from your card only one time no matter how many participating products you purchase. For example, if you have only one $1/1 Ore-Ida e-coupon on your card but you buy 4 bags of potatoes, only $1 will be deducted from your total (based on my experience at Safeway).

All electronic coupons will be decuted from your card for the participating products your purchase. For example, if you have two $1/1 Ore-Ida coupons on your card but only purchase one bag, both coupons will be decuted from your total (based on my experience at Safeway).

You can also use paper coupons in addition to e-coupons loaded on your card. For example, if you have one $1/1 Ore-Ida coupon on your card and you have a $1/1 paper coupon, you can use both coupons even if you are only purchasing one bag!

Coupons 101 - How to Organize Coupons



Now that you have started to compile your coupon stockpile, you will want a way to keep them organized. You should organize them in a manner that works best for you. I started with a smaller accordion style folder. This worked for awhile, but as my stockpile grew, I out grew the folder, and then upgraded to the binder you see above. There is a nice deep pocket on the front of this binder that is perfect for keeping the weekly ads of the stores I frequently shop at. This allows me to carry around my ads from home in which I have marked items and/or written notes in.




When you open the binder, on the left side of the binder is an accordion style filing system. The file pockets are perfect for storing the weekly coupon inserts from the Sunday paper or any internet printed coupons until I have time to clip them.


On the right side of the binder I have inserted sheet protectors designed for baseball cards. There are nine pockets to each sheet which I slip my coupons into. This allows me to flip through my binder and be able to see all my coupons without flipping through them. These sheets are broken into categories by indes tabs. The categories I use are: Produce/Bread, Cereal, Dairy, Groceries, Frozen Foods, Drinks, Snacks, Paper, Household, Personal Care, Pet, Baby, and Healthcare.




My binder has a place for me to store pens, scissors, calculators, and notepads. This way I have all the supplies with me that may come in handy. You would be surprised at how often I need my scissors while shopping.






One of the features I like best about my binder is this clear zip pocket. Sometimes I plan my trip(s) out the night before. I then paperclip my list to my coupons and insert it into this pockets, so all I have to do is grab this pocket from my binder to take into the store instead of my entire binder.

My binder is working well for me. The only complaints I have when it comes to my coupon organization is my lack of ambition to keep my coupons organized. I have the tools in place, but sometimes I fail to take the time to get everything orderly. My advice (based on the examples set by friends) is to clip your coupons on Sunday and get them filed away into your binder immediately. Once you have this task done, your coupons are organized in a fashion you can quickly flip to, rather than stuffed into your binder in a manner that causes you to have search for a particular coupon. In the long run, it saves you time. I am working on this because I know once I can get in the habit of keeping everything organized, I will be able to plan and execute my trips much more successfully, saving me not only time but money.

Please share your coupon organization system with us by leaving a comment below. We could all use other ideas!

Coupons 101 - What You Need to Know



Sunday Newspaper

You can find coupon inserts in most Sunday papers. Coupon inserts will vary from region to region, as well as the coupons inside the inserts. The two most popular inserts are the Smart Source (SS) and the Red Plum (RP). Occassionally General Mills and Proctor and Gamble will put inserts in the Sunday paper too.

Some areas offer a subscription package that will deliver multiple Sunday papers. I personally only have one Sunday paper delivered, but I will purchase additional papers, depending on the quality, number, and value of the coupons for that week.


Internet Printable Coupons (IP Coupons)

The internet is becoming one of the best sources by far to find coupons. These are my two favorite sites to print from:

The general rule is that you can print most coupons twice per computer, however, some coupons can only be printed, but occassionally you will find a coupon that will allow several prints! The print limits are per computer, so if your home has more than one computer, you can print the coupon up to its limit from each computer!

Please do NOT photocopy the coupons. This is against the rules! IP coupons are very convenient and abuse of the systems in place will decrease the number of coupons manufacturers make available to us via the internet.

If there are specific items on your grocery list that you don't have coupons for, try checking the manufacturer's websites to see if they have any coupons available.

You can also get buy coupons from ebay! Its against the law to sell coupons, but many people will advertise coupons on ebay and charge you a fee for their time to find, clip, advertise, and mail the coupons. There have been a few instances in which I have done this for coupons on items we use regularly.

Inside Stores

Believe it or not, you can find a lot of coupons while you are shopping! Sometimes you can find coupons right on the product (peelies). You can peel these coupons from the product and use on that trip, or if you have a better coupon in your binder, you can wait until you get home, peel the coupon and save for a future purchase.

Another place to find coupons in the store are in coupon boxes attached to the grocery shelves. These coupon boxes are commonly referred to as blinkies because they usually have a blinking light on them.

Coupons can also be found in the form of a tear pad, which are either located on the shelves or on a display.

Catalinas are coupons that print at checkout. Many stores have a machine from the Catalina Marketing company next to their registers which spit out coupons while the cashier is processing your transaction. The coupons that print are triggered by the products your purchase.

Family, Friends and Co-Workers

Don't be afraid to ask the people you know if they use their coupons, and if not, if you could have them.