Coupons: Where do they come from?

Coupons are EVERYWHERE! You just have to know where to find them I am devoting this blog entry to where and how to  get coupons. This will be the post for de-coding all of my future “coupon terms” like catalina, blinkie, MIR, etc.

Sunday inserts: I buy several papers each week, at $2 each for the coupons. If there are (2) $1 coupons in there I will use (which there are def. more) it has paid for itself.

Individual store coupons: Certain stores will issue their own coupons. Like Target for example both mails out store coupons and has them online for you to print. For other stores, these coupons can be found in their sales ads, online, or in pamphlets at the store. Where a regular coupon from the paper would say “manufacturers coupon” these read “store coupon”. Sometimes you even get lucky, and a store will take both a manufacturer’s coupon AND a store coupon (this is called stacking) for the same item. Can be quite a deal!

Online: There are many sites out there where you can print coupons for use at the grocery store. Sometimes individual grocery stores will have printable coupons on their website,  you can find coupons on company websites (think Filippo Berio Olive Oil, or Stonyfieldfarms.com), and then there are “general” coupon sites that have lots of coupons from many manufacturers. Here are some of my favorites: smartsource.com, redplum.com, bettycrocker.com, couponbug.com, and coupons.com. Just be sure you familiarize yourself with your store’s coupon policy, and many stores may not accept these, or have strict limitations on them- Which is quite understandable. Never print a coupon that is sent to you as a PDF, always go to the site yourself to print, to reduce fraud.

Newspaper: Occasionally, the actual pages of the weekly paper will have coupons printed in them. Certainly not often enough to get a subscription if you don’t already have one, but its worth thumbing through if you do get the daily paper.

Blinkies: These are coupons found in the isles at the grocery store. Have you ever seen those red boxes that spit out coupons and have little blinking lights? Those are what I’m talking about! Now, if your store offers double coupons, these sometimes will not double, depending on the store and how the coupon is coded. I know this is a little confusing, but the stores down here will double coupons that start with a “5″ on the code. Many of our blinkies start with a “9″ so they won’t double. But one store here has blinkies that start with a “5″, so i go to that store, get the blinkies, and use them at the store of my choice.

Catalinas: These are  coupons that print out at the register with your receipt. Often times you can go to your grocery store’s website to see what catalina offers are going on right now- Like buy 2 of “product” get $1 off your next purchase, buy 3 get $2 back, buy 5 get $3 back, and so on. These are great because you can buy the items on sale, with a manufacturer/store coupon, than also get a catalina coupon for your next purchase.

Magazines: There are many magazines out there that print manufacturer coupons on their advertisement pages. The one I am familiar with that offers the most coupons is All You magazine, put out my Walmart. You can get it in store or as a subscription. I have seen coupons in other magazines too, like Parents magazine and Better Homes and Gardens.

On or in product packages: If you buy a package of frozen Super Pretzels for example, you may find a coupon inside off of your next purchase. Here are some things I have found these in: Folgers Coffee, cereal, Muir Glen canned tomatoes (on the label), Gorton’s frozen fish, popcicles, bags of candy, Oxiclean.

Wine tags(WT): These can be found by roaming wine displays around the store or in the wine section. Generally they are hanging around the neck of the bottle. In many states, the coupons will read “buy this bottle of wine, get $2 off of “x”. But in some states, alcohol purchase is not required, so its simply a coupon for “$2 off of “x”. If it’s a coupon for $2 off of Chicken, for example, I take one or two (always leaving some for others!) and go find some chicken for just around $2. Voila, free meat! These coupons are generally very vague, like off of any deli meat, chicken/beef, seafood, produce, greeting cards, cheese, etc.

Mail in rebates (MIR): There are several types of these. My favorite ones by far are the ones issued by beer companies. As with WTs, in many states they require the purchase of alcohol, but in some alcohol is not required. These are generally found on tearpads on beer displays, and will read for example “Save $15 on your next $20 purchase of “x,y,z”. Other MIRs are found in product packaging, or in the coupon inserts in the paper. They could be “Buy me Free” MIRs, for like toothpaste or some type of cleaner. Sometimes you can even find these types of MIRs online, printed from a manufacturer’s website. Still others are found in coupon booklets in store. MIRs come in all shapes and sizes, and with a good sale and coupons, generally VERY profitable and worth the stamp to send them in.

Writing to companies: If there is a particular product you’d like to purchase but never get coupons, or only low value coupons, you could email the the company. Some people tell me they have good luck simply going to the “contact us” page on the company’s website, and telling them how much they love the product. They get emails in response to their comments saying coupons are being sent to them as a thank you. I have not had very good luck doing that, maybe it is the “economy” right now (I hate that phrase, but alas..). I simply say that I have heard about their product and would like to see if it would be a good fit for our family- and do they ever send out coupons so people can try their products? Once I know a company will send out coupons, I try to email them just about every 3 months, and this time I will say “I just love “x”, and say why. Then I get more coupons. It’s a beautiful relationship to have. One company I wrote to told me they didn’t send out coupons- So they sent me their product, free!! WOW!

Survey panel/membership sites: The two I am familiar with are vocalpoint.com and pssst.generalmills.com. These are sites you can get free memberships with, and you can get coupons in the mail from them. Generally they have special promo periods where they will send a sample of a product a long with some coupons, and you answer a survey on how you liked the product. Easy peesy.

Purchasing coupons: When there is a coupon for a product that I use a lot of, and the value is good, I will purchase a “lot” of them from Ebay. For unpopular coupons, you can expect to pay under $2 including shipping for a lot of 20 coupons. For “hot” coupons, it is generally more. There are other sites you can purchase coupons from too, like some trading sites, and coupon preview sites. Two of my favorites are taylortownpreview.com and thecouponclippers.com. While Ebay tends to have larger lots, these sites allow you to buy in small lots or individual coupons, but there is a certain $$ amount you must spend.

Trading: There are many sites out there where you can trade the coupons you don’t want for ones you do, for the price of a stamp. This can be cheaper than buying off of ebay, but does take more time. My favorite site is hotcouponworld.com, but there are many others. Just google “coupon trading”.

So there you have it! Those are all the places I can think of that I get coupons. Please leave any questions in the comments section, and I will try to address them. For more personal or longer questions, please feel free to email them to frugalmegan@gmail.com and I will answer them to the best of my ability!

Hope this helps someone!

Here’s to living: Happier, Healthier, more FRUGAL lives!

~FrugalMegan~