26 September 2012

How To Save Money With Using Coupons

By Steve Ian


Finding coupons to save you money on shopping for groceries and other products is one great way to make you feel much better about your excursions. You have to spend the money, but do you really have to just keep handing it over like you have been? Pay attention to the following tips.

Pick up a convenient binder to organize all your coupons and make it easy to transport them to the store. Use labels for different categories so you can quickly compare store stock to your coupons and checking out with the cashier will not be a hassle or cause delays for the people behind you.

A great tip when using coupons is to keep track of the expiration date. You don't want to walk into a store, pick up an item and then present the cashier with a coupon that's expired. Some stores might still honor the deal but most won't and you'll be embarrassed.

Clear out extra space in your home. To make the most from coupons, you buy when something is on special and available in bulk. This might mean you wind up with a year's worth of toilet paper at one time. Have some place in advance to put it away when you get home.

Learn a store's policy for using coupons. Some stores limit the number and type of coupons you can use. Before you cause a commotion and ask to speak to the manager, learn about your rights as a customer. It can save you a lot of time and trouble if you do a quick overview of store policy.

It is important to have your coupons organized, to avoid expiration dates passing without your knowledge. In addition to sorting by type, put the ones with the soonest expiration dates first. When you see that the time is approaching, add the item to your shopping list. Knowing what you have in advance will also help you to work with the in-store sales.

Don't get heated or upset with a cashier if there is a problem redeeming your coupon. Simply stay calm and ask to speak to a manager. Even if they do not honor your coupon, many times they have a rain-check policy or work their hardest to make sure you are satisfied.

Organize your coupons in a way that makes sense to you. Maybe you want to keep all the coupons for baby things together, and you want to keep all the food coupons together. You might even decide to sort them by brand. However you organize them, make sure you can remember what you've done.

Go to the website of your favorite grocery store to find out what kind of weekly specials they may have and then go through your coupon book to see if you can get any extra deals. The coupon websites do not always have everything listed. You might find a great deal on your own.

One method of securing coupons easily is taking advantage of the Sunday newspaper. Sunday papers almost always have coupons, unless it is a Sunday before a major holiday. Different newspapers have different coupons, so get a local one as well as the newspaper for the closest metropolitan city to ensure you have a range of coupons.

Those of you bargain shoppers who love to use coupons to save would be wise to browse a stores clearance section. The savings you can get with a clearance item coupled with a coupon can be quite significant. Make sure to see if any items on clearance are still eligible for coupon use.

Make sure you do maintenance on your coupon collection and get rid of coupons that might have expired or keep an eye on the ones that will expire soon. You will want to keep these towards the front of your pile so that you can recognize them before they start clogging up your coupon book.

Use store coupons along with manufacturer coupons. Most stores will allow you to use one of their coupons along with a manufacturer coupon; utilize this technique for extreme savings. Many stores will honor both coupons; however, when utilizing this savings strategy have a printed copy of the store's coupon policy.

Serious couponing is not taught in one night. Like many other things in life, it requires research, practice, and time. It will take you some time to learn the basics and then to apply them to your shopping trips. Learning everything from the coupon lingo to how to compare prices will also take a while, but it will help you save more in the end.

Now you should have a better idea as to how to use coupons when shopping for groceries. It's a great thing to look at how much you've saved on the receipt, and to tailor a grocery list according to what you need and what is on sale. Get to it!




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