Everyday, shoppers’ mailboxes and doorsteps hold hundreds of dollars worth of savings at the grocery store. They come in the form of newspapers, sales papers, and circulars. If you know which coupons to keep, your monthly grocery bill can decrease dramatically.
Coupons are not a new rage and have been around since Grape Nuts and Cocoa Cola started using them for marketing purposes back in the 1800’s. With the customers that use coupons today, nearly $5 billion dollars per year is saved.
If you use coupons wisely, and make out a list and budget before shopping, you can save up to 50% on your grocery bill. That’s pretty good savings, just by going through your newspaper.
In order to get the most out of your coupons, create a shopping list first. Afterwards, go through your papers and search for coupons for the items that you want to buy. If you go through the papers first, you might end up with items that you weren’t going to buy to begin with, just because you think you’ve found a “good deal.” You don’t always end up saving money this way and sometimes you spend more.
Sunday newspapers, as well as their inserts, are a good source of coupons. They generally have a multitude of coupons for your local stores.
It’s not a bad idea to consider buying a subscription to your local paper. Sometimes, you can even get subscriptions just for the Sunday edition. It saves money to do this rather than to simply buy one every Sunday morning.
There are other papers, called circulars, that usually come several times a week and also contain coupons. You can usually find several good coupons in them, but it makes sense to cut out the ones that you need and save them as the circulars can really add up over time. A good coupon organizer is a great way to keep your coupons organized after you have clipped them.
A good reason to use your Sunday paper or local circular for coupons is that they are usually targeted to your local neighborhood store, which means that your store is more likely to accept the coupons.
Also, don’t forget to check the grocery stores themselves for coupons. Some grocery stores keep copies of the stores specials near the entrance of the store. This is also a good way to see what is on sale within the store, even if the papers don’t contain coupons.
Consider the expiration date when clipping coupons, and before using them. You don’t want to check out, only to find that your coupon is not usable.
On a final note, if you watch for sales and use the coupons then, you might even find that you can get the items at a rock bottom price-or even for free in some cases.
