PART 3: FINDING COUPONS

You made it to the first 2 parts of Coupons 101! Now is the silly question, where do you find coupons? Well, I am posting this because when I first started, I asked the same question...If you are stuck like I was, read on...if not, move on to PART 4: ORGANIZING COUPONS.

***IMPORTANT NOTE***
I can't believe I haven't mentioned it sooner, MANY sites that allow you to print coupons ask for your personal information, many are ok and will not harass you, but if you come across a site that looks weird or makes you uncomfortable, don't input your info. DO make a separate email address/account for your coupon needs as they are sometimes linked to spam and this will help avoid excess in your primary inbox.

--- FINDING PRINTED COUPONS ------------------------------------------------------------------

Maybe I was a bit slow on the upswing, but I didn't realize that I could get coupons anywhere other than in my Sunday paper or what showed up from time to time in the mail, here are a few easy to use sources for printed coupons.

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Newspaper:
The Sunday Paper almost always has coupons with the exception of some weeks do not offer them due to major holidays. Additionally, some areas offer a second paper during the week with coupons. There are none that I am aware of in OC.
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Magazines: 
There are several different magazines you can subscribe to that have coupons, one of my favorites is All You. While I always try to find good deals on subscriptions, it generally runs $19.95 or can be purchased ONLY in stores at Walmart.
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Store Coupon Books:
Walgreens keeps theirs (usually) up near the front of the store where the fliers are located. Ralphs will have a display set up where theirs are when they have them. Wherever your store has them, FIND THEM! These are gold as most stores accept 1 store and 1 manufacturer coupon per item, often doubling your savings!

--- FINDING COUPONS ONLINE --------------------------------------------------------------------

Clipping Services:
Why would you pay to save??? Well, say there is an awesome deal on Vitamins and you have reached your print limit and cannot get anymore.You can find a clipping service or even buy them on ebay for a nominal fee, these fees are not for the coupons themselves as it is illegal to sell coupons. The fee is to pay for the clippers time and it is a time consuming process. Personally I like The Coupon Clippers.

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Digital Coupons:
There are several sources for digital or eCoupons. What are digital coupons? Digital coupons are available for use at a few different stores including Ralphs (Kroger) and Vons (Safeway) as well as a few others. You can load the coupons to your store card and they will automatically come up when you are checking out. You can also use Cellfire which is the same concept just an independent company.

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Printable:
There are TONS of resources for printing coupons on the internet! Many manufacturers offer coupons on their sites and many others offer coupons on sites such as Coupons.com or Redplum (the same one that you find in the newspaper, but not the high dollar ones!). Here are some of my favorite sources...




--- CLIPPING -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Once you get your coupons, you have to clip them! Here is how I do that part to keep things from getting too crazy!

1. Set aside a designated amount of time a week/day to organize, don't let it consume you.
2. When clipping, organize in piles on a table how you will put them away in a folder (ie aisle or alphabetically).
3. After I have my piles, I put them into my binder's divider's pockets.
4. After the initial "put-away" I go to the front of my binder and remove any expired or nearing expiration coupons I won't use and set them aside to mail overseas.
5. I then put the new coupons into the open slots in a way that makes them easy for me to understand and easily navigate when in a store.

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