I was recently asked by a fellow Rhode Islander if I find that we have as good of deals in our neck of the woods as some of you do in other places in the US and also what local newspapers I usually buy to get the best coupons. I thought this would be a good topic to share with all my readers to help you in your process of saving money and spending less.
I find that if I look every week and collect coupons that I can get a lot of these great deals too. But not all of them. Here is why; We get a lot of coupons here in New England that are $1.00/2 where other parts of the US will get .50/1 which we (here in New England) would be able to double to $1.00/1. I try to get my hands on those if it’s an item I use and I know goes on sale often. I do this by either buying them off eBay, from a coupon clipping service (I use The Coupon Clippers) or by trading on Hot Coupon World. This way when the item goes on sale I’m going to get $1.00/1 rather than $1.00/2.
That said, sometimes our stores in New England just don’t run sales as good as those in other parts of the US so we can’t always get the best deal even if we have the good coupons. But I tend to do pretty good every week anyways. I go through all the sales each week and when I don’t have that much time to look myself, I will ‘cheat’ and look at the forums on Hot Coupon World to see what deals everyone is talking about. You can also access the flyer’s sometimes a week or two ahead there so you can plan accordingly( i.e. gather coupons).
As far as newspapers, I get at least the Providence Journal and Sunday Bulletin (Norwich Bulletin, Norwich CT) every week. The Sunday Bulletin is only $1.25 that’s why I grab that one. And if the coupons are good, then I get two or more copies of those. You can see a preview of the coming weeks coupons at the Sunday Coupon Preview and then you will know if there is a lot or a little (or perhaps no coupon inserts at all) before you buy any papers. On Sunday see what different papers are offered in your area, how much they are and if they have all the coupon inserts. Some of them won’t. IF you can find a paper that is about $1.00 – $1.75 with all the coupons, then you may want to grab one or two of them each week to get more coupons. Also ask your friends, family and coworkers if they don’t use their coupons to give you their flyer’s to help add to your collection. I’ve been told that some dollar stores will have the Sunday Paper for $1.00, if that’s the case you can stock up there! I don’t have a local dollar store or I’d buy them there.
I don’t throw out my coupon inserts until all of the coupons inside expire. You never know when there may be a good deal on something that you might not normally buy, but want to this week. Especially with CVS, Rite Aid and Walgreens, sometimes it can be a money maker with their store coupon/rebates/ECB’s and then you can donate the item or give it to a friend. If I am going to make even .50 I will get it because then it’s .50 towards something else I do need. I keep my inserts separated by type (i.e Smartsource, P&G or Redplum) and put the date of the Sunday insert on the front page. If I have more than one copy of the same type (i.e Smartsource, P&G or Redplum) I will put those all together and then just put the date on the top page. This way if there was a coupon in the 11/2 P&G insert that I want, I can go back and get it. You will end up with a big pile after a while, so make sure you have room. I find it’s easier (for me) to keep all the inserts together, rather than clip all the coupons, but do whatever works best for you.
When I need to find a coupon for something I want to/need to buy, I look in the Coupon Database. It tells me which week and insert (Smartsource, P&G or Redplum) the coupon is and when it expires. You will also see coupons that come from other sources there like printable coupons, peelies, coupons from the mail and more. It’s a great data base that can save you a lot of time. You can also see if their are other values of the coupons that were released in other parts of the US this way you can try to get your hands on those.
There are so many other great ideas to add to this. If you have an idea you want to share, please write it in the comments sections. Or if you have a question you can comment and I’ll try my best to answer it.
I hope that some of you find this information useful. Remember you need to find a system that works for you, mine may not but with these ideas and those from others, I’m sure you can find something that works.
