Lesson Two: Getting Coupons

There are a lot of sources for getting coupons.  The best source is through a subscription to your local Sunday Paper.  In (almost) every Sunday paper, there are coupon inserts that come from different sources.  Here is a list of the coupon inserts and their abbreviations.  When surfing couponing websites, these abbreviations are used, followed by the date of issue in MM/DD/YY format.  For example, a Red Plum insert that was in the September 11th issue of the paper would be "RP 09/11/11."  As you get further into couponing, these abbreviations will become second nature.

Red Plum (RP)
Smart Source (SS)
General Mills (GM)
Proctor & Gamble aka P&G (PG)

Some inserts, such as Red Plum and Smart Source, are usually a weekly publication.  P&G comes out monthly, and General Mills is sporadic (I haven't figured out their timeline yet.)

Another great source is online coupons, which (when they come from reliable websites) are great additions to your stockpile from your Sunday Paper inserts.  As stated in Lesson #1, http://www.coupons.com/ is a great general source for coupons.  There are many brand-name or department store websites that offer coupons for their product line.  For some, you have to sign up for a free subscription to their newsletter and they send you coupon deals via e-mail.  Others have the printable coupon right there on their website.  Here are a few "specialty" sites that I frequent, and of course, if you discover that you are using certain products regularly and don't have coupons for them, go to their website and see if they offer any coupon promotions.

http://www.target.com/  is a MUST if you live near a target store.  Their coupons are printable immediately
www.johnsonsbaby.com/offers is a great one for johnson & johnson/desitin baby products.  Their coupons are also printable immediately.
https://www.pgeverydaysolutions.com/pgeds/HMS/brandsampler-login.jsp is a great site to request hard copy coupons from proctor & gamble via snail mail.  Once you get on their list, they will send you new booklets with about $35 in coupons every other month.
http://www.boxtops4education.com/earn/clip/coupons.aspx is a great site.  Box Tops for Education is a General Mills entity, and you can get some great coupons just by accessing their site and printing them off.  They often have coupons for the same items as their GM Sunday insert, but the website coupons usually have a higher face value.  Once you sign up at their site, they will send you e-mail alerts when a new set of coupons is available for printing.

Some other brands whose websites you might want to check out are:

Campbells
Kellogg's
Kraft
Pillsbury
Pilgrim's Pride
Tyson

If any of the above catch your eye, just google for the address.


**Something to note about printable coupons:  If you want to print online coupons, you will be required to download/install a coupon printer driver on your computer.  You may have to do this more than once, depending on what type of driver the website requires you to have.  I think I've had to install three separate drivers.  (Some drivers are compatible with multiple websites).  Don't let this freak you out--the drivers are necessary to ensure that people don't print too many coupons.  The driver keeps tabs on how many you've printed.  (You're only allowed to print any given coupon twice per computer).  If you don't have the right driver, a prompt will appear when you try to print a coupon.  Just follow the prompts and it will install and print your coupons.  You should only have to do this once per driver.  (In other words, if you install the Target driver, you won't have to install it again the next time you visit the Target website.)

Last, but not least, is the All You Magazine.  It's a family-oriented magazine that is all about good food, family entertainment, crafts, and coupons!  Each issue usually has between $50-75 in coupons on very common items.  I bought a subscription so that I wouldn't have to pay the newsstand price, and in two issues, I've already used enough coupons to compensate for (and justify) my annual subscription.  The expiration dates are usually later on these coupons (they last 3+ months, where newspaper inserts last 1+ month), and although they are for common items, they aren't usually items that are found in your Sunday inserts.  They make an AWESOME supplement to your coupon supply and, in my opinion, it's well worth the subscription fee to have $50-75 in coupons delivered to your mailbox each month.  At the websites, the abbreviation for All You is (AY).

OK, so these are the best sources for coupons.  Of course there are multiple places other than those listed above to get coupons from.  There are "peelies," which are coupons you peel off of the refrigerator door at the convenience store, there are coupons printed inside packaging of certain items, coupon booklets are often stuffed inside packaging as well.  But those coupons are occasional, and the ones listed above are a more consistent source for regular coupon rotation.