Where to get coupons

There are so many places to score coupons that I have come up with a list of sources. Remember that the best kind of coupons are FREE, but sometimes you have to spend money to save money.

Newspaper – I would say the #1 place I get coupons is the Sunday paper. I subscribe to the Sunday News Tribune and Olympian, but when the coupons are good, I go to the Dollar Tree and buy additional newspapers for $1 each. Often the coupons add up to more to $60-200 in coupons, so spending a $1 is definitely worth it to me.

Examples of inserts that come in the Sunday newspaper. Inserts are generally from “Red Plum” or “Smart Source”.

Tear pads – Watch for tear pads posted on displays, shelves or end-caps when you are at the grocery or convenience store. These are free! Be courteous of others and take a reasonable amount of coupons from the tear pad.

The Albertson’s in Tumwater taped coupons to some of the products (on left), but you can also get them from a tear pad (on the right in the back).

Blinkie machines – These are generally posted in the aisles at your local grocery store and they blink and spit out coupons. I always grab a coupon when I walk by these, even if I don’t need it at the time,  you never know when it will come in handy. Be careful – I find that often these can be expired because they aren’t replaced frequently.

Peelies on products – Watch for products that have coupons attached to them, these are called “peelies”. They will often times say “Save $1 now when you buy this product.” Don’t peel these off unless you are buying the product – they belong to the person who buys the item and are not for public peeling.

Online – There are lots of Webs sites that allow you to print coupons from the Web. Popular sites are: www.smartsource.com, www.coupons.com, www.Afullcup.com, etc. Be careful, I wouldn’t just go downloading any old “coupon printer” from a random site. I try to stick to the popular, larger companies because I’m always cautious about viruses and other bugs being downloaded onto my computer. Not all stores like online coupons because they can easily be copied and/or counterfeit, so always check ahead of time with customer service to make sure they accept online coupons. Never make photocopies of online coupons and don’t print more than the limit. Check the Web sites of your favorite products to see if they offer online coupons.

E-mail – A lot of companies have e-mail newsletters that you can sign up for and they will e-mail you coupons. A few examples are Borders (often sends 40% off any book), Home Depot Garden Club, World Market (get 15% coupon off any item when you sign up). These are just a few examples, there are thousands. I recommend creating an extra e-mail account through a free service such as Google or Hotmail to use for signing up for these newsletters – it keeps you from being bombarded with junk mail.

Coffee shops, libraries, hotel lobbies – People leave piles of papers and coupons everywhere on Sundays! Whether it’s a local Starbucks lobby or a breakfast joint, keep your eyes peeled for the coupon inserts. If you know someone who works in a place like this, have them collect them for you in exchange for the free goodies you’ll score with the coupons.

Friends and Family – Tell your friends and family that you’d love to have their coupon inserts! I now get little coupon stacks when I see aunts, uncles and friends. If they are going to recycle them anyway, it’s nice of them to share.

Magazines – Often times magazines like Home & Garden, Good Housekeeping, People, Entertainment Weekly and other magazines have coupons scattered throughout the magazine. You can subscribe to a magazine called All You, which is exclusively sold at Walmart and is almost all coupons, many of which are high-valued!

Recycle bins – Okay, not classy, but free and effective. Look for newspaper only recycle bins and pull out the coupon inserts. Check your local laws to make sure you aren’t breaking any rules by rummaging.

EBay or coupon trading boards – You can acquire coupons on EBay or through coupon trading boards. It is illegal to buy or sell coupons, but people get around this by charging you for the “processing” or “handling” of the coupons. People buy coupons all the time on Ebay and through trading boards and I’ve never heard of anyone having a problem with it. Coupons generally run for 10% of the face value. So if you are getting a $1 coupon, expect to pay 10 cents, plus the cost of a stamp.  Although not free, it still makes for a great deal – especially if you can use that $1 coupon to get a $1 item – you are saving 90%.

I use a local trading board through RefundCents.com where couponers post the coupons they have and the cost for processing them. I e-mail the person and tell them how many coupons I want, they e-mail me the cost, I send a PayPal payment to the person and the coupons come in the mail a few days later! Don’t buy them unless you know specifically how you plan to use them (i.e. an upcoming sale) – otherwise you could end up wasting them. Also, I like going through the trading board on RefundCents.com because it’s a subscription-based Web site, so everyone has an account and I feel confident that if there is a “bad trader” that they will be removed from the list. I never spend more than a few dollars at a time and have never had a problem getting the coupons I order.

Entertainment Book
This book comes out every October/November in local communities and is full of dining, entertainment and store coupons. They start out at about $35, but as the year progresses they get cheaper. It’s April now and they are down to $15 with free shipping. You can re-coup this in just one dining coupon. They have four coupons for $5 off your $50 purchase at Safeway, so if you use these four coupons that right there is $20 in savings. If you are going on vacation somewhere, purchase the entertainment book for that location – you’ll find you save a bundle on a lot of the activities/dining that you were going to do anyway while on vacation. (I did this for my honeymoon five years ago to Maui, we used coupons on scuba gear, parasailing and meals!)

Chinook Book
Available at Marlene’s Deli in Tacoma and Federal Way, this local coupon book has tons of organic grocery coupons, entertainment and dining coupons. It’s mostly north Puget Sound oriented, but the grocery coupons aren’t location-specific. It costs $20 and it pays for itself in no time.