Where to get coupons

The easiest way to get the most coupons with the least effort is to get the paper.  There are some parts of the country that don't get the coupons in the paper, they get them in the mail.  You can check which yours is (paper or mail) here, at Redplum.

The 2 inserts that are in the paper almost every week are Smartsource and Redplum.  Sometimes there's more than one of each.  Most of the time it'll say "Smartsource" or "Redplum" in big letters on the front, but some weeks you'll find inserts that don't clearly say, like finding the big G from General Mills on the cover.  If you looked on the spine (in VERY small type) it says it's a Smartsource.  The publication date is also in mice type on the spine, if you choose to not cut until you need a coupon and fail to write the date on the insert, you can find it.  About once a month there's also a P&G insert.

Smartsource and Redplum both have websites with printable coupons.  A lot of times, the coupons there are identical to the ones in the paper, though not ALL the paper coupons are there.  If you can't get your hands on the paper, or don't want to buy more papers just for one or two really GOOD coupons, you can try their websites.  Sometimes you get lucky.  On weeks I've failed to get a paper, a few since having a baby, the printables have kept me from missing out on all the freebies that week.  I still miss out on some of the deals, but you learn to recognize a good coupon when you see it.

Other ways to get coupons are to sign up for free samples.  All You does a free sample daily on their website, just scroll down and click on the daily free sample link.  A lot of free samples will come with a coupon.  Some don't, but enough do that it's worth it.  Check a few days back (I've even gone back a few weeks) on samples if you see something that interests you.  Sometimes they're still available.

I can't recommend signing up for the P&G samples enough.  They come with lots of coupons.  

You should request the P&G Brandsampler.  Request them all, even if there's stuff on there you won't use.  Extra coupons to share and trade are always a good thing.  Courtesy of P&G I've got an assortment of travel size goodies lying in wait for our next vacation, Pantene, Crest, Tide, all in small travel sizes and ready to go.

While P&G makes .... everything .... and you should sign up for their stuff (get and use an email address just for couponing, it will seriously save your sanity), less mamouth companies, and even subsidiaries of mamouth companies, have their own sites where you can sign up for coupons and samples.

For example, Beechnut.  Sign up for their newsletter and get a free toddler welcome kit.  Whether you use Beechnut or not, you'll get coupons, which may get you some free stuff.  If you don't want it, you can always donate it or keep the coupons to swap and trade.

There are a lot of coupons to be had on Facebook.  Lots of companies are running promotions on Facebook offering some really good stuff.  Sometimes it's a freebie.  Sometimes it's $1 off.  Point being, if you use a product, like them on Facebook and check to see if they're running a promo.  CVS ran a promo where everyone who liked them and then registered for the promo got emailed a 20% coupon to nonsale merchandise that was good for a couple of days.  Coffeemate ran a promo a that literally shut down their page it got so much traffic, but if you were one of the lucky ones you could print a coupon for a free Coffeemate creamer.  Other manufacturer's will mail you a coupon if you sign up on their Facebook page.  If they don't have a promo now, they may later, and if you like them you'll see it on your page.  Like away.

Sneaky manufacturers put coupons inside their product packaging.  Sometimes they'll advertise it on the outside of the box, sometimes they won't.  I make a habit of checking inside boxes before I toss them in the recycling, and I fish through after my kids when I see one of them has tossed a box.  Also, if a product has a pamphlet, check it for coupons too.  I've scored some good high value coupons with far out expiration dates on some of our favorite products this way, coupons on the inside of the cereal box, coupons on the instruction sheet for the infant vitamins, coupons on the pamphlet inside a box of Biore.  Coupons are everywhere, you just have to keep an eye out for them.

You can also find coupons in the store.  Blinkies, peelies and tearpads are everywhere.  Take what you need, try not to get greedy, if there are plenty you can grab some to share.  Blinkies are found in those boxes hanging off the shelf with the blinking light that dispense coupons.  Peelies are stuck on the product packaging, you just have to peel them off (never depend upon the cashier to do this, btw).  Tearpads are a pad that you tear a few off of.  For all of these, even if you're not buying the item today, if you will buy it in the near future, grab a few, but don't get greedy.  I was in the store a week after a good sale on Martha White muffin mix.  I'd stocked up.  They put a new blinkie out in front of the Martha White.  If the same sale comes up again, and I have these new coupons, I will be able to get packages of Martha White muffin mix for 4 cents each.  I didn't need any more right now, but I grabbed a few coupons anyway, and filed them away to match with a good sale later.

Always, always, ALWAYS take a stroll through the beer and wine section if you live in a No Beverage Purchase Required (NBPR) state.  Most times it's a bust, but when you score you can score big.  With March Madness coming up and St. Patty's, I've been finding rebates from Guiness ($4 back When You Buy (WYB) $4.01 of meat, cheese or bread), Murphy's ($2 back WYB corned beef) and Miller ($2 off 2 Digiornos pizza).  I live in a NBPR state, so I don't have to buy alcohol to make use of these offers.  If you don't live in a NBPR state, still take a walk through beer and wine.  Your favorite brand may be running a promo that you can take advantage of.

And lastly, a great way to get coupons is to share them.  I belong to a swap group.  Some churchs have coupon boxes for you to leave what you don't want and take what you do.  Point here is you can get more coupons for the things you use by offering coupons for the things you don't to others.  If I have a baby and you have a dog, I can give you all the dog supply coupons I get, you can give me all the baby supply coupons you get.  We've both got twice as many of what we need now, and we didn't have to buy another paper.

Which brings up subscriptions.  It is almost always cheaper to subscribe than to pay at the store.  On top of that, many papers will give you a discount if you want more than one copy of the paper each week.  My local paper charges $1, as opposed to $1.50 for the first copy delivered and $2 at the store, for each additional copy of the paper I want delivered.

Some weeks the inserts are so good you may want to run out and grab an extra copy or five.  I know I have.  I resist the urge unless I know, with absolute certainty, that the extra copy will pay for itself immediately.  I have been known, on seriously excellent coupon weeks, to get 8 copies of the paper.  I did not buy 8 copies all at once.  I bought 2, clipped the coupons, scored at least $10 worth of stuff for the price of sales tax, bought 2 more papers, repeat.  The greatest coupons in the world are only useful if your store has stock of the item.  I try not to be too greedy with the freebies or the papers.  I'm not the only one trying to get good deals, so I try to leave enough for everyone else.  I've not yet found a deal that I wanted so badly that I was willing to buy a lot and clean out a store.  Since I've started coupon swapping, the number of weeks I get extra copies of the paper and the number of extra copies I grab has gone down.  When I can easily pick up 2-10 copies of the great coupons I would have bought an extra paper for just by trading with friends it reduces the amount of money I have to spend.  Saving money is the point of the exercise, after all, and you're not really saving a lot if you're just spending all your savings on more newspapers.  Unless you have a really large family, 1 or 2 copies of the paper should be enough to meet your needs most weeks.

There are also clipping services available online.  You can't buy coupons, but you can pay someone for their time clipping them.  I know a couple of people who prefer to order the really good coupons from clipping services instead of buying several papers to get extras.  I have not yet tried one, so I can't make any recommendations.

A quick word about trading coupons....

I never, ever, trade internet printable coupons with people I wouldn't trust with my life.  Internet coupons, most of them anyway, have unique identifying coding on them.  If they are copied and the copies are used, the company will know and your IP address will get banned from printing.  Stores do not get reimbursed for copies.  A number of people I've talked to don't seem to be bothered by that.  That's very shortsighted.  If the stores don't get paid, they're going to stop accepting IP coupons, many already don't accept them, that means fewer good deals for all of us.  On top of that, if you're giving them a fraudulent coupon you are leaving the store with merchandise that won't be paid for, that's technically stealing.

Let me be clear.  Not only will I not give someone an IP coupon I have printed, I will not accept and use an IP coupon from someone else.  Even if what they're giving me appears to be an original, I have no idea if it has been copied.  I refuse to participate in an activity that will harm us all.  There are too many good deals to be had without committing fraud.