Coupons: Are They Really Worth It?

I hear this question asked all of the time and I'm here to say, yes, they are very much worth it. The trick is learning how to use them in conjunction with sales. I used to think I was decent with coupons but I learned a ton when I joined The Grocery Game. Through this website and reading several blogs, I've learned how to play the "game" of couponing. In a few days, I will show you my coupon system but today I want to focus on where to find the coupons.

Newspaper: This is the most obvious place to start. Most cities have the coupons in the Sunday paper. My advice is to buy the paper for the largest city in your state. They tend to have more coupons and sometimes even higher value ones than the smaller cities. I live in the 3rd largest city in my state yet I still buy a paper most weeks for on of the other cities.

Friends & Family: Ask your friends, family, and co-workers for their coupons. At one point in time, I was receiving 3 copies of the local paper every week. This helps when there is a great stock up sale because then you can buy more than one item.

Coupon Train: I've been in a train for years now and it always amazes me how the value and variety of coupons varies across the nation. I found my train through a website I've frequented for years. There are several coupon related websites that offer trains but if you frequent a message board, try setting up your own site. We simply use Yahoo Groups to set up the train and it has worked great for years. If you have a local message board, this is a great way to get a train going too.

Websites: Most major manufacturers offer coupons on their websites. The best way to know about them is to sign up for their newsletters. I also check out several blogs that alert when a new coupon is out.

Downloadable sites: Shortcuts.com (available for Kroger affiliated stores), Kroger.com, and Upromise are the ones I frequent. The first two you can download to your shopping card and they will automatically show up when you checkout. It takes about an hour to get them to your card so keep this in mind when shopping. Upromise is not an actual coupon but the amount you save is added to your Upromise account. This is a simple way to save for college with very little effort.

If you are interested in joining The Grocery Game, please use me as a referral - light52b at yahoo dot com (take out the spaces).