Cool Mommy Product Reviews

Someone asked me the other day where I find coupons, as I plopped down forty of them on a sizeable order. (I had in fact, no items without coupons and many had double or stacked coupons from the retailer and the manufacturer).

There are many ways to find great coupons. Once you get in the habit and find a few good sources, you’ll spend less time hunting for them and will save more time as well as cash.

Here are my top spots to find coupons:

1. Sunday paper inserts:About every four weeks, a special flyer comes out from Proctor and Gamble (P & G Brandsaver) which has coupons for Tide, Bounce, Downy and Covergirl cosmetics, along with a host of other P & G coupons. Most weeks though, you’ll find RedPlum and SmartSource inserts. Pick the biggest paper you can for the most coupons.
2. Online: SmartSource and RedPlum have their own websites, where you can print and download coupons in addition to your paper. Often these are worth more than the ones in the papers. A few times they are equal or a bit less. You’ll have to compare, but it is always worth checking out. For example, recently SmartSource.com had a coupon for $1.10 off 3 Progresso Soups, (the one in Sunday paper was only $.50 off 2 Progresso Soups).
3. Other Online Sites: Coupon Surfer.com and Coupon.com are great sites for coupons. Stay away from sites that want you to pay. There are plenty of free spots to find these items.
4. Retail Displays: If you go to your local K-Mart or Walgreens, you’ll often find coupons near the hair care, body wash or lotion, or make-up. Pay attention to new makeup displays, as these often (especially Maybelline) have pads of coupons nearby. Make a point to check every time you go to a retailer.
5. Retailer Flyers: K-Mart often has coupons in their Sunday paper flyer, which don’t always have the K-Mart logo or are exclusionary in their use.  Read these carefully, as many times you can clip these and use in other retail sites. Others such as Walgreens, have coupons to clip and use only in their store. Watch for these, as many times when coupled with a manufacturer’s coupon you’ll get an item for free or nearly so.
6. Products: Quaker oatmeal coupons are hard to come by, which is why I was thrilled at the Dollar General store yesterday to buy two boxes of instant oatmeal with $4.00 of coupons inside. Always look at products that say, “Free coupons inside”. Sometimes you have to dig to the back of the shelf for these, but make a habit to check for them on all products you purchase.
7. Manufacturers: Often the best way to find a coupon is right from the horse’s mouth. Campbells.com, has a coupon worth a dollar off two cooking soups on their site currently. The ones recently in the Sunday paper were a $.25 off two. If you have a favorite product, try going to their site and look under, “promotions” or “coupons”. 
8.  Wal-Mart: Frequently at Wal-Mart.com, you’ll find coupons or free samples. Worth checking out, although there is a limit to how many you can claim in a given amount of time and they don’t change these often.
9.  Snail Mail: Write to the manufacturer and ask for coupons or samples. I received samples and coupons from the Luna Bar company this way. Chapstick has sent samples and coupons to folks who took the time to write a nice letter.
10. Google Search: When in doubt, you can try entering, “coupon for x product” and see what comes up. Since I make it my quest to not buy anything except meat and produce without a coupon, I use this process frequently. You’ll be pleasantly surprised what you’ll find.
11. Magazines: It doesn’t pay to buy a ton of newspapers and magazines if you spend more than you’ll use in the way of coupons, but there are some magazines worth trying out. One is “All You” magazine.  Find this at Wal-Mart or other sites. Often you’ll find coupons for savings off the purchase price of the magazine in Sunday paper inserts. It does save to buy a subscription; most are around $12.00 a year. A deal, since each magazine has about $10 worth of coupons.
12. Recycling: Don’t think me crazy, but I do go to the recycling area and scavenge from time to time. Our local Boy Scouts have a newspaper drop off. They are kind enough to let me forage people’s newspapers for coupons. A lot of times, whole bundles of unsold newspapers are brought here, untouched. The extras I drop off at the Senior Center for clients to use.
13. Network: Team up with a coupon buddy and swap coupons at church, play groups or other spots savvy moms hang out.
14. Ask the Retailer: Before you buy a product, ask the store clerk if there is a coupon. Walgreens and CVS are used to people purchasing with a coupon and will frequently assist with this.
15. Load Your Kroger Card: Proctor and Gamble have a link with Kroger, to load coupons directly to your Kroger card. You honestly won’t find super deals on these coupons, (most are $.25 or $.50) BUT you can stack them with other manufacturer’s coupons and savings do add up. Simply attach your Kroger card to the coupons and print an eco-friendly  list of coupons on your card. Reload monthly.

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