Coupons

Why do people use coupons?

In my family of 4 plus 2 dogs, couponing is a way of life for us. Coupons are a way for to save money on products that you would already need and use.  I have saved hundreds of dollars off of my monthly grocery bills from couponing with not a lot of effort.  Shopping smart, being organized and using coupons will save your family money with little time and effort.

Where can I find coupons?

1. The most frequent place I find coupons is online Coupon Websites.  There are many free Canadian website out there that will send you coupons in the mail. Here are a few of my favorites that are reliable and have great coupons.
Websaver
P&G Brandsaver
gocoupons
Save.ca

2. Tearpads
In most groceries and drugstores you will find tear pads in almost every isle.  You may be tempted to grab the whole pad of them but good coupon etiquette is that you only take as many as you will need. I usually take about 5 because if it's something I really like I know I will use them.

3. Offers on Products
There are a lot of products that offer free coupons on the packaging.  A common one is cereal boxes.  Because companies makes multiple types of products, they often promote other products they sell on packaging.  Make sure to look in and on products you buy for special coupons.

4. Printable coupons
Many companies offer printable coupons online.  Sometimes you may need to sign up for the company's newsletter to get special coupons and promotions.  Another place to print coupons off of is websites like Smartcanucks . They have a list with the proper expiry dates listed.

5. Coupon Inserts
Every few weeks, you can find coupon inserts in your local newspaper. You can find Redplum every 4 weeks or so, Smart Source every 3 weeks or so and Brandsaver every 3-4 months.For those of you like me who like to save money by reading the paper online, I only buy the paper when I know these inserts will be in them.  I also ask friends and family who get the pare to hold onto them for me.

6. Coupon Trading: This is a great way to get coupons that have interest to you and get rid of ones that you don't need.  It is very popular in Canada and there are many website that offer it such as Smartcanucks If you want to start small you can trade with friends and family.

7. Contact the Companies
A few times a year I contact my favorite companies directly either through email or calling them and let them know that I enjoy their products and would send me coupons for their products.  Try not to do it too often usually 4 times a year works.  Even if they say no it doesn't take much time to ask and I have found that the coupons that they send directly are much better than any promotion. I have often got coupons for a FREE product!

8. Coupon Trains
Once you start couponing often, coupon trains are a great way to get coupons.  Coupon trains are not for the beginners though as they can be a bit complicated.  They are many websites out there that offer coupon trains. Make a post saying you would like to join a train. The person starting the train (conductor) will message you to get your address. They will send out an envelope with coupons and you basically take which ones you want but you need to replace them with ones of similar values that you won't need.  Each coupon train has it's own rules so you will need to join at the start of a train and get the guidelines for that train in the forum.

Good Luck and Happy Couponing!