They still have coupons? We never get any in the newspaper and I haven’t seen anyone using them in years.
Where are the coupons??? I rarely see them in the paper and my local market gives out about two a year - usually on something I no intention of ever buying.
The coupons are usually in big-city Sunday newspapers. Red Plum, Smart Source, and P&G are the main inserts. In my area, the Washington Post is the go-to paper. Most are for brand-name, prepared food items - which isn’t always useful for people like us, who mostly cook from scratch. But we still get a lot of savings out of it.
I’ve noticed that areas in the Mid-West and South tend to do a lot better at couponing; that could have something to do with the grocery chains that operate there.
You can also sign up to websites like Coupon Mom (so far, that one doesn’t put a toolbar on your computer). My experience is that the ones you print out from websites don’t double in the stores, as many of the newspaper-clipped ones do.
There are even places you can go to on the web that are basically clipping services; they clip newspaper-insert coupons and will send them to you. I’ve used those a couple of times: when a coupon for something I use routinely happens to show up in the paper, I order a bunch. It’s helpful to notice, too, that many times when a coupon is in the weekly paper, soon thereafter there will be a sale to combine the coupon with. But when using clipping services, you just have to balance your savings, with the cost of the coupons and mailing.
And make use of the rewards-programs that your favorite stores have. We get 20% off of almost everything, at our local drugstore, and have for years, simply because we use the card and shop there routinely.
Some people get really obsessive about it, and I’m not suggesting that. I spend perhaps an hour a week on clipping coupons, looking at the ads, and planning my shopping. It saves us significantly - especially, as I said earlier, if you have already built a basic stockpile so that you only need to buy the things that are available at a bargain.
Signing up on the websites for products you use a lot, will also fill your email box with frequent printable coupons.
Couponing isn’t what it used to be; there used to be more and better deals. But it can save you a lot. You just have to start, and you’ll get better and better at it - you’ll develop a strategy that fits YOU. For instance: we use Scott 1000-sheet rolls of toilet paper; and I love Yardley English Lavender soap. I only buy these things under certain conditions: I won’t pay more then $.50 a roll for the Scott; and no more than $1.00 a bar for the soap. I’ve managed to get such stockpiles, that I can keep to those rules.
It just takes a while to get there ;-)
-JT