Where Have All the Coupons Gone?
Have you noticed that the Sunday paper just doesn’t have the wealth of coupons that it used to? Back in the day, I was a mad coupon clipper. I looked forward to the hour I’d spend on a Sunday looking through the coupon flyers and cutting out the stack of gems buried within. I saved a good bit of money on my weekly grocery trips, especially when I could go on a double-coupon day. My personal best was probably in the neighborhood of $15 on a cartful.
Today, newspapers may have coupons, but they’re few and far between. Sometimes they’re not even in the Sunday edition, but on another day entirely (which is an effort on the part of the paper to sell more copies, obviously). So where do the thrifty turn these days? The internet, of course.
Many of your favorite retailers (like Hobby Lobby) offer their coupons on their website and/or through their weekly email newsletter. However, too many newsletters can turn into clutter in your inbox, and visiting all those websites can take you more than that hour I used to spend. The longer you spend looking for savings, the less you’ll want to actually make the effort.
Enter the coupon websites. There are dozens of them, as this internet search shows. These do the hunting for you, helping you to find the exact coupons you’re looking for. I’ve used CoolSavings for printable coupons, and a friend of mine swears by CouponCabin which offers both printable coupons and online codes for internet purchases. You’ll find a multitude of offers from product manufacturers as well as individual stores.
Looking to make a big purchase at Lowe’s but don’t want to crawl through one of the coupon aggregator sites? Just type “lowes coupons” into a search engine and you’ll find coupons and codes posted in multiple locations across the web. Search engines are the first place I turn when when looking for something specific.
Do you receive those ValPak envelopes in your mailbox? Have you ever looked through the offers, decided you didn’t need any of them right now, tossed them, and then ended up realizing that you should have kept one? Well, you might just be able to get the coupon online.
There are many of online options for saving when you shop, be it your weekly grocery run or a seasonal shopping trip. A little planning and organization can save quite a bit of cash without taking a lot of time. I challenge you to find $5 in savings online before your next shopping trip. Post a comment and let me know what you find.
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Ok…I’m taking this challenge and I’ll come back with my results soon. If I’m lucky, I’ll find a great coupon for supplies for my holiday cards!
The truth is…I have over $5 in coupons right now in my wallet from the grocery store that I can’t remember to use. Your post has spurred me to get them out before I make my grocery run today. Thank you!