Free Grocery Coupons

Balancing your personal budget can be very difficult during rough economic times. The current credit crisis has made it almost impossible for average working families to make ends meet. Families are struggling to pay their mortgage or rent while at the same time worrying if their job will be safe in the coming months. One solution to help your family save money is to make use of food coupons. Just in the past month my family has reduced our grocery spending by just over 20% from using coupons! Using printable grocery coupons in combination with other store sales and discounts can save you a lot of money. This cost savings will increase your cash flow which is very important in these uncertain economic times.

There are many levels as to how much money one can save using coupons. The more money you want to save, the more time and dedication is required. You can be a casual coupon clipper, choosing only the coupons for the products that you typically buy. This will save you a few dollars here and there over the course of a few weeks. While these savings are important and every bit counts, real savings takes a lot of work and a willingness to adapt and be flexible. There are a ton of online coupons available today, not to mention your Sunday paper coupons. I have put together a list of tips that my family has used to help us reduce our grocery spending by using coupons.

• Double or Triple your savings – Anytime grocery stores offer triple coupons, you can get incredible deals. Most of the time, they limit your purchases to 20 coupons up to .99 cents. Coupons that redeem for .50 or .75 cents come in very handy when using them for triple coupons. A .75 cents coupon turns into $2.25 off. We typically get a lot free products just from redeeming these coupons. Double coupons are also nice and are more frequently offered by grocers.
• Combine Coupons – Often times grocers will have their own coupons that can be combined with printable online coupons from the manufacturer. This is an opportunity to increase your savings. Throw in a triple coupon offer and you will probably actually make money off your transaction.
• Subscribe to Coupon Resources – You can find many name brand coupons by signing up on the manufacturer’s website. Several companies will offer coupons on their site from time to time. There are also several websites and blogs that are dedicated to posting the best deals of the week per store and what coupons to use. One of my favorites is – Money Saving Mom.
• Shop the Pharmacy’s – As I noted above, combining store coupons with manufacturer coupons can provide excellent savings. Several of the national pharmacy chains tend to extend these types of offers with rebates and rewards. The CVS Extra Card Bucks program is a good example. Planned correctly, there are many times you can walk away with a lot of goods and $0 out of your pocket by shopping at these stores.
• Be Patient – One of the most important things I have learned when using coupons is to be patient! There are many times when I want to run out and redeem a coupon that I get in the Sunday paper. Often times, if you wait a week or two, that item will be on sale somewhere which will increase your savings. I have found that it is extremely important to be patient and flexible when using coupons. At times you may need to purchase a different brand of an item in order to maximize your savings.
• Coupon Clubs – Look into forming a coupon club at work or in your neighborhood. Many times, people only need certain types of coupons and throw the rest away. For example, families without young children will never use diaper coupons. You can typically trade coupons you don’t use with friends and family for other coupons that you want that they don’t use.
• Newspaper Subscription – The majority of the coupons that we use come from the Sunday newspaper. For a few dollars per month, I subscribe to our local weekend newspaper package that includes Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Since I don’t have time to read the entire week, let alone the weekend papers, this subscription lets me purchase the Sunday paper at a discounted rate compared to the newsstand. The coupon savings we get from purchasing the Sunday paper well outweighs the cost of the paper.
• Be Creative – If you don’t want to pay for your Sunday paper to get coupons, then ask friends, family, or neighbors if you can have theirs. Many people throw them away every week. We get several coupons each week from our family who would normally recycle them. You may also consider asking your local library or businesses if you can have the coupons from their papers if they don’t use them.

For more money savings tips, check out my recent article on eHow titled – How to save money on your grocery bill

What tips can you offer that I don’t have on my list?

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