With grocery prices constantly changing, it can be difficult to provide for an entire family on a fixed budget. But there are ways to fix this, like couponing!
Coupons are vouchers entitling their owners to specific savings on products that wouldn’t be marked down in price otherwise. You can find coupons in magazines, newspapers, online and in the stores where you usually shop for your products.
With that being said, coupons are basically free money, so there’s really no harm in using them. But few people properly save and use coupons.
If you’re wondering how to start using coupons, then here are some tips for using, organizing and saving coupons.
Keep Your Coupons Together
When people begin couponing, they typically have trouble keeping all of their coupons in one place. When your coupons are spread all over the house, it’s easy to forget to bring them along to the store.
For this reason, it can be helpful to have a designated wallet, folder or bag for storing your coupons. If you’re using coupons for grocery shopping, then it may even be beneficial to save your coupons in the reusable bags you carry the food in.
On the other hand, if you use a wallet for your coupons, then you’ll have an easy-to-grab way to stay organized.
Download Savings Apps
More like a rebate than a coupon, these apps still enable you to save money.”
Technology is quickly advancing to improve our lives. Take advantage of these advancements by downloading savings apps that allow you to get money by scanning our receipts.
After you’ve finished shopping, all you have to do is scan your receipt from the store and the app will transfer your spending into points on your account. The more money you spend at the store, the more points the app gives you.
Also, the more points the app gives you, the more money you can receive after you cash those points in. This app is not only easy to use, but it’s also convenient for couponers.
You use coupons on your purchases in the store and still use the app to earn points. Essentially, you’re saving money by using coupons, and you’re also receiving cash back for shopping at the store in general.
Join a Store’s Membership Program
Plenty of stores have either a loyalty program or membership that offers its members opportunities to save money as frequent shoppers. When the store sees certain customers frequent their store, they reward these loyal customers with deals on products that aren’t offered to any other customer.
Sometimes you can even get free things if you shop enough or even on your birthday or another holiday event.
Use Coupons with Items on Sale
When products are on sale, they’re listed for cheaper than the original price, which is money savings in and of itself. But when you combine these sale prices with coupons, you can save an even larger amount of money.
This does require you to keep track of when sales are going on as well as keep track of that particular coupon until the product goes on sale. But when done properly, the amount of money saved is worth the effort.
Check Online for Coupons
If you aren’t checking for coupons, sales or special offers then you are essentially throwing money away.”
If you know what store you’re about to go shopping at or you know what products you’re shopping for, then going online and checking for coupons can be beneficial. Sometimes stores have coupons that are only listed online to their viewers, and other times they only email coupons out to their customers.
So checking before you go shopping can’t do any harm, and it’s worth it if you end up finding coupons to print out.
Don’t Use Every Coupon You Find
A common mistake among first-time couponers is spending their coupons on things they don’t actually need. Ultimately, this defeats the purpose of using coupons, which is to save money.
Going out of your way to spend every coupon will cause you to spend more money than you have to. So keep track of coupons allowing you to save money on things you’re actually going to use.
Couponing can be a tedious task when you’re not familiar with it. But when you use the right skills and tricks, you have the opportunity of saving tremendous amounts of money.
Hopefully, these tips gave you an idea on how to get started with using coupons.
For more money-saving tips, check out our finance blog!
