Save Coupons = Save Money
By Mary Kay
An important part of being a child care provider is to feed healthy snacks and meals to the children you care for. To help keep your business running at an optimum level, saving money by utilizing coupons is more important than ever.
There is an estimated $360 billion worth of coupons available to consumers. With a minimum amount of effort, the average person can start reducing their grocery bills.
The following suggestions give ideas on how to find coupons so you can start saving money right away.
It is important when searching for online coupons to be sure you are doing business with a reputable web site that has legitimate coupons available for printing. Any specific brand of product will have a web site and offer coupons, generally with just an email sign up-see the Child Care Bytes section of this newsletter for two such web sites to get you started. If you don't have a brand name in mind, be as specific as possible in your search, listing the actual type of product you're searching for instead of just searching for online coupons in general.
Know your stores' policies by checking online or asking at the customer service desk. Verify that online coupons are accepted at their store, and if they expect the coupons to be in color or if black and white is acceptable. Whenever possible, print the whole page that your coupon was printed from. The web site address in the corner of the page gives the retailers the opportunity to verify that your coupon came from a legitimate source.
The Sunday paper has been a long-time favorite for coupon shoppers, but also check any inserts you receive in the mail, as there are often coupons available not only for groceries, but also for restaurants and major retail stores.
Check your favorite magazines for coupons. Depending on the target audience of the magazine, you can save money on groceries, dining out, and even craft materials. The coupons found in magazines generally have a longer time period before they expire compared to those found in newspaper inserts. Suggest doing a magazine and coupon trade with friends and family. A coupon you may have no use for may be just what someone else is looking for.
Check with your local grocery stores to see if they have double coupon days or if you can use a store coupon and a manufacturer coupon together for one purchase. While shopping at the grocery store, look for any weekly in-store coupons, coupon dispensers in the aisles, or tear-off coupons on the products themselves.
Organizing your coupons is THE key to success. It is likely you won't use every single coupon you have, but if they are easily accessible when you do your shopping, you'll soon see a difference in your grocery bills.
Here are a few methods to organize coupons:
To organize coupons by using envelopes, label each envelope with a product category such as meat, cereal, paper products, beauty products, etc., and put the coupons pertaining to that category in the envelope. You can then store the envelopes in a plastic shoe box or a decorative photo box.
You can get expansion files that have tabs on top of each pocket, or you can make or buy tabs and attach them to the pockets yourself. Mark each tab with a product category and sort the coupons accordingly.
Index file boxes or recipe boxes are smaller to work with. Buy tabbed dividers that will fix your box or make your own from cardboard or old cereal boxes, marking each with a product category.
A three ring binder is a very good tool to use for organizing coupons. Fill your binder with plastic sheets that have individual pockets. Separate the plastic sheets with binder dividers marked with each product category. Another consideration is a zippered binder so everything is self-contained. There are also inside pockets for supplies like a scissors, a calculator, and a pen and paper.
If you want to pull out coupons before shopping, make your list on the back of an envelope, then take out any coupons that are applicable for your needs. Put a 'C' next to each item that you have a coupon for, and then slip the coupons into the envelope.
It is still a good idea to bring your complete organized coupon holder for any 'spur of the moment' purchases you may have a coupon for. If you have a coupon but do not necessarily need the item right away, consider purchasing it anyway if it's a good deal and you know you will use it. This is a great way to help with future meal planning.
It will take some time to find a system that works best for you to keep your coupons organized, but once you have determined your preferred method, it will be easy to maintain and start saving money!
Credits:
www.ehow.com
www.associatedcontent.com
www.grocerycouponguide.com
http://couponing.about.com
http://tipnut.com/coupon-organizer-system
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