Today I am going to finish our discussion about where to find coupons. Last week I talked about the main places to find coupons, the Sunday Paper and the Internet. We also discussed the process of trying to receive Home Mailers. To catch up from last week click here.
Today I am going to talk about the last 4 main places to find coupons:
In The Store
When we talked about coupon abbreviations two of the abbreviations I covered were “tearpads” and “blinkies”. Now when I posted some of those abbreviations you might have wondered, “what is a blinkie or a tearpad?” Well today is your lucky day because I will be explaining where these types of coupons can be found/what they are.
 |
| Blinkie Example |
These coupons are found IN THE STORE. Usually near the product. The problem with these is that it is just luck if your store has the particular tearpad or blinkie. Usually the store will have a tearpad or blinkie when the product isn’t on sale so whenever you go shopping keep an eye out for these types of coupons and take a few to save for when the item actually goes on sale.
An unusual place to look for these is in GAS STATIONS or CONVENIENCE STORES! As long as it says “Manufacture Coupon” you can use it anywhere. So grab it at these types of places and save it for when the drug store or grocery store puts the product on sale.
*Courtesy Notice: When you see these tearpads or blinkie’s PLEASE be courteous of other couponers. Don’t take the whole tearpad of coupons. I usually take 2-4 coupons. (I always take at least 2 in case it goes on BOGO)
In/On Products
 |
| Tearpad Example |
This is another situation where luck comes into play. These are coupons that are taped/glued/hanging on products. Proper coupon etiquette is you are only supposed to take these coupons if you BUY the product.
If you find these coupons on products you plan on purchasing make sure to compare it to your original coupon. It may be better or worse than your coupon. You always want to make sure you are using the higher value coupon.
Coupon Clipping Services
Instead of buying Sunday Newspapers or if you live in an area that doesn’t get good coupons in the paper you can opt to use a Coupon Clipping Service. These websites allow you to buy coupons for 10-60 cents apiece. There are some websites that will even sell you the whole insert.
*DISCLAIMER: I have never used any of these services before but there are many couponers that “swear” by them. I may look into using these when my newspaper subscription runs out.
Below are a few different Coupon Clipping Services I have found. I have not done a lot of research on where these are located so you may want to research for a service in your state for faster delivery.
Coupon Trading/Swapping
Many churches, mommy groups, facebook groups, or other coupon area groups will hold Coupon Trading/Swapping events. The Catholic Church down the road from me has a basket in the back of the church where you can donate your unused coupons and they put the coupons out in an area in their hall for people to go in and take which ones they need. This way you can get more coupons of a product you buy all the time and aren’t just throwing away half your coupons. This especially comes in handy when someone like me has TONS of baby coupons that I don’t need.
Just because you don’t live near someone doesn’t mean you can’t swap. There are many people on forums and facebook that will post that they didn’t get a certain coupon and ask if anyone has any spares and someone else will post that they don’t need that coupon if you email me your address I’ll send you my coupons. I have done this with a rebate form my Publix didn’t have. I see it all the time. You could even get a PO BOX inexpensively for this kind of thing if you don’t want to give out your address.
Now you may be thinking but where do I find a group like this in my area? A great place to start is with google. Just google “Your City Coupon Trading/Swapping Groups” you may be surprised what you will find. Other places to look are your local gyms, schools, churches, newspapers, craigslist, work, sports teams, etc. Ask around you’d be surprised who may or may not be using coupons and willing to trade with you. Facebook is another good place to search. You never know what groups in your area are trading coupons.
The last place you might be able to find these groups is through a local blogger. If you follow a coupon blogger in your town you can email them and ask them if they know of a trading/swapping group in the area.
And worst comes to worst and you can’t find one START YOUR OWN!! Find some friends and start meeting to swap coupons. Create a facebook group and advertise around town.
Or do what the church from me started and start a coupon trading/swapping group. Something like that can be very easy to set-up if you know people that work at the church/have an area to set it up. You don’t even need to lay the coupons out you could just have the box in the back and people can go through the coupons as they come in and out of the church.
Now remember these are just the MOST COMMON places to find coupons. There may or may not be other places to find coupons depending on your location and luck. If there ARE places that you have found coupons that I did not include please let me know so I can add it to the list!
This finishes up our section on places to find coupons. Next week I will move onto a new topic. If there is a specific topic you are more interested please let me know and I will move that to the top of the list.
P.S. As I am posting these tips I am compiling them on a page “Couponing 101” feel free to go there to find couponing tips you may have missed.
What great tips! I wouldn't have thought about gas stations having coupons.
thanks! You just never know where those tearpads are going to be!
My apartment complex is hosting a coupon swap this week. I found it quite humorous since that's the first and only social event that it's hosted since we moved here almost 3 months ago! But I definitely will be going!
Awesome! All the coupon swap meetups I've seen are about 30 minutes away and I'm too lazy to drive. Like I said the church down the street has a basket you put unused coupons in but then they put them out in a hall that I don't know where it is yet/what time it's opened. I need to figure out where it's at.