Frugal Fritzie

In this post, I’ll share with you on the numerous sources of coupons and how you can increase your coupon stockpile. I’ll be doing a separate post on different coupons available online (called “IPs”, or Internet Printables).

Your Sunday Newspaper. Sunday Newspapers have coupon inserts each week. There are 3 types of different inserts: Procter & Gamble, Smart Source and Red Plum. The Parade magazine sometimes includes couopns too, so check those each week as well. They each have different schedules and each one is not always in the paper every week. I post each week a preview of how many and what inserts will be in the paper. You can acquire more inserts from your Sunday paper in a number of ways-through friends & family, your local recycling center (always ask first), multiple subscriptions (ask your local newspaper if you can get a discount rate).  And be aware that not all areas get the same coupons. The bigger cities seem to get more coupons in their inserts. I live in a smaller city and the coupons in my local paper are pretty pitiful. I do not rely on my local paper for the bulk of my coupon supply.

Magazines. While you’re flipping through your magazines, keep your eyes peeled for coupons. Most magazines have at least one or two coupons, some include a lot more. I have gotten a lot of free magazine subscriptions (watch for my posts on free magazine offers, sometimes the offers only last a matter of hours so you have to be quick). I seem to have a constant flow of magazines coming in the mail each week. I usually flip through the magazines in the evenings when I’m watching tv and I’m always amazed at the coupons I come across. All You Magazine has the most coupons, check out the long list of coupons in the June issue HERE. You can get a 6-Month subscription at Amazon for $10.00 HERE. I see cheaper rates for All You on different websites from time to time, but I personally like purchasing it on Amazon mainly because I use free Amazon gift cards I have earned through various survey programs. That way, I don’t spend any out of pocket for the subscription. The less out of pocket I spend, the better!

Coupons through Free Samples. When you sign up for a free sample online, it will often include a coupon.

Coupons in the mail. Contacting companies online is a great way to add to your coupon stash. Companies love to hear from their customers and want to know what you like about their products. When you email, be specific. Let them know what you like about a their product and ask if they have any coupons available to send. It only takes a few minutes of your time and if you resolve to contact a certain number of companies a week (like say, 10 a week, you’d only be contacting 2 a day, very easy to manage that), you’ll be amazed at how fast your coupon collection will grow. Here’s an example of a few companies I personally contacted in the past and the results HERE.

Coupons in the store. Blinkies, Tearpads, Hangtags, Peelies, Coupon Booklets, Store Magazines/Coupon Booklets. As you walk the aisles of your local grocery store, keep your eyes peeled. You’ll be surprised how many coupons you’ll start seeing in the store.

• “Blinkies” are coupons distributed by SmartSource Coupon Machines. The name “blinkie” refers to the blinking light so it attracts your attention.

• Tearpads are simply coupons you tear off of a pad. I see a lot of these in the chips aisle.

• Hangtags are coupons literally hanging off of a product

• Peelies are coupons that are on the actual product and you have to peel the coupon off the product to use it.

• Companies like Kellogg’s and others put out coupon booklets generally on displays you’ll find sprinkled throughout the store, often at the end of the aisles. And if you have a Whole Foods store near you, be sure to watch for Mambo Sprouts coupon booklets, they’re loaded with natural & organic coupons. And if you’re like me and you don’t have a Whole Foods, you can sign up HERE to get one sent in the mail. Offers for coupon booklets pop up periodically online as well. Home Made Simple is a great example, they put out a great coupon booklet at least twice a year and there are usually numerous links so that you can get several booklets throughout the year.

• Some stores themselves have coupon booklets on display in the store, Safeway & Publix are examples of that. Walgreens carries their own magazine Diabetes & You and it always includes coupons, check out the latest issue HERE.

Thanks for checking out my post! Next time, I’ll continue with yet more coupon sources including coupon clipping sites & coupon trains.

Also, I’m putting together a Q&A Coupon post and would love to hear from you about what you most want to know about couponing in general, feel free to leave your questions in the comments or email me frualfritzie (at) gmail (dot) com, thanks!

I’ve been getting several questions about coupons lately, so I’ve decided to write a series of posts about coupons. Here’s what you can expect to see in these upcoming posts:

• The Basics

• Coupon Organization & Different Methods

• Types of Coupons

• Where to Find Coupons (Online)

• Where to Find Coupons (All Other)

• And More!

In the past, I used coupons sporadically & occasionally, but couponing was just something I never really paid much attention to. About 2 years ago, I found myself in a financial situation where it was essential that I find ways to cut costs. I started doing research in the internet on ways how to save money and I discovered coupons could really have a huge impact on my bottom line. I remember the first time I got something free with a coupon, I felt like I won the lottery! It has been empowering taking charge of how much I am willing to spend at stores, being able to use coupons has been a huge blessing in my life. One of the great things about coupons is that I’ve been able to share my freebies with friends & family and even give them away to local shelters. It’s just plain awesome to be able to share.

One of the important things to know about coupons is that there are a whole lot of variables involved. But don’t be scared, dive in! Couponing is something you just get better at the more you do it. You’ll make mistakes, but guess what, we all do and you’ll learn from them! I hope with this series that I’ll be writing will help you navigate coupons a little bit easier. If you have any questions at all, feel free to email or leave a comment, I’m happy to help!

Stay tuned!

One of the questions I get asked frequently is “Where do you get your coupons?” This is a multi-answer question because there are a lot of different sources.  Contacting companies is a great way to get coupons in the mail. You can target products you like and get coupons you can really use! Companies are always interested in hearing from their customers and a lot of them will mail coupons when you ask. When I email companies, I tell them something specific that I like about a particular product. It doesn’t take long at all to do this and if you set a goal of say, emailing 5 companies a week, it’s a great way to add more coupons to your stash.  And another thing about the coupons that companies send is they generally have very long expiration dates. I haven’t contacted companies for a long time, so a couple weeks ago in between doing my grocery ad match-ups, I emailed a batch of several different companies. Here’s the results:

• Daisy Brand: Three coupons for $0.45 off Daisy Sour Cream & two coupons for $0.50 off Daisy Cottage Cheese (I just recently tried their sour cream & it is excellent!)

• Farmland: You can sign up to get a coupon mailer. I had already signed up and hadn’t gotten 1 in about 9 months, so I emailed and asked for another one which they did (yay!). The sheet has four $0.55 off any Farmland products, two $0.75 off & two $1.00 off.

• Musselman’s: Three $0.50 off any Musselman’s products

• Land O’Lakes: They said they were only allowed to mail 1 coupon to a customer per year and they sent a $0.40 off any Land O’Lakes Half & Half

• Bumble Bee: Five coupons for $0.25 off any Bumble Bee products

• Honeysuckle White: Two coupons for $1.00 off any Honeysuckle White products & two coupons for $0.50 off any Honeysuckle White products

• Armour-Eckrich: One coupon for $1.00 off any Eckrich product & one coupon for $1.00 off any Healthy Ones product

• Tyson Foods: Two coupons for $1.00 off any one Tyson Chicken, Steak, Chops or Bacon product

• Reser’s Fine Foods: This was by far the most exciting thing I got in the mail. They sent four coupons for $0.55 off any Reser’s branded item and four coupons for Up to $8.00 off any Reser’s branded item. WOW! Thanks Reser’s, you rock!

• Mott’s: They responded that they don’t mail out coupons.

• Maxwell House: They responded that they don’t mail out coupons.

• American Beauty Pasta: They responded that they don’t mail out coupons and to watch for coupons in the Sunday newspaper (I have NEVER seen a coupon in the paper for AB. Oh well!).

I thought I’d share my latest shopping experience to show it’s OK to be an empowered customer. I did some shopping a few weeks ago and bought a few boxes of pasta. When I got home and was putting them away, I noticed one box was a lot lighter than the rest of the boxes. Looking at it more closely, it was only about a third to half full! The box was still sealed, so it must have just been a fluke defect in manufacturing. Well, the old me prior to getting into coupons and finding good deals would have just thrown the box away and considered it my bad luck and moved on. But, not now! One thing I realized when I started my couponing adventure is that companies actually DO want to hear from you. They want feedback from their customers to know how they can improve and A) keep you as a customer and b) Gain more customers! And it’s so easy contacting companies nowadays, you just go to their company website, click on their “contact us” button, take just a few minutes to email your concerns and boom, you’re set!

In my case, it took me just a few minutes to email the pasta company, I emailed them the UPC code and the problem I had. They emailed me back the same day and then they followed up with 4 Free Product coupons in the mail. I was more than satisfied and will keep buying their products in the future. Everybody wins!

If you have a story you’d like to share about contacting companies with your concerns, email or leave a comment

The following is some coupon terminology for newbies:

BOGO or B1G1= Buy One, Get One Free
RP=Red Plum
SS=Smart Source
SS 4/4=This means a coupon is located in the Smart Source Insert on April 4th. The coupon inserts all have the date on them on their spine.
P&G=Proctor & Gamble
OOP=Out of Pocket Expense
MIB=Mail-In Rebate
RR=Walgreens Register Rewards
Blinkies=Coupons found in little display setups in the store by the products that blink at you as you walk by to grab your attention
Peelies=Coupons that are on the actual product that you peel off
Tearpads=Coupons on display in store typically with the product, you tear the coupon off the pad
IP’s=Internet Printed Coupons
Q=Coupon
Catalina=coupon that prints out at the register after your purchase
Stacking Coupons=Using both a Store Q & a Mfr. Q on a single item (you can really maximize your savings that way)

If you have any questions at all about coupons, don’t hesitate to contact me. You can either leave a comment here or click on the email icon on my homepage (right sidebar).

Welcome to Frugal Fritzie! Many posts coming soon on coupons, free samples, online deals, frugal tips and much more!