You may not believe it, but a single piece of paper cut out or printed out, saves a lot of your money. With just a pinch of patience on collecting these valuable paper stubs, organizing them well and using them wisely, you will be able to save money before you even know it. Yes, couponing is what I’m exactly talking about.
Couponing is the act of seeking, sorting and saving discount coupons or discount stubs on specific goods and services generally employed for the purpose of promoting various products or merchandises. Little is told, but this type of activity is by far, considered as an interesting approach to save money diligently.
Here are some salient insights you wouldn’t want to miss for you to know better what couponing is all about.
01 Learn the types of coupons
Generally, grocery coupons are categorized into two major kinds: manufacturer’s coupon and store coupon. As to their main difference, manufacturer coupon is a bit flexible in terms of acceptability of the store where you want to use your coupon. This is because, this coupon is issued directly by the manufacturer of the product which technically means that it can be accepted anywhere for as long as the product is being sold in that store. On the other hand, store coupon gives the buyer the privilege to use it exclusively on specific stores who issued the coupon. Though this isn’t always the case, for some stores may as well accept store coupons which are issued by their competitors.
02 Know where you can find them
Coupons can be found mainly on newspapers, magazines, mails or in store product’s pack or receipts. But as the advent of technology arose, this had widened the spectrum of possible sources of coupons. Others collect coupons from printable stubs available in the internet, some sorted out from visiting manufacturer’s websites and other social media that offers online coupon advertisements. So there are really plenty of options for you to choose from. Just make sure that you choose the ones legit and favor you according to your convenience.
03 Systematize them accordingly
Of course, a system of organizing your coupons is needed for you to keep track of the appropriate coupons you intend to use plus it minimizes the time you consume just to look for the preferred coupon every once in a while. So having it organized is also a thing to consider. You can have it properly piled in ring binders, filing boxes and cases with flaps. You can sort them out by date so as to track as well which ones are bound to expire. Or you can resort to creating coupon database to make sure you have them well-organized.
04 Now you’re just so ready to use them
Now that you’ve gained the basic knowledge about coupons, you may want to practice taking advantage of its privileges. But before you prep that push cart up and hit the grocery, you better keep some valuable ideas you will surely find helpful. First, you must keep an eye for the sale prices. There are great differences among regular price, sale price and rock-bottom price. In this case, to maximize the effect of discount coupon, aim for the rock bottom price. Also, keeping track of the sale prices may give you the hint as to when the prices will drop the next time. And most importantly, pick the best store where you can use your coupons optimally.
Learning these essential insights is a step closer to a realistic money saving approach that anybody can comfortably follow. Remember that every cent we spend for something must be treated with utmost value. Practicality speaks the sweetest words that define the very meaning of saving money. And couponing is indeed a word that speaks practicality.
