 Re: What's the easiest way for a newbie to get started?
This is from Couponing 101 section in the above sticky
entitled "Couponing Basics for the Newbie.": Where do I get all of these coupons? Your first source should be the Sunday newspaper. The coupons are usually with the magazine section inside the funnies! There are three kinds of coupon inserts to look for: the SmartSource (SS), the Redplum, which was formerly known as Valassis (V), and once a month, the Procter & Gamble Brand Saver (P&G). There are no inserts on major holidays, so you might want to save your money on those days. The 2008 Schedule is on the HCW calendar or in this thread. The first key to saving money is to obtain multiple copies of the inserts-- lots of them. You want to do this as inexpensively as possible. You probably already get a paper, either home delivered or at the news stand, so you have one set of inserts there. If you buy it at the store, make sure the coupons are actually in there before you pay for the paper! Some stores discount the price of the Sunday paper, or offer a special deal on two. Then you can ask everyone you know. Most people don’t use coupons, or if they do, they cut one or two and toss the rest. Get those. Ask your mother, your neighbors, your church friends, coworkers-- anyone that you can think of! If you live in or close to an apartment or condo complex, check out the recycling bins. You’d be surprised how many people just toss the whole center section! These are usually pretty clean, since recycling companies require you to separate newspaper from other recyclables. Join the “Dumpster Divers”! This is what people call it when they go to the local recycling center to poke around for extra inserts. Make friends with the people who run them if you are confronted—they can become your best friends! They might be able to tell you when the carriers come to dump their extras. There is a Dumpster Diving thread here. Ask at the local store on Sunday night or Monday morning. Many papers require that only the front page of unsold papers be returned for credit, or if they need the whole paper, they don’t want the inserts. It never hurts to ask! Look at hotels, nursing homes, McDonald's on a Sunday morning... anywhere that people sit to read the paper and leave the inserts. There are reputable coupon clipping services that will send coupons for a handling fee. Free from the sources above is always best, but sometimes you have to spend money to make money!This post was taken from hotcouponworld.com Another source of coupons is online printable coupons. There are many links to these in our database! Most sites allow you to print two copies of each coupon. One caveat, however, is that many stores no longer accept them due to fraud. You will need to ask if your store accepts these.
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