Coupons & Deals for Newbies!

Sorry I have been MIA lately. I've been busy chasing my wild infant around and there are just way too many coupon/deal blogs out there to compete with!

This is a special post for all my friends that have come to me in the past months with questions on saving money and finding deals. Instead of replying back individually and sharing the same info time and time again, I decided it's best to compile it all in a blog post! So lets get started, shall we?

Helpful couponing tips

-Subscribe to the Sunday paper.
It's the easiest place to begin! You'll usually get 2-3 inserts of coupons each week as well as coupons to department and drug stores. You'll also get a preview to each week's sales.
-Know your local stores' coupon policies.
Publix, for instance, accepts all competitor coupons. Target allows you to use one Target store coupon and one manufacturer coupon per item. Here's an extensive list of store coupon policies.
-Combine coupons with buy one, get one free sales.
-Search for store match-ups before you shop.
There are people out there with wayyy too much time on their hands that research what items are on sale each week (flyer ads) and they tell you which sale items have coupons on the web or in the paper. Some of these lifesavers even post direct links to the coupons, which makes life easier for the rest of us! Here's an example
-Request free samples online
The companies usually send you coupons with your sample! Here are some places to start: All You,Walmart
-"Like" your favorite companies on Facebook
Many of them now offer coupons for free products and samples just for being a "fan"
- Search for coupons online
Google is a great tool! Before you head out to shop, just google the product you want to purchase followed by "coupon" to see if there are any online printables you can bring along. Otherwise, Coupons.com and Smartsource are great places to start.
- Follow coupon blogs
In my opinion, this is the BEST way to find deals. Here are some of my favorite blogs that I follow on a daily basis: Couponers United, Freebies 2 Deals, Thrifty Wifey, Nifty Thrifty Savings. Those should be enough to get you started..believe me..they all link to other great blogs and you will become addicted to deal searching!

And here are some pictures of some recent freebies (some were free samples, some were redeemed by coupons, and others were free deals I found on blogs) Just click on it to make it larger!