Coupon Crash Course – Part 2 – Price Points & How to Find Coupons

Price Points and Where to Find Coupons
Okay group, congratulations for surviving day one! Are you ready for day two? Today we’re talking about price pointing (or buy now prices) and where to find coupons.

So, how do you know what a good price is, to stock up on items? Price points or, buy NOW prices are as individual as your own wardrobe. Each state and region has their own cost of living, and what Sheri may use as her BUY NOW price for chicken down in Florida, may be nothing even close to my BUY NOW price up in Washington State. So although we would love to give you a grocery list with rock bottom prices, it’s just not feasible and probably wouldn’t fit you or your needs. So, you’re going to have to do a little footwork, on your own…but never fear! We’re here to help.

Finding the lowest, rock-bottom prices for items in your area, takes a little research. Watch for the sale prices of items you buy regularly, in the weekly store’s circulars, and take notes when you are at the grocery store. Now, this doesn’t mean to write down the prices of every item in the store, but you can keep general notes on the prices of items you buy. You can watch for prices on things like eggs, milk, cheese, bread, and other staples. When you go into different stores, check out their prices too. You may find that once every two to three months, one store will have a crazy low price on milk, while a different store has unbeatable sales on eggs and cheese. Watch for those sales, and stock up on the sale items as much as you can. When I can find milk under $2 a gallon (remember, these prices are regional…you may find milk WAY cheaper than I can!) I buy as many containers as I can fit in my freezer, because I know I won’t see those prices again for several months.

Another way to save a lot of money on your grocery bill is to eat seasonally. While you may love fresh corn on the cob, you will probably find it much cheaper in the middle of the summer, than in January. If you’re a soda-a-holic, you may find that the best time to stock up is before a major summer holiday. The weeks before Memorial Day, Labor Day, and the 4th of July, are usually awesome times to stock up on soda, when it’s at its cheapest. Eventually, you’ll learn your store’s patterns of sales, and know what their best prices are and when your best time is, to buy.

Make sure to read Friday’s article there will be a price point comparison spreasheet you can download!

Where to Find Coupons!
Of course, any time you can stack coupons with sales and get items for free or close to free, are always the best times to stock up! But where can you find these illusive coupons? There are LOTS of sources. Some of these include:

Newspaper Inserts (i.e. Red Plum and Smart Source) – On weeks when there are good inserts, it might pay for you to buy multiple papers if there are coupons for items you use regularly.

Print Online Coupons – Look for links on SwagGrabber to resources such as Coupons.com for great printable coupons. Just remember to print ONLY what you will use or you’ll spend money on wasted printer ink.

Marketing Companies – Programs like Vocal Point, Bzz Agent, and others, send you coupons, usually really good ones or coupons for free items. Look to the left side bar for product testing.

Blinkies – The little blinking holders attached to the shelves in stores have some of the best coupons! If you see something you use or need grab a few (or ten) and wait for them to go on sale.

Peelies – Coupons attached to products that you peel off in the store and use instantly.

Contact Companies – Email companies of items you use all the time and they may mail you REALLY good coupons. Click HERE to see Sheri’s list.

E-bay – You can often buy coupons on E-bay. If you see a coupon in an insert that you would love to have a ton of but don’t really want to buy a trees-worth of papers, go to E-bay. You can usually buy 20 – $1 off coupons for about $1.50 shipped. Other sources for bulk coupons are A Full Cup and Coupon Clippers.

Magazines – More and more magazines are starting to include coupons in their pages. The best one, by far, is ALL YOU Magazine. You can usually find some great high-dollar coupons there, and often even coupons for free items. Currently, you can find ALL YOU Magazines at Wal-Mart. Keep your eyes open when you read through your regular magazines as well. Coupons are getting more and more common.

Hang Tags and Wine Tags – When shopping, keep your eyes open for hang tags on items. There are often coupons on those tags. Also, if your supermarket has a wine section, look on the bottles for wine tags. They often have coupons on them that don’t even require a wine purchase!

This is an abbreviated version of a list Sheri put together – click HERE to see it!

Okay folks, so far you’ve learned what matchups and stockpiling are. And now you know how to search out the best prices and coupons. Tomorrow, get ready for a foreign language lesson. (At least the language was foreign to me when I first saw it!) You’ll be learning all about the abbreviations we use on the site when explaining sales, and what all those strange words mean when people are talking about couponing…like the word, “couponing!”

Entire Series….
Part 1 – Couponing Think Big Start Small – click HERE to read Part 1
Part 2 – Price Points & How to Find Coupons – click HERE to read Part 2
Part 3 – The Illusive Foreign Language of Couponing – click HERE to read Part 3
Part 4 – Coupon Organization – click HERE to read Part 4
Part 5 = Your First Shopping Trip – click HERE to read Part 5