Thanks to Little House in the Valley for this guest post on ways to find more coupons and save!
In recent months, I’ve been on somewhat of a coupon craze. Not only do I not want to purchase anything full price, I want the benefit of purchasing items on sale and with a coupon. Three unconventional ways I’ve found to snag coupons are: write a letter to the company, print them out online, and purchase them on eBay.
1. Be a Pen Pal…Write a letter
Vendors like to hear customers boast about their products. Those customers usually develop a loyalty to a specific brand and tell their friends and family about that product, increasing the chances of the vendor gaining new customers. One way to benefit from this loyalty is to write a letter to the company telling them how much you love their product. This will often equate to having coupons mailed directly to your home.
I recently wrote a letter myself boasting to Ken’s Hot Sauce about how tasty their sauces were. I especially enjoy their hot wing sauce. The outcome produced $7.00 off in coupons plus two free product coupons, well worth the 44-cents spent on a stamp.
2. Print coupons on your printer
Printing coupons out from a home computer isn’t a novel idea; there are plenty of online coupon resources available today. What I like the most about finding coupons online is that they can be used the same day I’m planning on purchasing a product; this is especially helpful if the product is on sale at my local market.
One example of using printed coupons to my benefit is for a particular pet product. I like using World’s Best Cat Litter for my cats’ litter box, not the least expensive cat litter on the market. However, it’s very environmentally friendly and I feel it’s the safest product for my pets. World’s Best Cat Litter’s website continually offers a $3.00 off coupon on the 8 pound bag that my grocery store carries. When the litter is on sale for $1.00 off, I use my additional $3.00 off coupons for a total of $4.00 in savings. Instead of paying $8.99 for their litter, I walk out the door spending $4.99, almost a 50% savings!
3. Purchase coupons on eBay
Purchasing coupons might seem like a contradiction to the word coupon, but some of the best coupons with the largest discounts are available for sale on eBay when they aren’t available in my local area. Companies tend to promote certain coupons in specific areas and not in others. For instance, I’ve often found $10.00 off coupons on Iams cat food through eBay when they weren’t available in my local coupon guides or online.
A most recent coupon purchase via eBay was for Gatorade coupons; purchase 10 Gatorades, get 5 free. This was a smoking deal considering my local grocer often runs weekly sales on this product. For $3.00 I was able to purchase 5 of these coupons. My grocery store was running a sale for $5.00 off 10 Gatorades. After applying two of my eBay-purchased coupons, each Gatorade cost 47-cents (including a 10-cent CRV and the cost of what I paid for the two coupons I used).
Just to clarify, the money paid for a coupon isn’t for the value of the coupon itself, but for the seller’s time in finding the coupons and posting them for sale. If you’re new to purchasing coupons on eBay here are a few tips to help you sort out the good deals from the not-so-good deals:
- Watch for free shipping – I don’t particularly like paying for shipping on coupons
- Coupons with larger discounts are usually my preferred choice on eBay
- I make sure I don’t pay more than the total discount of the coupon or coupons
Summary
Clipping coupons out of a Sunday paper or circular is still a great way to find coupons on everyday items. These are just a few alternatives to finding coupons for products you purchase regularly, or for hard-to-find coupons.
Don’t forget to Download the Saving Cents with Sense Toolbar. Have a smart phone – Get the iPhone App or Android App to keep all the deals at your fingertips!
