5 February 2008 No Comment Print This Post  Email This Post

I’m a firm believer that there is a coupon for everything, from the restaurant I want to dine at to the shampoo I wash my hair with. It’s just a matter of finding the coupon. There are websites, mailers and groups out there that swear that they can help you find the perfect coupon for your shopping list, but looking through all of them before each shopping trip is just too much for me. I’ve managed to narrow it down to just five coupon sources that I rely on.

The weekly circulars: I’m still a sucker for print. I get the Sunday paper to read during breakfast. I enjoy actually sitting and clipping coupons, as old-fashioned as that might be to everyone used to receiving weekly newsletters full of coupons.

RedPlum.com: RedPlum is still in beta — the premise of the site is that you enter your zip code and it’ll grab coupons from local circulars for you. It makes it easier for me to get duplicate coupons if I’m planning to stock up on a particular item, but what I’m really excited about is a feature that they’re planning to add (hopefully) soon. The plan is for you to be able to build a shopping list on the site, which will then find all the coupons for items on your list. Admittedly, any site with this feature already working and a great selection of coupons could get me to jump ship, but so far that combination has been pretty hard to find.

AlexsCoupons.com: Alex’s Coupons seems to be the best bet for coupons whenever I’m shopping online. They find some great offline deals, as well, and have a daily e-newsletter if you want constant coupon updates. Alex’s Coupons always has something for big name sites, like Amazon.

Flyers: I do a lot of shopping at locally owned businesses, whose coupons aren’t going to show up on big websites or in the Sunday paper. Instead, I rely on those local flyers and mailers that show up in my mail box on a regular basis. I find coupons for my favorite restaurants, the local second-hand bookstore and even the family dentist!

Company newsletters: I sign up for just about every email newsletter that companies I buy from offer. I generally don’t read them if I’m not planning a trip to that business in the near future — I use a Gmail filter to get them out of my inbox before I ever see them — but when I am planning a trip, I give the most recent message a quick read over. These emails often include ‘member’ discounts, coupons and other deals. For instance, On the Border (one of my favorite chain restaurants) gives you a free appetizer as an incentive to sign up for their mailing list and often sends out free drink deals and other coupons.

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