Tip of the Week: Saving with Coupons*

If you're not already using coupons for grocery shopping, you should start now! Even though some coupons may not seem to save you much, they really add up, especially when you use them in combination with other sales. Sometimes you can even get things completely free when you combine sales and coupons. Plus, there are a number of convenient ways to get coupons other than clipping coupons from the paper. You can print coupons from the internet or even load them directly to your grocery rewards card.

Coupons.com is a great source for printable coupons. Some coupons are available practically monthly while others may appear only for a short time. Since you don't know how long the coupons will be there or when they might appear again, it's a good idea to skim through the coupons every so often to see if there are any you want to print. You may have to download a coupon printer program in order to print these coupons---if so, the website will provide prompts to help you get the printer set up. Smartsource.com and Redplum.com also have printable coupons, but generally not as many as coupons.com.

Product websites and Facebook product pages can also be a good source for coupons. Some of these sites require you to register with them in order to print coupons. Such registration is generally free, though you may have to agree to receive emails from them.

Smith's allows you to load coupons directly to your rewards card from the Smith's website. They even offer "Free Friday Downloads" almost every Friday with coupons for completely free items (past items have included a bottle of shampoo, a Betty Crocker cookie mix, a box of hamburger helper, and a bag of Tostitos tortilla chips to name a few). All you have to do is load the coupon sometime during the day on Friday and then you have two weeks to redeem it. Check out these instructions on loading coupons to your Smith's card.

If it seems overwhelming to you to keep up with all of this information on your own, you should consider following a shopping blog or two. Blogs such as www.coupons4utah.com, and www.freebies2deals.com will point out high-value coupons, Facebook offers, grocery ad match-ups, and other awesome deals. If you make a habit of skimming through the new posts on these blogs every day or two, you can find some really neat deals that you might have missed otherwise.

*Originally distributed November 2013