Saturday, September 22, 2012

How to Get MORE Coupons: Part 1

 I once purchased 32 FREE bottles of baby formula over a month to give away just because I was able to gather a LOT of extra coupons that gave me overage.

 The way to save the most money with coupons is to stock up and buy things when you can stack a sale with a coupon to get the lowest possible price.

Kitty doesn't want to trade. ;)

When I started couponing a year and a half ago, I found all sorts of ways to gather extra coupons. In fact, my friend and I even went around to the apartment complexes in the area (where coupons arrived in the mail, not the newspaper) and gathered hundreds of discarded coupon booklets. I shared my secrets and favorite coupon blogs and she shared some delicious meals. We had so much fun clipping and discussing our savings and comparing our stockpiles.

 One simple way to get more coupons is to start a coupon swap.

How To Coupon Swap:

To Coupon Swap you will need to access couponing websites or find some couponing friends.
Facebook fan pages like the ones for The Krazy Coupon Lady will allow you to "meet" people with whom you can trade coupons online.

1.  Post a comment on your Facebook page and let your friends know what coupons you have and what coupons you are looking for. It works a little like bartering.
2. Remember, coupons are similar to cash tender in the store. Offering a fair trade, dollar for dollar, not coupon for coupon will get you the best results and build your network of coupon swappers.
3. When you decide a fair trade, you can pass them off to each other or mail them to one another.
4. Decide if you will pre-clip them for each other or hand off the scrap pages.
5. Once you decide on a trade, make sure to send the coupons right away so that they have the chance to use them with any current sales that may be going on. Trust that they will send yours ASAP too.
6. Be cautious. Don't give too much personal information to strangers. If you coupon swap extensively and have access to a secondary address, be sure to use it. I prefer to coupon swap only with people within my real-life network. If you choose to coupon swap with strangers, just be aware. If they are local to you, you may consider meeting to swap coupons at the grocery store, so you don't have to waste money on stamps or give out your address.

Want another way to get more coupons? Check out tomorrow's post, How to Get MORE Coupons: Part 2.

Like the "Train" idea? Try it out with other things like children's clothes and toys, garden supplies, etc. A few weeks ago I mentioned starting a seed trade or seed train to save free seeds for your garden for next year.
Do you ever trade coupons? Do you have any other ways you get MORE coupons?

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