Whip Your Grocery Budget Into Shape: Online coupons

Welcome to the second major series of posts on Frugal Made Fun! Each week, I'll post 1-2 tips on how to develop your own plan to save money on groceries. I'm going to start with some of the most basic, easiest things you can do to save money, and then progress from there. You can take as much or little advice as you like. As the series progresses, a little more work may be involved, but you will definitely save more money.



The easiest way to adjust to using coupons is to print online coupons for free. (But be sure to check with your grocery store to make sure they accept printable coupons, most do, but it doesn't hurt to double check). Most coupon sites have you download a "coupon printer" and require you to register with them. I recommend creating an email account solely for coupon sites so your regular email doesn't get bombarded with coupon emails! Here are a few good free coupon websites:

http://www.coupons.com/
http://www.smartsource.com/
http://www.redplum.com/
http://www.bettycrocker.com/
http://www.eatbetteramerica.com/

A few important things to remember about printable coupons:

• Most websites reset on the 1st of every month
• You can print 2 coupons per computer (by hitting the "back" and then the "refresh" buttons)
• You CANNOT photocopy these coupons! That is illegal. Most of them have watermarks to prevent people from doing this.
• All coupons have an overall "print limit." This means if it is something popular, it may not be available all month. So if you see a printable coupon you know you will use, go ahead and print it!