Making the Best Out of Coupons | ArticlesBase.com

<p>In order to maximize how much your dollars will buy, one approach is to have several savings incentives for the same dollar. I will give several examples to get you thinking like I do.<br />
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Cash Back Credit Cards<br />
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Always use a cash back credit card. My card will pay me 1% of my purchases, although you may do better. If you spend $500 a month on food, that is a $60 annual savings with no effort. It adds up over time. Of course you must pay off the card in full each month, and you must find a card with no annual fee.<br />
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Store Incentive Card<br />
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Always use your grocery store or drugstore incentive card. Even if you are not purchasing an item on sale, the store tracks your sales and may reward you with incentives.<br />
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Check your Catalinas<br />
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As you purchase groceries; there is a printer at the store that may spit out coupons, often for a competitor's product. These coupons are called catalinas after the company that produces them. Sometimes you will get a dollar amount off on your next purchase of anything at the store. I can't tell you how many times I have found those dollars off coupons lying in the parking lot. Use them, they are like cash.<br />
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Coupons<br />
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Be aware of sources of coupons. Magazines and newspapers are obvious. But you will also see coupons on company websites and Internet banner ads. Stores at which you have a rewards card may email you coupons, often for dollars off a purchase. You will also see them on tearpads in the store, or spitting out from a dispenser as you walk by. When you go shopping, make the rounds of all the aisles looking for coupons for future trips. I routinely do this and count a trip as especially successful if I have added to my coupon stash.<br />
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Study the Ads<br />
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You must study your store ads each week to see the best deals. Stores often have a small number of items on a good sale each week. There is a cycle to these sales. For example, I use a particular hair product that goes half price every six months at a particular drug store. When the sale comes, I buy six month's worth of the product.<br />
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Leverage for Ultimate Savings<br />
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The best savings come from multiple incentives. I try to make most of my purchases with three incentives or more, and I average about a 60% discount from full grocery and drugstore prices. For example, a purchase of a product on sale, bought with a cash-back card, and using a coupon is triple incentive. If you can combine that with a rebate, or stack a manufacture's coupon and a store coupon, and a dollars off store coupon that is even better. You can get a lot of free items that way, and I love to get free stuff.<br />
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Your Time is Valuable<br />
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Figure how much you want to save and balance your time invested. It is easy to go overboard, but there is a law of diminishing returns to bargains. I find that one or two hours a week is a reasonable investment for planning my purchases with an optimal benefit for the time spent.</p><strong>About the Author:</strong><br />Save up 1%+ with a <a href="http://www.findcashbackcards.com" rel="nofollow">cash back credit card</a> all at FINDcashbackcards, as well as more of Tom's work.