Coupons have been around for decades. Housewives have religiously cut them out, saved them, and… Lost them. Anyone who has ever spent more than a few minutes cutting coupons will tell you the same thing: they have no method for figuring out what to do with them after they are cut out. The trick is that if you want to use coupons to save money, you need to be able to find the coupons easily when the time comes.

First, get a little folder that you can carry with all the time. Don’t just pile them up on a kitchen counter or throw them in a drawer. When you need one, you won’t even remember you have it. Then, learn how to match up your coupons from the paper each week with the sales flyers from the stores. Savvy stores are now encouraging shoppers by pointing out what items they have on sale can be matched up with coupons in that Sunday’s paper.

Even if the store is asking you to use one of their coupons, which are printed in their own flyers, you can still use the manufacturers’ coupons as well. So, if a drug store has a coupon for $1.00 off your favorite toothpaste, and you already have a coupon for $1. 00 off the same brand, you just saved $2. 00! (You need to know where to find your coupon, though!)

Pay attention to stores that frequently have the "buy one get one free" type of sale. Depending on the product and the price, these alone can be great deals, but if you happen to have a coupon for the item you can increase your savings. If you have two coupons – one for each item – you’ll be saving more than you really should be!

The beauty of these deals are when you have two of the same coupon. If you are buying two of the same product, you can use both coupons! Here’s how it works in most stores: you have to ring up the product first. It’s only when everything totals up that the free product is taken off. When both coupons are scanned in, they will be matched with both products. You’ll have money off a product you technically aren’t even paying for!

For deals on the run, never leave home without your coupons. Keep them in the car if you must, but it could be a real pain to run back to the car at the last minute.

Keeping your coupons with you at all times is a big help, too. You never know when you’ll run into a store to find something on sale and realize, “I have a coupon for that” – but it’s at home! You won’t be saving any money on that trip! Keeping coupons with you all the time doesn’t take any real time or effort. They fit into a small wallet like enclosure, and can easily stay in your purse.

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