A beginners guide to online grocery coupons

One day I decided there had to be a better way when it came to grocery shopping – or should I say saving money when it comes to grocery shopping.  The obvious choice is to use grocery coupons.  I used to think about grocery coupons only in terms of what you find in the Sunday newspaper but there is a treasure trove of online grocery coupons.  Now I’m just a novice in this process so I’m sure I’ll miss out on a few things but here is my experience with getting grocery coupons online and hopefully it is a good introduction for someone new to the process.

First, get a separate email account that you use only for your coupons.  Some of the web sites I found require you to sign up to get the coupons (all free of course because I refuse to pay anyone for something I can figure out myself) and it will help you with one of my other tips.  Plus you will know that the only emails you’ll be getting there are for your coupons.

Second, take stock on what you buy on a regular basis.  I know there are those coupon clippers out there who will buy any brand of peanut butter (or whatever) if they have a coupon for it, but not me.  For the most part I’m a house brand, generic kind of girl but I do have some brand loyalties.  What good is it for you to clip coupons for things you will never buy?  All it will do is waste paper.

Now you are ready to start online looking for grocery coupons.  Here are some of the websites where I go to clip online grocery coupons:

Coupons.com.  This is the most obvious choice to start because of the name of the website.  You can look for coupons by category (pet care, health care, personal care, etc), expiring soon or show all.  I usually do the show all because I’m never positive how a coupon will be categorized.  I only go to this site for their online grocery coupons, but you can also search for coupon codes for online shopping too.  You can sign up for member only savings and regular newsletters on this site.

Redplum.com.  Again it’s an easy site to navigate.  Besides online grocery coupons you have access to restaurant and online coupons too.

Coolsavings.com.  This site will try to get you to join but you don’t have to.  From the main page just click on grocery coupons and you’ll go to the offerings they have.  As with the other sites there is more than just your grocery coupons.  You also have offers for travel, computer and electronics, and entertainment offers.

Couponsurfer.com.  This website provides online grocery coupons as well as coupons for dining, clothing and restaurants.  

All of the websites will ask you to install their grocery coupon printer.  You must say yes or you won’t be able to use the online grocery coupons you find.  These are the programs that print the bar coding on the coupons so they can be scanned at your local grocery store.  One downfall is that there are limits to the number of coupons you can print so if you find a coupon you could use a lot of and you would like more of them, use another computer to print them off.  

Another hint that works for me is to go to the official websites of the products you use and search for coupons (one of the reasons I say take stock of what you buy).  If you sign up for email newsletters you often will get coupons from them as well.  

One warning is that grocery stores don’t have to take online grocery coupons.  Before using them check out what the policy is for the store.  I use mine at Wal-Mart and their policy is that as long as the coupon will scan they will honor it.  I think I’ve only ever had one online grocery coupon that didn’t scan.

I hope this article provided you with an introduction to online grocery coupons.  I’ve had some success in using them and hopefully you will too.