Coupons

These are the sources I regularly use for coupons (apart from local or “hard copy” options like the newspaper or All You magazine).  Most of them renew each month, so be sure to check back at the beginning of the month for new coupons!  I believe SavingStar changes weekly, and some of Target’s Cartwheel options change weekly, as well.

Coupons.com Printable Coupons:

This is where you’re going to find the bulk of your “regular” manufacturer’s coupons.

(If you have a MyPoints account, you should log in and print your Coupons.com and SmartSource coupons there, instead. You’ll get points when you redeem them.)

SavingStar eCoupons:

You don’t have to print these. Just log in and select the ones you want.  They’ll automatically be applied when you check out with a card you’ve registered with the site.  (If I recall correctly, shopping cards and credit/debit cards can both be registered with them.)  The savings will accumulate in your account until you cash out.

Hopster

MamboSprouts

MamboSprouts has coupons for natural and organic brands.

Target

Target will allow you to “stack” a manufacturer’s coupon with a store coupon.  You’ll find the current Target store coupons on their website.  They also have a newer program called Cartwheel, which can also be stacked with both a manufacturer’s and a store coupon.  You select which deals you want from within your Cartwheel account, and they are all coded to your own account bar code.  The cashier will scan your bar code and all relevant deals from your account will be applied.

(You also get an extra 5% off your entire order if you pay with a Red Card.  Did you know that you can get a Red Card debit card now?!  It just pulls from your regular checking account, so it’s no different from using your regular debit card or writing a check – except that you save 5% more on your purchases!)

No Kidding Coupons

This one is a little different than the others, but you’ve got to check it out; it’s pretty awesome!  No Kidding Coupons lets you earn points for participation (sharing products, reviewing things, providing feedback, etc.) that you exchange for 99% off coupons for various products available on Amazon.  Product selection is somewhat limited, but there’s some good stuff, and it ends up being about $0.10-$0.30/product (with free shipping if your order qualifies for SuperSaver or Prime shipping).  I’ve found some great stuff this way.

Other Ways to Save

Apart from coupons, here are some ways you can save on your purchases:

ShopAtHome.com

Some of you may already be familiar with ShopAtHome.com and similar sites. These sites offer a cash-back percentage on your purchases through certain stores, when you use their site as a gateway. I have signed up for every one that I’m aware of, and have consistently found ShopAtHome.com to have the highest cash-back rates (they’re even guaranteed to be the best). I’ve also found them to have stores that I could not find through other sites. They usually have the latest coupon codes, as well.

Amazon Family

Sign up for Amazon Family (formerly Amazon Mom), and get all the regular Prime benefits, plus a few extra perks, like 20% off diapers and wipes when you use Subscribe & Save (I think it’s 5% if it’s not a S&S order, but you can cancel them at any time, so it’s no big deal) and even 15% off of other household items if you have at least 5 items in a given month’s Subscribe & Save order. It’s an easy way to get toilet paper and other products that you know you have to buy over and over – without running out or even having to head to the store. If we buy big packages of diapers and set it up to get the 20% off, I figured up that we’d save something like $60/year per kid – enough to cover the Prime membership, giving us access to all of the other great benefits.

Daily Deal Sites

These are starting to pop up all over. Each deal site offers a single deal – or a few deals, depending on the program – each day, at a steeply discounted rate. I don’t recommend signing up for these if you’re prone to blowing money on random impulse purchases! But if you are disciplined enough to watch for deals on the things you would otherwise buy, you can get some really great deals on items ranging from magazines to toys to services to electronics. These deal sites are probably not limited to, but do include:

• Groupon
• Moolala
• Heartsy (for handcrafted items)
• Mamasource
• NoMoreRack
• BuyWithMe
• FamilyFinds
• DealPulp
• SaveMore
• Kudzoom (referred by RSPCP0074I)
• Eversave
• PlumDistrict
• Tippr
• AppSumo (deals are for small business education & applications)

I have used most, if not all, of these at one time or another, and found useful deals. Better still, if you don’t want to have to sign up to all of these different deal networks, check out Daily Deal Superstore. They aggregate the deals from a variety of sources, so you don’t have to deal with all the individual emails.

Consignment and Discount Sites

For clothing, try ThredUP (women’s & children’s) or Twice (women’s).  I’ve gotten some really great deals there!  For baby/children’s things, try Swap.com.  I’ve not used this site extensively yet, but I have gotten one or two good deals.

Vitacost is my favorite source for vitamins, supplements, personal care products, some groceries, household, and beauty items.

Event Tickets

If you’re looking for discounted event tickets, try ScoreBig. I’ve not yet had opportunity to make use of it, myself, but it looks good.

“Free” Shopping

Book Swap Sites

If you’re a bibliophile like me, you will find book swap sites invaluable! While not technically “free,” you can, effectively, get books for just the cost of shipping. (‘Though I always run out of credits and have to buy more.) In many instances, I have found that this is a far better deal even than buying books through Amazon Marketplace sellers – sometimes even if I have to buy the credits. PaperBackSwap and BookMooch are my favorites.

SwapaCD and SwapaDVD are run by the same people as PaperBackSwap and allow you to do just what their names imply. They do require a fee for each swap, though, in addition to shipping, so I don’t use them much, myself.

Local Listings and Email Lists

I’m sure that, by now, ‘most everyone knows about Freecycle and Craigslist but, if not, give them a look. I have recently unsubscribed from our local Freecycle list because the rules were getting a bit overbearing and petty for my taste, but I think that’s a locality-by-locality thing, so yours may be great.

Neighborhood Fruit is a listing that helps you find available produce near you.

Price Tools

Shopping Notes is a price-alert service. You enter the URL of the item you want to “watch,” along with your email address, and the service will email you if the price changes. InvisibleHand is a browser add-on (for Firefox, Chrome, Safari, or Internet Explorer) that will pop up an alert as you shop if it finds the same product for a lower price.

 

Do you have another money-saving resource that I’ve missed? Leave me a comment!