Internet Grocery Coupons: The Big 3 for Printables

• Tweet

• Tweet

With the popularity — and necessity — of living frugally these days, it’s not surprising that there are hundreds of websites dedicated to saving money in general and couponing in particular. In fact, you’re reading one of them now.

Many of these budget-stretching sites provide their own brand of savings advice and resources, user forums, newsletters and email updates. Some detail saving “systems” and offer classes and even instructional materials and DVDs which teach you the fine art of frugal living and shopping. These are all valuable elements to have in your savings tool belt. When the frugality bug bites and you hit the internet to help you gather the resources you need to save, you are sure to find useful information on a lot of these sites.

As an adjunct to their offerings, many of these sites also make printable grocery coupons available to their readers, and they deliver by providing links to other sites which do indeed provide printable Internet grocery coupons. Do realize, however, that these sites — unless they are one of the “big three” — do not provide grocery coupons of their own but rather links to Coupons.com, SmartSource.com and/or RedPlum.com. Those three are the sites where all the other sites promising grocery coupons will direct you. These are independent sites unto themselves which are authorized by the product manufacturers to distribute their coupons. The other sites serve as “gateways,” ushering traffic to those three sites from which you can print grocery coupons.

How do internet coupons work? They are similar to the coupons you clip from newspapers or magazines. In fact, oftentimes, they are exactly the same ones that are offered in the Sunday newspaper. A good strategy is to visit the big three once per week to view the new coupons that are offered. To get coupons from the internet, you have to visit the sites mentioned above and select the coupons you want by clicking a check box. When you are finished making your selections, you will have the opportunity to print the coupons you’ve selected. You then clip and redeem them as you would any coupons.

The first time you print coupons, you will need to download and install a program called a “coupon printer.” It is safe to do so and will enable your computer to print the UPC codes on the coupons which identify the products they are for. It also keeps track of how many times you have printed a particular coupon. Usually you are limited to a total two of each coupon offered. Please note that copying coupons in a copy machine to make multiples is considered coupon fraud and is the major reason why some stores have adopted a policy to not accept internet coupons.

Couponing sites and others promoting savings strategies can be a great help to your frugal lifestyle. Be aware, however, that the printable grocery coupons all come from the big three websites. Unless the information and resources are otherwise helpful, visiting dozens of sites will only serve to complicate your coupon gathering; it will not give you access to new and/or different coupons.

If all you want is grocery coupons, visit the big three directly and save yourself some time as well as money.

Tagged as: Coupons, Frugal Living, Practical