I often get stopped by curious shoppers who want to know about my coupon binder. They will glance quickly at me, catch my eye and gradually make their way over. Some will make a comment, others will start asking questions. I explain to them it’s a great way to save money etc. and then I usually get the comment “Well, I don’t have time to do that.” Oh, those poor souls. If they only knew how easy it is to use coupons without devoting hours a day to it. I try to explain it actually doesn’t take that much time, but it seems to land on deaf ears. And rightly so! With all the extreme couponing shows and media attention, people seem to think couponers spend every waking moment cutting newspapers, surfing the internet and dumpster diving. Obviously, this is an unrealistic portrayal of the average person who uses coupons.
I have created a simple guide on how to use coupons quickly and efficiently. No, you may not get all the great deals and you will miss some freebies. But, you will still save a ton of money and have time to enjoy the finer things in life.
Before You Go Shopping
- Check websaver.ca, save.ca and gocoupons.ca. See if there are any new coupons available and order them.
- Check the Smart Canucks coupon database for any new printable coupons available. This is a wonderful resource that is updated daily.
- Check to see if there are Redplum or SmartSource inserts in your local newspaper. These come out every few weeks on Saturday (usually). You can find the distribution schedules by clicking the link.
- Check livingwell.ca and smartsource.ca for online printable coupons. Print off any you may need.
- Organize your coupons in a coupon binder. You will need a binder and hockey card holders from the dollar store. Simple as that!
- Prepare a list of items you need and quickly browse through your coupons to see if you have a corresponding coupon. If you do have a coupon, simply mark “coupon” next to the item.
*I recommend you check the above links once a week*
At The Store
- Grab a flyer at the front of the store. Check only the front and back pages (these are usually where all the good deals are). See if you can find any items that you need or may be able to match up with a coupon.
- Quickly check out the clearance section/bin/area. If you can’t find it, ask a store associate. Glance through the items and see if you can find any good deals (especially deals you can match up with your coupons!)
- Go directly to the items you need. Remember, don’t have tunnel vision! For example, if you need a toothbrush, don’t focus on the brand you usually use. Quickly browse other brands that you can match up with a coupon or those that are on sale (or both!).
- At the cash register, quickly ask the associate if there are any other coupons or promotions you may be able to use that day. It is surprising how many times they can offer you a discount for an ongoing promotion that you may not know about!
At Home
If you have a little extra time…go to the Smart Canucks brag section and let everyone know of all the good deals you found. Congrats!
Please keep in mind you can devote a lot more time to couponing if your heart desires. However, for those who are crunched for time, the above guide is a fabulous way to save money. See? You do have time to use coupons 
Few people realize coupons are really worth double the face value. Why? Take a $1 coupon for example. If you paid cash you’d have to earn $2 before taxes to have $1 cash left over to get the same effect. Never be ashamed to use coupons. As my grandmother used to say,“Mind the pence and the pounds take care of themselves!”
I always order coupons and as soon as they come I cut them up and put them into my coupon bowl. On shopping, I take the coupons out and arrange them according to the order of the aisles in the store ie food, pet food, kids, health, etc.
At check out I arrange my items with the corresponding coupon on top of it so that I don’t have to rummage through dozens of coupons while the cashier and others behind me in line stare lol
I would like to know how people set up their binders. Im not comfortable with any way I’ve tried so far.
If I do by product type I sometimes miss the expiry date
If I do by the expiry date it takes longer to go thru the coupons, which is inconvenient and time consuming for those “unadvertised” sales.
Do you make a list of all the products you have a coupon for ???
Double coupons isn’t available for everyone. If anyone from Manitoba knows of anywhere that will do double value … pls list them! thanks
Anna, I agree, I always put my coupons right on top the product as its going thru checkout then the clerk doesn’t have to double check my groceries if she forgot what I purchased.
This should be a great thread!
Very good post for those starting out or thinking about it.
I go shopping almost daily in the neighbourhood as I do errands so I can’t carry a bulky binder everywhere with me.
I have an “a” and “b” rotation envelope. The A coupon group is always in my purse and has stuff that I buy very often. The B group has coupons with long expiries that I don’t need right away, multiples, and stuff that I only buy once every few months when there is a great sale. I check the flyers each week and put coupons from the B group in with the A as needed.
A similar system has worked for my mom for 40 years
. And yes, everyone has time to coupon. My husband was shocked the first few shopping trips with me when he saw that coupons and flyer scanning only took about 20 mins to do, but we saved about 40%.
I am not an extreme couponer by any stretch of the imagination. I consider myself a “newbie casual couponer”, maybe an hour per week searching & printing. However, I do keep track of my coupons/money saved. It is Feb 29th, and I have saved $119 this year alone…just from coupons (not including store rebates, sales or promos) That equals an average of $60 per month. To me, it is worth it.
I have heard that Sobey’s in Portage La Prairie doubles coupons up to a dollar on the first Tuesday of the month!
All of the advice for starting out is excellent. I also think people should remember how much the things they buy repeatedly cost, because they could be paying a lot more for it at an expensive supermarket like Metro and Loblaws whereas if they shop at the discounted stores, the item is usually less. Then keep an eye out for coupons for the items purchased most often and you’ll really notice a big savings over time.
Thanks for the great post, I for one am trying hard to get organized for couponing, I got myself a coupon folder this weekend, used to just have all my coupons in one large pocket in my purse but it was too disorganized.
well said
I use coupons when an item is on sale and then I use the coupon. It’s the best saving’s besides free of course. I’ve never had a problem at the cash. Royale kleenex package of 6 was on sale for $3 which is a super low price and I had the $1.00 of coupon. So I got 6 boxes of kleenex for a toonie. Not too bad. Other times for bread I use the coupons buy 2 loafs and save $2. So when Wonder or whatever goes on sale for $2 a loaf you use the coupon and you pay $1 for a loaf of bread. Or find the clearence bakery items which are reduced and use your bread coupons for another discount.
I find that 90% of coupons don’t really save me any money. A name brand can of corn is still more expensive than the no-name counterpart, unless the coupon is really good.
i need i know were i can get more coupons anyone know web-sits?
I have to say that organizing coupons does not take time. I have saved good money on products that are already on sale. I dont know if it has happen to anybody else but I shop at loblaws/metro and they started to put coupons at the end (after scanning all the groceries) like in the extreme couponing shows.
Two of my issues with coupons:
1)They always seem to expire on me
2)When starting, I think you have to be careful not to buy something just because you have a coupon. A $3 item with $1 off coupon, is still $2 more than you needed to spend on a non-necessity item.
I am big into price-matching. That has been huge for me.
I use coupons all the time. I usually use it when things are on sale. The other day i was shopping at Safeway(i dont shop there alot, things are overpriced there)and would like to buy some bar soaps. Originally, the Ivory soap was 4.99. On that day, they had a buy 1 get 1 free promotion. So for 4.99, you could get 2 packs of soap. On top of that, I used my Ivory $2 off coupon ( got it from P&G brandsaver). So, I end up paying $3 for 20 bars of soap!
My suggestion is to check the flyers b4 you use any coupons. Stores like Shoppers and London drug usually have big sales on Friday-Sunday. Check the flyers and keep eyes on any one day promotion. And don’t forget to do the price matching. If u check the flyers, do the price matching and use the coupons, u will be able to save alot.
I agree with supermandy. Far to many people buy things just because it’s on sale or because you have a coupon. If you wouldn’t normally buy it then you’re not getting a deal. I do have certain items that i will only buy when on sale but will not buy something just because. And i love price matching as well. Although Freshco does put a limit on how many items you can price match per item which i just found out when i tried to purchase ten of the same item they told me i was only allowed 6. Of course i put 4 back. lol
I organize my coupons in a cheap little photo album from the dollar store. It fits nicely in my purse. I definitely save a ton using coupons and I agree it doesn’t take long.
When my kids pretend to play cashier they always have to call the manager for approval because the total value of coupons used is over $10. Makes me laugh.
LOL at macfsh — that is so cute about your kids!
OP, don’t you get flyers at your home?
Instead of getting the flyer at the store when I go, when we get the flyers at home, I make up a master list for the week, listing all the stores and any items we might need. Then, I go through my coupons and put them together with my shopping list.
I love Wednesdays, because that’s when most of the new flyers come out, but there are still two shopping days left from the old flyers — so I can compare pricing and see what I should be buying now, or waiting til the next week.
For example, we need sugar, and this week the best price is 3.99 for 4kg, so I was waiting to see the new flyers. Well, starting Friday, I can get 10 kg for 8.99, so I’ll do that instead.
Great comments. Just want to remind everyone to bring your own bags as few stores suppy them without a charge (Walmart and Giant Tigers are still free) Also if you have free items with a coupon, have the checkout ring them in separately, especially if tax is included in the coupon, or their till often doesn’t recognize the no tax on the product and you wiil be charged the tax. I just do them as a separate order with the coupons on top of the item.
Thank you for posting!
@Natalka — Yes, I get flyers delivered to my home. I personally go through flyers every week and find what I need, however if someone is busy, they may find combing through endless flyers too time consuming. I wanted to make this list for a beginner/busy person who wants to use coupons on a casual basis. That said, thanks for the suggestion!
Unfortunately, it DOES take that much time.
I know it’s easy steps, but have you actually timed the process? Time is taking to order/find, cut, organize, then check the flyer. If coupons are not organized, you end up spending more time at the store fumbling.
I would think that would take up to an hour to complete steps #1–6. If you can save $20 on that day you shop, it would be worth it. Otherwise, just go to work.
@Anon — it’s all about time management. For instance, I order all my coupons online on Wednesday evenings while watching my favourite show (CSI). During the commercial breaks I go to each website and order them. — no extra time taken out of my day. Same with going through the flyers. I do that on Saturday morning while enjoying my brunch with hubby. My coupons are always organized as soon as I get them into my coupon folder and when I make my grocery list I pull the applicable coupons out of my folder at the time and then clip them to the list, so no fumbling at the cash register. I only use coupons if it will get me the item at the lowest possible cost, ie. even cheaper than the no-name brand, and it works. I have been couponing all my adult life, ever since I got married in the 1970’s, and I save a lot of money every week without taking much time from my very busy schedule to do so. So far this year I have already saved $913.67 with coupons and discounts, so don’t tell me it isn’t worth it.
I don’t find it all that bad as far as time goes. I spend quite a bit of time online just fooling around anyway, so I might as well look through coupons! Also, there are so many sites and e-mails which tell you where the coupons and savings are without you needing to find them yourselves. It was really cool, when in on a few weeks’ time, we realized we only needed to get fresh produce from the store. We have plenty of back up of most things, bought on sale and with coupons, and a meat order in the freezer. So, some time spent early on is saving us time now!
i agree with taraP-it is worth it in the long run –let me tell you doesnt take too much time to order cpns and i organize when watching a t.v show at night-i have been using coupons for about 30 years and it sure helps –living off your stockpile-i try to only buy on sale with a cpn-and pricematching at stores that give me points is great too-we have to utilize every penny now in today economy-last year i saved 2,300 in coupon use only and that is in ontario-only 3 people in this household so dont need to buy lots-but yes it does help
Great post! I’ve been couponing for years and have been a serious couponer for the last few! lots of money to be saved and spending the time to save right now helps; lots of good deals add a coupon = excellent deal!
Every penny saved helps in this tough economy!
So today I went to Bulk Barn to do some shopping. I used a $3 off coupon on my $13.95 purchase, and then also used a $5 gift card that I got with an offer from the store 2–3 weeks ago. Total amount after discounts — $5.95.
Also saved $10 today at Walmart by doing the Ontario Health Study that either gives you 35 airmiles or a giftcard for a variety of stores.
Go out my fellow couponers and hold your head up high, we are a smart bunch!
don’t forget to check Anne and Fallen’s threads in deals section every week
~they should be noted on the list!
The person talking about coupons being worth double isn’t talking about when stores double the value of your coupon (rare in Canada). They are talking about the fact that coupons represent AFTER TAX dollar savings (income tax, sales tax, etc).
This tax effect means the value of the coupon is much more if you are comparing it to your gross salary. I wouldn’t say a $1 coupon is really worth $2 in gross salary but it is probably worth $1.50 quite easily depending on your tax situation.
Well, I started couponing and looking for deals in flyers and going to different groceries for those deals in January. I thought that I should do a little assessment now that I have done it for a few weeks. So I compared my spending from previous to now, same number of weeks. Sadly, I have spent $200 more during January and February, than I did in October and November without coupons and dealhunting. So I thought: ok we probably went out to teh restaurant more in the Fall. So I added up all the restaurant bills for both periods. Nope! More restaurants in January and February!!! How can this be? I am very confused by this. I thought I was saving like crazy here, getting great deals on things we buy and use all the time. Can it be because I am stocking up on sale items? Is that where the difference lies? I need input please because I find this whole thing very time consuming and I was really hoping to be able to say that we are saving $100 per month or whatever, but it seems like it’s the opposite. Can someone please give me their input on how long it took to really actually save money and make it all worth it to spend that amount of time. Thank you!
I used to do all this as well and had an nice organized plastic storage purse from dollarama that worked well. I stopped doing it for the most part when it got to be a waste of time when even with the coupon the cheaper brand name was cheaper anyway and it encouraged me to spent extra money by buying the “better” brand. I now fucus my efforts on sale flyers and going to the store that has the best deals for what I need. I do however keep an eye out for fast food and restaurant coupons and save a lot with my eat out budget that way.
I have been couponing for two years now and I think you need to know your prices and your stores’ sale cycles to make it truly worth it but it IS worth it.
Today at Walmart for example: I got 5 boxes of Kraft Dinner SMART (not the regular kind but the new SMART kind). Walmart reg price is $1.87 a box, this week they have them on for $1.27 and I had 5 75cent off coupons making each box 52 cents!
Double rolls of Purex normally $8.47, on sale for $5.47 and I had a $1 off coupon. And the list goes on. Organize, know your coupons, know your stores and the savings will add up!
this is where being a guy sucks, i only have my pockets, I also have the problem of coupons expiring before i see the item on sale, mainly because stores not accepting home printed coupons
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