14 Top Coupon Sites to Help With Shopping

When my kids were little, I often clipped coupons from the newspaper, especially after I discovered that I was saving more by purchasing the paper and using the coupons than I was by not purchasing the newspaper. Week after week coupons for items I actually purchased appeared in that paper and saved me quite a bit of money each week, especially when I went to a store that offered double coupon bonuses.

These days, many online communities post coupons on their sites. They are easy to use. Just click and print. Sometimes you have to join a community to partake of their offerings, but not all of them expect you to join. Of the 14,500,000 coupon sites listed on Google, the ones listed below appear at the top of the list, and most of them don't require you to "join" them.

Especially now at Christmas, and even all year round, we can all use as much help as possible when it comes to making purchases.

Here is a list of 14 top coupon sites:

www.retailmenot.com gives discount-coded coupons that fall sometimes into the 25%-30% range

coupons.smartsource.com I probably shouldn't post this one, because though it offers a variety of grocery products it won't let you leave the page if you want to backtrack to another page you were on before that one. It may have been a glitch, but keep that in mind if you look through their coupons.

solutions.coupons.com tells you how many coupons it offers each day.

www.hotcouponworld.com boasts that it is the Internet's largest grocery community offering forums, blogs, and even chat rooms. You'll have to click the Online Coupons button to get to the coupons.

www.couponcabin.com offers online and print coupons for a variety of stores. According to CouponCabin, the average shopper saves $19 per order.

www.couponmom.com Also offers forums and blogs along with grocery and restaurant coupons. Also has a section for free samples.

www.couponmountain.com lists coupons by stores and also offers savings on laptops and a variety of name-brand stores.

www.coolsavings.com lists coupons by category Top grocery coupons are listed on the right hand side.

valpak You might still get these coupons in the mail, but now you can get them online for restaurants, groceries, auto care, and more.

mycoupons.com – lots of name-brand stores here. Popular categories are listed on the left hand side. Popular stores are listed at the top. Coupons are listed below the popular stores in your area. You can also browse by stores or categories.

slickdeals.net Deals on everything from name-brand stores to great deals on magazine subscriptions.

thecouponclippers.com Says you can "easily save 20-30% of your grocery bill each week." Also that they are "the nation's largest online Grocery Coupon clipping service."

ultimatecoupons.com offers Featured Coupons from the start and lists coupons by category along the left hand side.

www.coupons.com asks you to enter your zip code to get coupons for stores nearest you.

And now for my politically incorrect sign-off – Merry Christmas! Happy Shopping!

COUPONS & SHOPPING

WHY don't they make coupons like this one for people like me?

I HATE shopping. 

I know – you're thinking, WHAT!??? A woman who hates shopping?

Yes, it's true. I've always hated shopping – ALL kinds of shopping. My mother used to drag me to the store with her and find me sitting on a bench or on the floor somewhere begging to be let go.

Fortunately I have sisters who enjoy the circus attractions where crowds of bargain hunters spend massive amounts of money to look like the latest screen goddess. I, however, decided long ago, that when I had children of my own, I would NEVER take them shopping – I would let my husband do it. 

Two husbands later I realized I would forever be stuck with the task of shopping. Oh, how I would have loved to have had the Internet back then. Instead, I dragged myself to the store, memorized the contents of each aisle (so I would know exactly where everything was located), and told myself what a genius I was, because I had discovered a way to make my shopping experience a little more tolerable. But just when I was getting comfortable with product placement, the grocery store would switch its products. My experience became more like a job.

I made lists and I clipped coupons to expedite my shopping trips. That helped, until I realized I was spending more by using the coupons than I was by not using them. You see, if I saw a $1.00 off coupon, I thought only of savings. It didn't occur to me that I would never purchase this product without a coupon.

Ultimately, after I had amassed enough coupons to fill an encyclopedia, I learned to clip coupons ONLY for the products I used. But that became a problem, too, because then I had to sort through them to find all the ones that were expired.

So I bought a file folder with months labeled at the top, which only added to my problems, because when I forgot about them, I would find coupons that I should have used the year before.

Years later, I finally developed a system that worked. Coupons get placed in my wallet where they have only so much breathing room. Once the wallet becomes too thick, I sort through the few coupons left, and throw out the rest.

I HATE throwing anything away, though, so that last sentence was an absolute lie. I hoard everything. I recently found a coupon from 2003.

By now you're probably wondering HOW this helps the single parent. Here is my answer – don't you suddenly feel better about your organizational skills?