Buying the newspaper

Have you been buying the paper to get your coupons? I was too. And some weeks I would buy several copies as well. However, my local paper is now $3. Some weeks there isn't even $3 worth of coupons. And it always seems like another area of the country was getting the coupons that I really wanted anyways. So, how to fix this??? Well, I started trying out the clipping services. These are companies that clip the coupons and mail them to you. You do not pay for the coupons, but the service that they are providing. There are pros and cons to ordering your coupons.

#1) I love getting the coupons on Sunday so that I can take part in sales early in the week. (con)

#2) I also love getting coupons that I will actually use and already clipped (pro)

#3) You have to use paypal or a credit card to order (con)

#4) The service/clipping fee can be very minimal (pro)

#5) The popular coupons can sell out very quickly (con)

#6) You can order exactly what you need in quantity and not have to dispose of all the papers (pro)

So I have been buying one paper each week and checking out the coupons and seeing if it will make back my $3 as an experiment. And I have also been ordering coupons. This week I got 52 coupons for under $5 when I ordered. And most of the coupons will double making my savings way higher than they would be if I had spent that money on a newspaper.

However, ordering can be kind of tricky. It is hard to know exactly what you will use, how many, and when. If you order you have to wait for the envelope to show up in the mail before you can take part in the sale. Plus you have to know or try to predict if sales will come up before the coupon is out of stock.

I have made lots of mistakes as a new person ordering.

#1) I ordered a coupon that was about to expire and didn't get it in the mail quick enough
#2) I ordered a coupon without reading the details and they were for the wrong product
#3) I have ordered too many coupons and wasn't able to use all of them before the sale ended or coupons expired (great time to share with friends or leave at store for others)

Overall, I have really liked ordering my coupons. I have saved way more money and had the chance to start stocking up again after depleting many of our resources.

Here are the sites I have been using:

West Coast Clipping Services (no minimum and ship really fast)

Coupon DeDe's (there is a minimum purchase amount but they have a wonderful selection and always ship really fast)

Kuntry Klippers (I believe you order in multiples of 20...so only use this one if you really need lots of a coupon)

What do you think? Have you tried any other companies that we should add to the list?