Be smart
Don’t let using a coupon be the factor that convinces you to make a purchase. If you do, you will end up overspending. Then you will have a supply of things that you won’t use or need. That doesn’t make any sense. Use coupons only for items you would usually buy to keep from spending too much. Remember, you’re still trying to stretch your money. There is no reason to splurge.
Getting coupons
As stated above, many people, including myself get coupons online. Another method of getting coupons is to stop by your local cafe on Sunday. Some coffee shops provide their customers with free newspapers, and will often hand over the coupons to the first person who asks.  You’ll find a lot of great coupons is newspapers, so you should either subscribe to them or purchase one every Sunday. The Sunday paper is the best hands down. They have a huge section for coupons. If you really want the coupons, grab two or three copies of the newspapers so that you can get more savings.
Instead of spending time clipping coupons that you may or may not ever use, just keep the whole page. Organize them in a file chronologically. There are many blogs and databases online that will match up coupons with in-store sales and refer to the dated insert with the matching coupon. When you find a deal you want, look up the inserts and clip only the coupons you’ll need.
Read the small print
Make sure that you read the small print that is located on the coupon. For instance, you may get a coupon for a dollar off some pizza. When you read the fine print, you may realize that you have to buy two pizzas to save the dollar. It can be a hassle to get to the checkout only to figure out that it’s not such a good deal after all.
Pricing
The next thing you should do is to make sure that you understand the grocery pricing. You may think that getting a coupon means you are getting great savings, but sometimes that isn’t the case. Know what the price of the item is in the first place, and keep an eye on price comparison websites that can give you a general idea of what the products are really worth.
Don’t get picky. To get the most out of your coupons, you will probably need to forget about brand loyalties. If the brand you use isn’t on sale, don’t buy it. There isn’t a huge difference between most brands anyway. Base your shopping list around the items that you have coupons for.
There are plenty of places online where you can find out where to use coupons. This is a good thing for you because when you know where to save you can virtually save every time you shop. Whether you’re unemployed or not, coupons will be a benefit to you.
Jason Butler is an Atlanta native, as well as businessman, blogger and teacher. Not only is Jason a prolific flipper, marketer, writer and side hustler his number of years in higher education and student support have given him expert knowledge in understanding the economics of the student loan industry.