Coping with No More Coupon Insertsby Mary Ann Romans | More from this Blogger 21 Mar 2009 06:05 AM
How do you feel about the Valassis Company's decision to pull the RedPlum coupon inserts out of the Sunday newspaper? The areas affected since last month are major cities in Ohio, Indiana, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Utah, Virginia, Washington, D.C., North Carolina, Maryland, and Texas. This has definitely affected me in a regional sense, because when I look for coupons, I usually buy the Philadelphia Inquirer for coupons, and sometimes purchase more than one copy if there are good coupons available. Valassis says that shoppers can still get coupons by printing them out online. It also has a program to mail some of the inserts to people at home. I received one skimpy insert in the mail in the entire six weeks since the coupons were pulled. Coupons printed online are sometimes not accepted by our local grocery stores. But you know what? The pulling of the coupons from the Sunday paper hasn't affected me all that much. This is because in the last few years, I haven't relied much on Sunday coupons. Six years ago, I could feed a family of three on $30 a month with coupons, but times have changed. Stricter coupon rules and lower value of coupons in my area has made it more expensive than not to for me to use coupons. Plus we are a little more conscious about using organic products these days and less processed food. My strategy for saving money on my grocery bill include buying ingredients basic ingredients instead of meals or meal helpers, buying in bulk, ordering coupons straight from the manufacturer (lots of freebies that way), buying fresh local products including organic milled flour and native produce, and shopping the clearance rack for cereal and other prepared products that we do still use. Mary Ann Romans writes about everything related to saving money in the Frugal Blog, creating a home in the Home Blog, caring for little ones in the Baby Blog and now relationships in the Marriage Blog. You can read more of her articles by clicking here or subscribe to the blog using the subscription box on the right. Favorite Deal Websites: Related Articles: Things to Do with Expired Coupons The Secret to Grocery Print-Out Coupons Learn more about Mary Ann Romans  Mary Ann Romans is a freelance writer, wife and mother of three children. She lives in Pennsylvania with her husband, the kids and a 16-pound cat. Relevantfrugal tags User Comments Tashi (1013) 22 Mar 2009 05:04 PMI found one coupon section in today's Sunday newspaper. Unfortunately, there's almost nothing that I would realistically use. I need to try to remember to look online more often for coupons. But then, if I remember to bring them with me to the grocery store or Target, I need to remember to take them out of my purse! Always a problem. And I wonder if stores in my area would even accept the online coupons. What good are they, if you can't use them? I'm happy I remember to save AND use my gas coupons (1 cent's worth off/gallon per each $10 in grocery order total). The station I go to accepts expired coupons (Yay!!), as well as competitors' coupons (up to 5 cents, but you can use *only* either the competitors' coupons OR the station's, up to a qty of three.). Why is it I cannot remember to cut, save, and USE food coupons?? -- that is, when I find any I can use. StBridgit (322) 23 Mar 2009 12:17 PMI used to use coupons a lot but I was seeing that most of the coupons were for new products, to try to introduce you to them. And most of them are for pre-made, pre-packaged foods that are still far more expensive than homemade or bulk items, so I wasn't saving any money with the coupons. The things I buy most from regular grocery stores are also items that typically do not have coupons: fresh meat, vegetables, and fruit. I buy all of our dairy and bread products from a warehouse store, and most of our paper products there as well. I don't bother getting the newspaper any more because frankly we don't need it.  Mary Ann Romans (26876) 24 Mar 2009 04:14 AMThere has definitely been a change in coupons in the last few years for use. Thanks St. Bridgit! Community Tags Coupons, Redplum, Sunday inserts Discuss this article
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