While there are many ways to collect coupons, you may want to consider which methods are better for you. If you find that the Sunday Paper insert are going to waste, stop paying for it! Use the other methods of collecting coupons including one of the most popular ways to collect coupons, printing.
More than half the coupons I use are printable coupons, so I find that one Sunday paper is enough for me. I do have four computers to print from and a computer whiz husband, which helps a lot when things aren’t printing right. If I had to choose one method of collecting coupons it would be printing them.
There are lots of costs that come with printing coupons, here are a few suggestions to help you cut costs.
1. Set your printer to Toner Save Mode or Fast Draft. Some printers won’t print the coupons well enough, so test this out first to know what works best for your printer.
2. Don’t print in color! The color ink is so expensive and unnecessary. Change your setting to print only black and white.
3. Buy paper in bulk or on sale. Paper can be expensive as well so watch for deals and/or buy your paper in bulk. Walmart has a good price on paper as well-however back to school time it is usually $1 cheaper than other times of the year. You can also use your Register Rewards, ECBs, +Up Rewards to help pay for paper when the drugstores have it on sale.
4. Be careful how you select your coupons to print. Coupons.com and Smartsource typically print three coupons to a page so as you print, print in increments of three.
5. Reuse paper. If you do have a coupon print on only the top half stick it back in the printer to print on the bottom half. If you can’t print on the paper twice cut it and use it as scrap paper. I have a full drawer full of paper from coupon cutting that is used to color, write notes, etc.
6. Shop around for ink/toner refill deals. When I had an ink jet printer I found that it was cheaper to buy a pack of three at Costco than a single cartridge elsewhere so look around before you buy! I buy my toner refills online mostly through Amazon
7. Print the coupons you’ll use. This one can be hard at times because there’s so many great coupons out there. I try to print only the coupons I know I’m going to use. I also print the really good high value coupons that I could possibly get great deals from. As deals come along and I plan my shopping trips I print other coupons.
8. Consider the cost of ink vs. laser. I currently have a Brother Laser Printer which I LOVE! It is so fast, efficient, and so far problem FREE. I have had it about two years now and am amazed at how much ink it’s saved us. In the last two years we have purchased three laser toner refills at about $20 each (the third one was just replaced two week ago, so it should last us into the spring).
Before the Brother, I printed from an HP deskjet which requires the ink cartridges. The inkjets don’t print as crisp and clear and the pages printed per cartridge was a lot lower. I had many problems redeeming my printable coupons because they wouldn’t scan and of course the stores wouldn’t take them. Since I bought the laser printed I haven’t had a single issue.
Keep in mind this is my experience and you don’t need to run out and buy a laser printer today. Do look at all of your options and decide what you think will be the most beneficial to saving you time and money.
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Meet Natasha, founder of Saving a Bundle and mother of four rambunctious boys, and LeaDawn writer and new mother of one boy. Raised in a frugal lifestyle we continue the family tradition by cooking from scratch, using money-smart techniques,
living simply, hunting for good deals, have fun with frugal crafts, and use coupons. Join us on our journey as we, two sisters, learn & share ways to live a more frugal lifestyle to reach our common goal to save our families money.