Help me I'm a coupon virgin

givememoney

I have read lots of posts and am really interested in getting started but don't know how.

Can someone help please.

Where do you all the coupons from. I've only managed to get 2 out of magazines. Where do get the on-line vouchers from? How do I go about that?

If people are getting something like £40 off their shopping where on earth are these coupons coming from?

WELSH-DRAGON_2

Hello givememoney and welcome to MSE :wave: I get my vouchers from buying magazines, buying newspapers, writing to companies and asking for money off vouchers and as a final emergency I buy them off ebay.

There is also lots of discussion on this board about voucher usage and I love my savings but however, coupon acceptance is not an automatic right but a BONUS. Some days the cashier will happily scan lots, other times I have been refused so I smile sweetly and use them another time.

Stick with this site and you will pick up lots of information and tips. The daily newspaper thread is a good one to check each day as sometimes the papers have higher value vouchers.

All the best Welshy x

WELSH-DRAGON_2

Here is the printable coupon thread:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=106159

I don't tend to use them as my local Tescos will not accept them.

givememoney

Thanks for your advice.

Perhaps I'll try writing in for coupons to manufacturers. What do you say to them?

I did buy `Good Housekeeping` mag today just as an experiment to see what coupons it had in there. To my horror after spending £3.20 a sum I would never normally spent on a mag (in fact I never buy them normally) it had only one 50p coupon in there. I am out of pocket on that one, but it was an experiment.

Do you know of good mags that have lots of coupons?

I did find the thread you mentioned re. printing coupons off the internet.

It did strike me as I mentioned in that thread, the cost of ink may offset any savings to be had.

WELSH-DRAGON_2

I bought the Good Housekeeping magazine with Trinny and Susannah on the front costing £3.20 but inside there was £7.00 worth of vouchers so a £2.80 profit. Perhaps you bought a more recent issue.

As for what to say to manufacturers, I just make it up as a I go along ! if for example I am contacting Whiskas, I would state that I have 3 kittens and would compliment them on their range of products and ask very nicely if they could send me some samples/vouchers in order that I can try their products.

Welshy x

seth

Welsh Dragons points are correct

WELSH-DRAGON wrote:

Hello givememoney and welcome to ...
All the best Welshy x

Getting hold of vouchers is quite tricky and redeeming them is tricky. But it is worth the effort.


Where to get them?
I found some 50p of next purchase vouchers on the inside of some mars multipack recently. Before that Linda McCartney foods were giving a free bottle of wine, this was in the form of a voucher that scanned for £5.

Often supermarket promotion desks, the ones that let you try a bit of cheese etc are a great source of vouchers. I was at Asda once they were giving away 15p off Kettle crisp vouchers, in the car park trolley bank each trolley had about 5, so I got over 100 that day.

I don't buy papers or magazines so I don't get voucher that way but even supermarket mags are worth a look. I got a 40p off Benecol in one of the Tesco mags.

Sign up for any marketing programs run my companies, they send you vouchers too.

I also complain if I buy product that is not right in some way, lollies melted, chocolate melted etc common during the heat wave recently. I usually get a cheque and a few vouchers.

We get lots of vouchers through the letterbox, 50p off this etc... So I collect these too.

How to organise them
this is not as daft as it sounds, you will end up with lots of bits of paper and plastic, they usually have expiry dates. So sort them into expiry order, so you use the short lived ones first. If you collect them and let them expire it is a waste of time and effort!

Also if you by product that needs you to collect tokens, say on each pack, and sent in 4 to get a voucher like the free wine example above, then buy all the products hen you are at the store and the stock may not be there next time. Then if possible cut out the tokens and send them off as soon as possible, these offers have time limits too. If it says to send the invoice then do this too.

Finally how to redeem them
Many stores will only accept vouchers if you buy the product. The exceptions are

1) Tesco
2) Waitrose
3) Asda

In my experience Waitrose is the most consistent at accepting vouchers, there is a 5 different vouchers per transaction rule.

Asda is ok but it depends on the staff, Tesco is much the same.

Tesco SELF SCAN is the BEST as these scan almost all vouchers. The staff to look after them are busy and have never even checked my voucher use or stopped me using vouchers!

There are times when you would not want to use vouchers e.g. to get the £50 spend at Tesco to get the 5p off fuel.

Once you have a system and it works you will find one of the 3 stages limits your usage.

1) Collecting Vouchers
2) Organising Vouchers
3) Redeeming Vouchers

I've got 2 and 3 worked out I use the self scan at a Tesco near work. So I'm concentrating on 1)

I did not know you could buy them, the worry is fake vouchers knocked off on a colour copier etc. Good old eBay. I'm not sure if there are specific magazines to buy or web sites to check for.

I'm sure there are people on MSE who know a lot more about this than me but I thought I'd mention my experiences

finally do not be put off by rude checkout operators, who may not know their companies policy. If you need to write to HO and get a letter stating their policy, I know one MSEr who did this!

PS
Asda will honour vouchers from other stores e.g. 50p of Coke from Sainburys but you have to buy the product, worht noting. Works best when Asda are doing a Buy one get one free on the item. So keep the shop specific vouchers even if you don't plan to use them you might be able to use them at Asda.

givememoney

WELSH-DRAGON wrote:

I bought the Good Housekeeping magazine with Trinny and Susannah on the front costing £3.20 but inside there was £7.00 worth of vouchers so a £2.80 profit. Perhaps you bought a more recent issue.

Welshy x

That's the one I have bought....have I missed something.....probably!!!

WELSH-DRAGON_2

It depends, was your mag in cellophane with a supplement ? I am including the vouchers in there too.

givememoney

Thanks Seth

Lots of useful tips I'll have to print this lot off.

givememoney

Yes Welshy it was, are you saying they were vouchers that were loose in the mag the sort that drop out.

If you were all I had was little leaflets for clothes and such like.

WELSH-DRAGON_2

Hiya just checked and here are the pages numbers etc for you to check your copy against:

Page 284
For You. Save £1.99 when you buy November issue of Coast Valid until 31/12/06.
For a friend. Save £1.99 when you buy November issue of Coast Valid until 31/12/06.
Both coupons are barcoded.

Page 309
£1 off your next purchase of DYLON wash and dye valid till 31/12 again barcoded.

Page 193
A voucher for a complimentary skin assessment plus a trial sized set of Dior Capture Totale Creme and concentrated serum . There are 10,000 sets containing 3ml creme and 5ml serum to give away. One per reader. Present voucher at Dior counter in John Lewis between 7/9 and 8/10.

Page 161
Save 20% at any East store with this voucher from 2/9 till 15/10. More T+C apply.

ALSO COMES WITH FREE COAST MAGAZINE WHICH HAS 2 X £1 OFF VOUCHERS FOR N0V/DEC COAST VALID TILL 31/12

Welshy x