You might think that there are not that many coupons available in Canada. I thought the same thing when I was first looking into using coupons. I can say I was WRONG! There are so many places that offer coupons. Here is a great list to look at.
At the grocery store: Many grocery stores carry coupons. You can always find pads of them near the products that are being promoted. I have realized that not all stores have coupons, but you can use coupons at most major grocery stores. For example, Freshco, Shopper Drug Mart, Dominion all carry coupons in on their shelves, where it’s sometimes really hard to find them in is Walmart, but you can always use your coupons at Walmart. You may be tempted to take as many as you can, but be kind and not greedy, take enough for your own personal use you will require until the expiry. Also look at the checkout to find calendars and booklets that contain coupons (Toonies for Tummies is a great example of a coupon booklet that costs only $2.00 and is full of savings that you can use at most stores).
Newspaper flyers: There are two nationally distributed coupon flyers – Red Plum and Smart Source they are distributed about once a month. Here is their schedule for the rest of the year:
Smart Source
May 14
June 11
July 9
August 6
August 27
September 24
October 15
November 5
December 3
Red Plum
May 7
June 4
July 2
August 13
September 10
October 1
October 29
November 26
In Magazines: There are usually some great coupons that you can find in Canadian magazines and sometimes you will find Clip ‘n Save booklets inserted in them. Canadian Living and Chatelaine by far have the best coupons.
Online printable: some companies offer promotions where you can immediately print a coupon right from your own printer, cut it out and take it to your local stores. Check out Living Well, they always have great printable coupons. My favourite site is SmartCanucks they always have great links to great deals!
Corporate websites: Take a look at the products you like and see if they have a website. Many times these websites have great offers for their consumers.
Facebook: With Facebook becoming a huge marketing tool for many companies, there are plenty of coupons to be found within this social network. To get a coupon its easy, just simply "LIKE" the product page and there are usually some great offers. Make sure you scan the pages updates, because they usually have some great savings offers!
Order them online: There are sites that you can order your coupons on, these sites are usually pretty strict with their ordering, for example on order per household and there is a waiting period to re-order some of your favourite coupons: www.save.ca
www.websaver.ca
www.gocoupons.ca
www.brandsaver.ca
www.lifemadedelicious.ca
www.rightathome.ca
On or in product packaging: There are some great coupons to be found inside of packaging. A friend of mine started saving coupons she found on milk bags, as a mother of 4 she went through a lot of milk! The coupon was for Tide Buy 2 get $5.00 off. She saved these coupons and found a great sale on Tide for $4.44 she had 10 coupons and she ended up getting 20 bottles of Tide for the price of less then ten! So before you recycle your packaging, remember to take a quick look and see if there are any coupons inside!
Mailing lists: Join the mailing lists of the companies that you often buy products from. You can always send the company an email and ask to join their mailing list, and when filling out forms I always check YES to be included in other promotions. You never know what you could get in your mail one day!
Writing to companies: Share your thoughts and ideas with the companies that you really like and buy their products, being positive can at times be rewarding, and they may just send you a few coupons to say THANK YOU!
Doctors or Dentists office: Yup believe it or not there are coupons available at your Doctors and Dentist office! (not just in the magazines in the waiting room). These coupons are usually specific to the doctors specialty. For example Crest coupons and the Dentists office. Many Doctors offices have parenting magazines and you may be surprised the coupons you would find inside!
Coupon trading: About once every two weeks I bring in my coupons to work and share with the other ladies. Recently during one of these “giveaway” days I found out that another one of my colleagues was a coupon enthusiast and we ended up sharing and trading coupons!
Coupon trains: I have never done this before, but I am really considering joining one. Here is how it works; one person creates a large envelope of coupons and then asks for a group of people to circulate the coupons amongst themselves. The envelope goes from person to person often across the country they take what they need and give other coupons in return and send it off to the next person. It is a great way to stockpile a variety of coupons quickly.
Happy Savings,
Miss Savings Girl!
