AARP Hearing Center
Coupons have come a long way since the days when clipping them from newspapers was the only option. Today there are several ways to save money on groceries whether you're tech savvy or prefer a scissor. That’s particularly important now with inflation running at a 40-year high and food prices up 11.9 percent year-over-year. With millions of older adults struggling to put food on the table, coupons have become invaluable and finding them is easier than you think. Here’s how.
1. Newspaper coupons
Newspaper coupons come as an insert in newspapers published weekly and on Sunday. The Sunday newspaper tends to have the most coupons, comprised of both manufacturer and national store coupons. The week day papers usually have deals from local supermarkets.
How to score them: Newspaper coupons can be found in national and local newspapers and sometimes in newsletters and shoppers distributed for free within the community.
2. Catalina coupons
Catalina coupons are typically colorful, long, narrow coupons that can be used to get money off a specific product or your next purchase. They can be store specific or issued by the manufacturer.
How to score them: Catalina coupons print out in store from a separate machine once you complete your purchase. These are not the ones that print out at the end of your receipt.
3. Manufacturer coupons
Issued by the manufacturer, they give you money off a specific product. There are typically limits on how many manufacturer coupons you can use on an item. Usually, it's one manufacturer coupon per product.
How to score them: There’s several ways to find manufacturer coupons including newspapers, newsletters, websites that aggregate different manufacturer coupons, through the brand’s website, and at the grocery store.
4. Grocery store coupons
These are issued by the grocery store, giving customers a percentage discount on the entire bill or money off specific items.
How to score them: Grocery store coupons can be either clipped from newspapers, newsletters or in weekly ads and found inside the stores. They can also be printed from the store’s website or downloaded from the grocery store’s app.
