Getting Started with eCoupons

So you've decided that you want to save more money with your groceries. You've heard about others saving money and even getting products for FREE and you want to do that too. You are already using the store ads - seeing what is on sale and buying with the coupons you find there. You consider yourself a bargain hunter but you have a busy life. You wonder if you can really "do coupons" for savings that are worth your time.

The first thing that a shopper can do to save more money is to use ecoupons.


These are coupons you will load right onto your store savings card, right from the comfort of your own home. How is this slight of hand accomplished, you ask yourself?  Hold on to your hats, it's not magic at all! It just uses the power of the internet and modern technology.

1. Get out your store club card. This will be your card for Safeway, Fred Meyer, QCF or where ever you shop most since most of these coupons can only be added one time per website.

2. You'll need an email address to register at most ecoupon sites. If you feel squeamish about giving out your primary email address, create a new one from a free online email service like gmail, yahoo mail or hotmail.

3. Now appropriated equipped with email address and store card you will visit each of these sites:

• cellfire.com - Cellfire uses your cellphone number and birth year as your login. You can also use your cellphone to find and save deals to your card!
• pgesaver.com (Procter and Gamble coupons!) ** currently you cannot add these to your Kroger affliated grocery stores. You can however add them to your Safeway store card.
• shortcuts.com

4. As you register with each of these sites you will be prompted to add some user information as well as your store reward cards.

5. After registering at each site you will be able to select the coupon deals that you want to add to your card. Click the items you want to ad. And done! No clipping, no sorting, no forgetting because they area always on your card (until you use them or they expire)!

5. You may have noticed that some of the coupons offered at cellfire and shortcuts are the SAME offers at each site. I highly recommend that you load these same offers as many times as you come across them on different sites as this will increase your savings and your ability to stock up when prices are low.

6. Next, you want to visit the website associated with your store:

• safeway.com - on the safeway.com main page, look for the link that says "Just for U". If you don't already have an account you will need to register. **This is DIFFERENT from any other safeway.com account you may have, such as for grocery delivery or looking at the online shopping. ** Safeway's Just for U program is specific to their stores. They do not allow coupons to be added from other sites (like cellfire) but will often have compatible offers.
• fredmeyer.com - On the top right, find the link for "create account" and follow the instructions. Once you are signed in, you can add coupons to your card. If you have any issues, there is probably some missing information on your club card account with Fred Meyer. Their phone customer service is helpful and courteous so don't hesitate to call them to get the anomaly corrected.
  
• qfc.com - QFC and Fred Meyer are both owned by Kroger, so you will probably find the same ecoupons on each site. You can use your Fred Meyer card at QFC and you can use your Fred Meyer card IN PLACE if a a QFC store card. If you register your Fred Meyer card at the QFC website, then the coupons you've already added at fredmeyer.com will show up on the QFC website.
  
• Albertsons - Alberstons does have a club card, but I can't find any ecoupons on their website. They do have printable coupons, but that's a post for another day. :)

7. Done! Some coupons are available right away, some take a while to become 'active' on your card. Make sure you look at the fine print to find out. You may also want to print a list of what is on your card from each of the sites. Or you could not and just be happily surprised when you get a bigger discount than you were expecting at the store. :)

8. Shopping: Shop as normal. At checkout, enter your club card info and your ecoupons will AUTOMATICALLY come off when the cashier rings up your purchases! If you have loaded the same coupon from multiple sources, then those will ALL show up when you purchase that item.

• Some store policies specify that you can't use an ecoupon with a print coupon for the same item, however this is difficult to enforce unless their computers are specifically programmed for it. I do, however, make an effort to honor the policy in as much as I can and buy the number of items I have coupons for - both ecoupon and print.

9. Like regular coupons, ecoupons expire. Usually the website will send you a reminder about coupons that are expiring soon. No need for you to delete them - they do that for you.

10. Many ecoupons reset at the start of a new month and can be reloaded on to your card. Occasionally this will allow you to have two coupons for the same product that will be redeemed at the same time. :)

What is your favorite source for ecoupons?