Before getting my newspaper subscription, I always used to buy the Press-Tribune, since it is cheaper. I now get the Statesman, and have realized how much the coupons DIFFER between the two papers! Sometimes they get coupons that are different dollar amounts, sometimes the Tribune doesn't get coupons that the Statesman gets, and sometimes they get a coupon that's the same, but the two inserts have different layouts and so the coupon from the Statesman isn't on the same page as the Press-Tribune!
Talk about making things complicated! What does this matter, you ask? Well, I just wanted to make sure that you keep this in mind when looking for a particular coupon (for file system users) or when stapling and cutting your coupons (for binder users).
First of all, especially if you are a "file-system" user, blog sites will post match ups and call for a particular coupon from a particular week's insert. Ok, so you go to your file holder, grab one of the inserts from that week, flip through it, and are disappointed to find that you don't have that coupon. However, that week (say two months ago) you actually purchased two Statesmans and two Press-Tribunes, just for variety or just in case they had different coupons. You forget this and so assume that you don't have that coupon. Little do you know, even though you didn't have that coupon in the insert you happened to grab, two of the other inserts from that week DID have that coupon because the Statesman DID get it that week, even though the Tribune didn't. Now, those two coupons go unused because you didn't think you had them. Make sense? So, what I would suggest you do, if you are someone who buys both papers each week, I would take the time to go through the inserts and see if there are any differing coupons between the two. If there is, for file system users, I would not only write the date on the corner of the insert, but would also write which paper it came from. So write "8/9 Statesman" or "8/9 Tribune." If you want to take it one step further, you could make a little note of which coupons are differing for that week under the date also (I would do this on each insert, so that no matter which one you wind up grabbing when it comes time to clip a coupon, you see the note and are reminded and don't grab one that you didn't write the note on and assume you don't have that coupon).
For those of us who use a binder, be sure to check for differences also and keep them in mind when stapling and clipping. You don't want to accidentally lay them all out and assume they are the same and just staple and clip away...you might accidentally assume you have 6 of a coupon that you really only had 4 of (because the two inserts on the bottom of the stack were from the Tribune and didn't get that coupon) or do the opposite and miss a coupon that was on the backside of two of the 6 inserts because the other 4 didn't have them, and you didn't notice. You might wind up throwing valuable coupons away!
Hopefully this makes sense. It's late and I might just be confusing everyone. I just wanted to make sure you guys kept this in mind, because today, in particular, there were a LOT of differences between the two papers' inserts and so I had to take some extra time and care to get all of my coupons aligned right and stapled right before I clipped them. Also don't want you guys to miss out on coupons you don't even realize you have. If this totally doesn't make sense and you have other questions, feel free to ask!
If you have NO idea what I'm talking about and are new to couponning, click HERE to go to the beginning and learn everything you need to know to save 60-90% on your grocery bill! :)
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