How do you buy your newspaper? ( How to get the most out of it? )

[qtkitty]

What newspaper do you clip from?

I have read its recommended that you get a local paper or a large town near buy that has a paper. I used to get the local paper.


Do you know your insert area?

I know in our town there are Areas that the local newspaper sends out dependant on the area depends on the inserts you get... area 1 of course gets the covetted inserts with the most coupons and ads ( aka the rich section of town ) then there are 6 or so other areas where different ads and coupons are put in dependant on the makeup of the area. I of course do not live in area 1 so our inserts are piss poor.

Do you pay for the paper to be delivered (week or weekend) or do you buy one at the newspaper stand?

Here just for the weekend Fri Sat Sun they charge $10.50 and more for the whole week. Of course i never read the paper.. sometimes i would skim the classfieds, but not often.. i just wanted the Sunday paper coupons ... and okay i'll admit it the coupons.

The newspaper here for sundays at the stand are $1....for 4-5 papers a month its way way cheaper for me to get a local newspaper from a stand ( which i haven't a clue what the area insert they get in them.. i have noted a lot of the time they do not even have inserts in them )

Now i really wish that local newspaper companies would have the options of a delivery of just the insert.. that would be sooo cool... say you get 2 of the area one inserts or something.

Do you keep the coupons you would never use and send them on?

I have heard of people doing coupon trains.. but now a days companies send out coupons with such short dates to be used by for the most part.. it makes it hard to ship them and play around with them.

Past date coupons can be used by military families over seas in their cominssaries to buy groceries ( not sure if this still applies or not )

Some coupons say that you can return them to the company at like 1/100 of a cent.. not sure if they have to be up to date or if they can be expired.

[Jskell911]

DH gave me a year's subscription of the Sunday paper for my birthday last year. He figured he'd make his $$ back really quickly! LOL

He also bought me two metal shelves for stockpiling!

Now, there's a man who knows what I want! No silly perfumes for me.

[Momof4cats]

I pick up my Sunday paper on Monday. It runs $1.75 on Sunday, $1 on Monday. And if I find the coupons are really good, I go back and get another.

[Monroe on a Budget]

<<Now i really wish that local newspaper companies would have the options of a delivery of just the insert.. that would be sooo cool... say you get 2 of the area one inserts or something. >>

Here's the problem: the advertisers set the rules for inserts, not the newspapers.

The advertisers pay for their coupons and fliers to be inserted into specific zip codes or delivery areas. It is entirely possible for you to get one insert and your friend or relative across town or the other side of the newspaper's district to get another. It is also entirely possible that a newspaper you buy at the news rack won't have the same inserts as your home-delivery paper.

I have been in the newspaper business since I was a newspaper carrier at age 10. These days I'm a reporter and blogger.

I know my co-workers in the distribution and circulation department would prefer to stuff the same inserts into every copy of the paper we deliver that day. But the advertisers won't pay for an entire daily run if their customers only come from part of our area.

[LuvMyHubby]

I only purchase a newspaper if there is an article that I want to specifically keep i.e. something good about our DD. My MIL has a subscription and gives me the coupon inserts when she is finished with them and she only cuts out a select few, so that still leave me a lot to look through.

[McD]

I only ever get the Sunday paper. I time it right to where I need to fill up my car with gas on Sunday b/c at Kum and Go, if you buy gas, you get a paper free. I only use the coupons . One of the girls I work with saves me the SUnday paper from her other pt job and brings me the coupons.

[Royal]

Well the funny thing is, we used to have a subscription to the Saturday paper and it often came late or not at all. We then decided that we were going to cancel our subscription as of January 1 of this year. Well, now we get it every Saturday (on time) and got it today as well. We haven't paid 1 cent for the newspaper since last year but get it every week.
We do have a confirmation of our cancellation.

[Marie78]

We just bought a subscription to the Sunday Newspaper only. That way I will get the coupons and weekly sale flyers. The subscription was much cheaper than the newstand price. We pay $1.75 per newspaper at the newstand. The yearly Sunday subscription will only cost us 90 cents per paper.

[Frugal Nurse]

My husband has the Sunday paper delivered (and doesn't tip the poor boy enough!).

Other than that- I get all the news on line.
Saves trees.
If I need newspaper for packing or wrapping, I just go ask my neighbors for their recycled paper.

[Pemberleyan]

We don't buy or subscribe to a newspaper. For us it would never pay for itself. My experience with coupons has been that they are often for expensive convenience foods to begin with and I just don't see as many coupons as I used to years ago anyway. We often buy generic and don't have a local store that gives double coupons, etc.

[Mom23boys]

We pay for a weekly subscription. I pay for it every three months, $30. I may cancel it when it is due again because I noticed that noone is reading it daily. We mostly just read the Sunday paper. I may change over to having weekend delivery only instead of daily.

[bumplett]

I recycle my parent's paper when they are finished with it. Including coupons. Out of pocket cost for me = zero.

[coup]

I have 2 copies of the Sunday Detroit Free Press delivered. They thought I was nuts when I set up the account!

My local paper only has a pathetic few coupons in it; so I subscribe to that one for the local news. If I have to cut my budget, I'd cut this one back to Sunday only too.

[beks37]

I waited a long time to sign up for the newspaper. I signed up on some sort of back to school special last year. I get daily delivery for $8.67 per month. The weekdays are normally 50 cents each and the Sunday paper is $1.50 each. I use the coupons and ads out of it, and I do the crosswords every day. I do read it, and when I am done, it goes to the recycling bin. Although, it does take a few weeks for me to make a trip to the recycling center.

[alarosalpn]

I have the Sunday paper delivered. I only look at the coupons/sales flyers but then I use the entire paper to make cat litter out of! I actually have friends and co-workers saving their papers for me! Cost is $1 week for the Sunday paper