The Free Sunday Paper
On Sunday, for some unknown reason, everyone in my city got a free Sunday newspaper. I don’t know why, we have a festival going on here this week and maybe it was because of that. For whatever reason, I got a complimentary copy delivered to my doorstep. My spouse was excited because of the comics, and I was thrilled to get my hands on the coupons.
There weren’t that many coupons in the circular this week that got me really excited, although there were a few I clipped out for items we already buy that will in total save me more than the normal cost of the paper. There were also circulars to peruse from all sorts of places, from CVS and Walgreens to Kroger and Meijer. I actually really enjoyed myself looking through everything and thinking about the shopping I could do at different stores to save money on different items (all of them are on my way to work and back, so I actually can shop at any of them pretty easily).
But then I started to wonder - is it worth the time investment? Not just the time shopping at several different stores, but I actually spent a few hours over the past few days going through all the different circulars and looking for different deals. I do love coupons and I am trying to incorporate them more and more into my normal shopping, but I’m not yet sold on the idea of buying the Sunday paper every week just in case there are coupons I can use.
So I’ve enjoyed my free Sunday paper, but I’m still on the fence about the idea of subscribing (as I have been for months now). And it is a whole lot of paper, very little of which I actually would read every week. It seems like the waste of a tree. I wish I could just get the coupons delivered.
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!
You can also: Stumble It! Bookmark Submit to Reddit Submit to Tip'd
June 17th, 2008 at 8:02 am
I agree with wishing one could just get coupons delivered… But I use some of my newspaper for worm bedding and the rest is recycled or reused.
As far as it not being worth the time investment, you have to ask yourself: What would I have done with the time if not for going through coupons? If you can honestly answer that you’d be doing something more productive or profitable, you’re right about it not being worth it. But if you were just going to be sitting around relaxing anyway, why not relax and do something that will encourage future savings?
June 17th, 2008 at 8:04 am
I am only interested in the comics and coupons as well from the Sunday paper. I agree that it is a waste of paper for me to buy one. My parents though get 2 Sunday papers. I visit them and my sister’s family about once every 2-3 months (they live about 4 hours away). My Dad goes through and clips his coupons (which is very little) and then he saves the rest for me. Although some are expired by the time I get them, the majority are not. It works great for both of us as he actually reads every single page of the Sunday paper (ugh…).
I am not sure if this is something you would be willing to ask, but if you know of a close friend or family member that lives relatively close, you might want to ask them if they could save their unused coupons for you (if they get the Sunday paper that is). I could see how that might be an awkward request (if it wasn’t family) though and wouldn’t want to impose on anyone regularly.
June 17th, 2008 at 8:30 am
I have a friend at work bring me the circulars and coupons from her Sunday paper. That way, I get what I need for free and my friend feels as though her Sunday paper is getting put to use even beyond her own use of it (I also bring her the occasional thing from Walgreens or Rite Aid when I get good deals as a thank you).
June 17th, 2008 at 8:50 am
I struggle with the Sunday paper dilemma, too. Here’s what I’ve done:
In my town, you can purchase the Sunday paper on Monday for $0.99. That way, you get the coupons, but don’t feel bad about not reading the entire paper. Also, sites like www.couponmom.com have a coupon database, so you can see what coupons are in the paper.
June 17th, 2008 at 9:04 am
I would love just having the coupons delivered, but I think my husband would miss the comics a bit.
I tend to read a couple sections as well, so it’s not a total waste, and I’ve got all the old papers bundled up for recycling. (Just need to get them out of the house!) I haven’t done a cost analysis of whether I’m earning my money back, but I’m pretty sure I’m doing fairly well. ~$1.50/week isn’t so bad for coupons and some entertainment delivered to my driveway. 
June 17th, 2008 at 9:13 am
We just ordered the sunday washington post, first one arrived this past sunday… it was $.49 a week and provided us with a good “cheap” family activity after church. Our one year old loves to rummage through the papers and we were looking to save some money with the coupons.
We started cleaning out our backyard. The paper is good for our compost and it is useful in our garden. No waste.
If you don’t want the subscription, then my suggestion is to snoop through the local newspaper recycling bin… pretty sure you’ll find what you need in there.
June 17th, 2008 at 10:16 am
If you do it right, the coupons are always worth it! It is a lot of time and work, but thanks to the grocery game, couponmom.com and CVSing I’ve saved about $3000 so far this year. It allows my family to eat well and use name brand products and try new things that we might not otherwise buy. The key is to make sure your coupons are matching up with a sale (which is usually a week or two after the coupons come out). Check around for a 99 cent store in your area. They usually carry the paper for a lot cheaper than regular stores. I hope this helps!
June 17th, 2008 at 11:03 am
In the end, the coupons in the Sunday paper more then pay for our cost in subscribing to it. And that’s just careful coupon use on items we’d purchase even if we didn’t have a coupon ready. Time wise, the newspaper reading and coupon clipping is a Sunday morning ritual over coffee!
June 17th, 2008 at 12:47 pm
We would order the Sunday paper, but we have to also subscribe the rest of the week. We just pick it up on Sundays.
June 17th, 2008 at 1:49 pm
Hello-
I usually buy the sunday paper on sat so that I know if there are any better deals than the ones I was thinking of for saturday like detergent being less this week vs next. Also I tend to stop into my local laundry mat or starbucks on sunday & can get the coupons lying around most people just read the paper & toss the inserts in a pile. also I know our local library gets 2 copies of the paper so they might let you take them or have a coupon trading box.
Just some thoughts.
Aloha
June 17th, 2008 at 2:56 pm
We only have 2 stores within 50 miles - so not worth the paper.
Have you tried some of the online coupons sites? Print you own is not a bad deal…
And it seems the two stores I do have - Freddies and Safeway - are on a 3 month rotation on their coupons…so I just stock up on enough when they go on sale to last 3 months or so.
June 17th, 2008 at 3:28 pm
I just finished with a trial 13-week subscription to our paper (because it was a super deal). When the renewal notice came, the price more than DOUBLED. So, I called to cancel and the customer service rep offered me a different deal that was even cheaper per week than the first one. Again, it’s a temporary subscription (10 weeks), but the rep said when the renewal notice comes, just call again and ask about any promotions they may have. He said they have them ALL the time.
FYI - the second deal was through NIE (Newspapers in Education) and comes with a reading journal, log and my son will get a t-shirt, four FREE baseball game tickets, and other prizes when he turns in his log.
June 17th, 2008 at 9:37 pm
My elderly neighbor subscribes to the paper and we live in a pretty small town without a lot of news. She gives us her paper everyday after she is done reading it. She rarely clips more than one or two coupons and she feels good that her paper isnt going to waste after maybe 30 minutes of reading (our paper is really really small!).