The Savings Mom Answers Your Questions

June 7, 2005 — -- This week, the Savings Mom answers questions from readers.

Question: Do you know where to find coupons for baby formula? -- Amy Kline, Bensalem, Pa.

Savings Mom: Yes, there are many good sources of coupons for baby formula and many other common baby products like diapers, baby food and baby utensils. Because most parents are very brand-specific regarding baby products that work for their child, you may need to look harder to find more coupon sources of the specific brands you need.

Your first coupon source is the Sunday grocery coupon circular from the newspaper. They frequently have coupons for diapers, baby food, baby dishes and utensils, and various brands of baby formula. You can also ask your pediatrician's office if they have baby product coupons or samples available.

Do not hesitate to send an e-mail to manufacturers via their Web site praising their products and requesting coupons (be sure to include your address in your e-mail). You can also call the 800 number on products' packages to request coupons. Search for the Web sites of your preferred manufacturers, and sign up for any special clubs or e-mail newsletters. In most cases, you will be sent coupons and/or special money saving offers. Finally, be sure to sign up for the baby clubs of local grocery stores, as they can be a great source for baby product coupons.

Just a few examples of baby product manufacturers with attractive savings clubs or e-mail newsletters with coupons are:

Similac at www.welcomeaddition.com

Huggies at www.huggieshappybaby.com/offers/ml.aspx

Gerber at www.gerber.com/special

Beech Nut at http://beechnut.com/Special%20Offers/index.asp

Search for your favorite product sites to find even more offers.

Question: Do you know how to get printable grocery coupons without having to go through a long registration process? -- Kathy, Corpus Christi, Texas

Savings Mom: Yes, the best grocery coupon Web sites actually require very little information in order to take advantage of their printable coupons. Although their sign-up form may have several questions, you do not always have to fill in all of the information fields. You can simply answer the questions that are noted as "required fields."

The best coupon sites do not sell your information to other companies and only send e-mail to visitors who check the newsletter option. I recommend that shoppers who sign up for the printable coupon sites do select the newsletter option because it lets you know when they add new coupon offers to their sites. If you do not want e-mail newsletters, be sure that the newsletter options are not selected (in some cases they are automatically selected, and shoppers need to uncheck the boxes if they don't want to receive newsletters).

The most comprehensive printable coupon sites are www.boodle.com, www.smartsource.com and www.coolsavings.com. There are also "paperless" coupons available at Kroger-owned grocery stores via www.upons.com.

Visit your favorite manufacturers' Web sites and look for printable coupons on their site or sign up for e-mail newsletters that send printable coupons for their products. You will usually need to provide personal information to register. For example, you can print many coupons for products at www.stonyfield.com, www.bettycrocker.com, www.pillsbury.com, www.yoplait.com. There is a comprehensive directory of manufacturer sites with printable grocery coupons available at http://couponmom.flamingoworld.com/grocery. You can also use a search engine to find many more of your favorite product sites to search for coupons.

The Savings Mom, who is also known as Stephanie Nelson, is based in Atlanta. For more information, you can visit www.thecouponmom.com.