Today you get to meet my friend Karen from Saving the Family Money. I had the privilege of meeting Karen in person at the Savvy Blogging Summit in July. She is one of the absolute sweetest people I’ve ever met! Enjoy her tips for printing coupons. They’re sure to save you many headaches!
Printing coupons from your computer is a great way to start saving money. It’s also becoming quite popular with manufacturers. When you first start out, you’ll head to a website to print coupons, only to find you need to install the coupon printing software? Well you’re not alone. The good news is that the software is pretty standard and once you install it, you should be able to use it on multiple sites. It’s free, safe and should install quickly. There are several reasons companies use this software:
- To enable you to print high quality coupons with a bar code that will scan at the register
- To control the number of coupons printed, to avoid coupon fraud.
If you cannot install the printer software check the following:
- Do you have permission to install software on the computer? If you’re using a computer at a library, hotel or other public place, it may be locked down so you cannot install the software.
- Are you using software that is preventing the installation? Check for any anti-virus software or any anti-spyware or adware software that could be blocking the installation of the coupon printing software. You can override this and choose to allow the installation.
- The operating system or browser you are using is incompatible. Be sure you check the list of what is compatible. This should be on the FAQ pages.
- Your security setting in your browser are set too high. If you receive warnings or errors that an attempt to install and ActiveX control (Internet Explorer) or a plugin was blocked, or are asked for permission to install a program, you may need to change your browser’s security settings to allow installation of these types of controls.
Coupons.com and RedPlum.com both have FAQ sections where you can get more information if you are having trouble printing. I have a Mac and when I first starting printing coupons, they did not have software that was compatible with Mac’s. I’m happy to say the software now works with my operating system. Remember you can usually print 2 coupons from each computer so don’t be afraid to install it on your other computers so you can double up! If you see a coupon online now that you think you will use, go ahead and print it, and hold onto it for a sale. If you wait to print it until you need it, it may no longer be available. Please do not copy coupons. The companies release a specific number of coupons and if consumers copy them, then stores will not be reimbursed.
Make sure your printer is turned on and set as the default printer. Make sure it is a paper based printer, not a virtual fax machine or other file saver. You cannot print to a PDF.
Printing bricks coupons- A bricks coupon has a url that begins with http://bricks.coupons.com/. Depending on the browser you are using, you can change a few letters to help you print if you’re having problems. I use Safari most of the time so many of my links may have the XS in them. This is an example of a bricks coupon:
http://bricks.coupons.com/Start.asp?tqnm=qihlbyz6380175&bt=xs&o=57812&c=KR&p=WLVK1gsQ
The highlighted letters in the url are the letters you’ll need to change depending on the browser you use in order to make the coupon print. As you can see I was using Safari to print this coupon. Safari: xs
Here are the letters you should use for Firefox or Internet Explorer. This can also be reversed if your link is Firefox for example and you need to print in Internet Explorer.
Firefox: wg or vg
Internet Explorer: vi or wi
Saving on Ink & Paper
You do not need to print the coupons in color. I print all of mine in black & white and I’ve never had a problem. It might be a good idea to set your printer on draft mode or something similar, to save on ink. You can also print 3 coupons on one page so make sure you choose at least 3 so you get the most out of your paper. Do you get flyers sent home from school or work that you end up throwing away? DON’T! You can print coupons on the back. This is a great way to reuse paper.
Do you have any tips you’d like to add? Please leave a comment. I hope this helps you start saving your family money!
Karen is a wife and a mom of 2 and blogs over at Saving The Family Money. She loves sharing tips and tricks from DIY projects and recipes to coupons, to help save every family money.