This is not my kid. Were he mine, I'd have him doing something waaaay more important than clipping coupons, like laundry.
I don't waste time with scissors just to save 20 cents on milk. But when it comes to coupon codes, the savvy ecomm shopper can save 15, 20, 30, 50, 75%! Free shipping! $50 off!
Finding coupon codes (often known as promo codes) is easy. A google search is one place to start:
The problem with using a google search for well known stores is that you're going to have to weed through a lot of results. Sites like CouponCabin.com will pop up, but they have a running list of the most popular online stores on their site, so google is going to include them in your search results whether they have current codes listed or not. I'd save google for the more obscure stores and use top coupon sites like these to look for BananaRepublic codes:
DealCatcher.com
FatWallet.com
These sites have user submitted codes. If a coupon for a popular brick and mortar (i.e. physical store) isn't on these sites, you're probably out of luck. But don't give up!
Your next step to savings is to head over to ebay or craigslist. Here, you can purchase coupons from other shoppers. Here's how it works:
Say you're a big time Jcrew shopper. You make your purchase, and when your new khakis (what else would you be buying?) arrive at your door, the box contains an extra surprise--a coupon code! Yes, a little postcard with a code of various letters and numbers, promising $15 off purchases of $75, $20 off $100, and $50 off $200!! Holy crap! It's a veritable preppy wet dream! Jcrew is smart enough to realize that if you're likely to make one purchase, you can be encouraged (tricked?) into making more. And what better way to encourage you to spend than to make a sliding scale of savings?! Sure, that $15 off $75 is awesome, but who wouldn't rather save $50!! These are the most precious commodity in the coupon world because they're one-time-use coupons. That means you have an exclusive, my dear, because you won't find these on any websites.
But, being the smarty that you are, you read the fine print and see that this code expires in 1 week. Knowing that you've met your khaki quota for the month, you list your code on craigslist. There, a khaki-loving accountant who's itching to spend $250 at Jcrew snaps up your code for $10. He saves $40, you make $10. Thank you, Al Gore, for this beautiful thing called the internet.
