In my mind, there are two tips for printing coupons. These are things that I follow, although not always necessarily “the law”. Take from it what you will.

1. When printing coupons, use the paper and ink to your advantage. I only print in black and white – and I change the print setting to draft. No need using more black ink than necessary. I’ve been doing this for years and have never had a problem with a scanner reading the bar code.

I also use every inch of the paper. If a coupon prints and it’s on the top third of the paper, I clip it. Then, I flip the paper over and print my next coupon on the back side of the original sheet. If the stars are all aligned correctly, I can sometimes even get three coupons out of one sheet of paper.

2. How many coupons can I print? Sometimes this question is answered by your computer when it won’t allow you to print more that two. I tend to follow that rule as well. Printable coupons are many times more lucrative than coupons in the newspaper inserts. Because of that, I tend to not overprint.

Also, the big big no-no is to photocopy a coupon. That, my friends, is coupon fraud. Each printable coupon must come from a computer. It allows the manufacturer to keep track of the promotion and, quite frankly, prepare financially for those coupons to be redeemed.

3. Where can you find printable coupons? Try RedPlum, Coupons.com, SmartSource, and The Grocery Game.

* This post is part of a weekly segment on KSBJ Christian Radio. For more on segments featuring Stephanie Click, the Texas Money Mom, click here.