Coupons to Gather for After Christmas Clearance Sales

Bargain hunters such as myself go out en force after Christmas to snag holiday themed items at a deep discount. Retailers such as Target and Walmart begin marking down their Christmas items to make room for Valentine's Day merchandise waiting in the wings. Coupon savvy bargain hunters will want to maximize their clearance finds by using coupons whenever possible. Here are just a few ideas for coupons to gather for after Christmas clearance sales to make your clearance deal even better.

Air Fresheners: Holiday scents are often marked down right after Christmas, so using a coupon that covers the air freshener is one way to stock up on air fresheners. Also, some scents are available only during the holiday season, so stocking up on holiday scents at a discount will enable you to enjoy the ambiance of Christmas in July.

Ziploc baggies and plastic containers: Do those baggies and plastic containers meant for cookies and fudge have Snowmen, Christmas trees or snowflakes on them? Keep an eye on them to drop even further in price after Christmas. Now is the time to pull out those Ziploc baggie and plastic container coupons to pick up Christmas-themed storage items at a nice discount. Stock up now and you won't need baggies until next year.

Scotch tape and Scotch paper cutter: Grab these wrapping basics dirt cheap after Christmas. Stores that have a large quantity of these items left over after Christmas will mark them down rather than keep them as overstock. Liberal use of price scanners can help you find the discounted items since sometimes the UPCs for the holiday tape can be different than the UPC for the tape normally stocked, which won't be marked down on clearance.

Cookies and Candy: Keep your Oreo cookie coupons handy for after Christmas clearance sales. Holiday themed cookies are one of the first items marked down. The same goes for Hershey Kisses and M&Ms since the stores are anxious to put out Valentine's Day themed candy packages. Chocolate freezes well, so snagging clearanced chocolate and freezing it for later use or baking can help provide a cheap treat over the winter months.

Paper Products: Christmas themed paper goods are also subject to mark down. Using coupons on marked down paper towels makes them an awesome clearance find. Paper products are notoriously expensive, so grabbing them on clearance is a sweet deal that coupons can make much sweeter.

Cake Mixes: Cake mixes are marked down to move out the red and green sprinkled holiday themed cakes in favor of pink frosted Valentine's Day ones. These items are generally shelf-stable for many months past Christmas. Save them up for a fun birthday cake later on or pull out the sprinkles and use only the cake mix.

These are just five examples of the types of coupons that are useful for making Christmas clearance items cheaper. For best clearance hunting, be at the store early on the day after Christmas when the bulk of other bargain hunters converge on the clearance aisles as well.

For a list of more coupons to keep out for Christmas clearance, please visit Hot Coupon World.