Coupons and talking about coupons is my
favorite subject. It is the only way I am able to have name brand items
and have my pantry full and not have my wallet empty.
I started
couponing out of need about 9 years ago when my 1st child was born
and I ended up being a stay at home mom.
I did not get into it seriously until about 6 years ago when we bought
our 1st house. It was then I
buckled down and really started to coupon.
Now I have a healthy pantry, a good
stockpile “store” and am able to donate and give things away to people in
need. I have several people that always “shops”
in my store and they are people that are on a very tight budget and is always grateful
that I help them out.
You are not going to be able to get $500
worth of groceries for $5. That’s just
impossible. Those Extreme Couponing
Shows on TLC is not realistic. But you
are going to be able to save 50-70% off your grocery bill. When I go to the grocery store, I usually
save about 70% on average which feeds our family of 5 plus 2 dogs and a cat.
Where to get
coupons
-
Sunday Papers – every Sunday
there will be inserts fill with coupons.
Some weekends there will only be 1 while other weekends will have 5-6
inserts. Some weekends there is none at
all due to holidays.
-
Online printables from
coupons.com, smartsource.com, redplum.com, target.com, other various online
sites.
-
Peelies – Coupons that’s on
the packages.
-
Blinkies – Coupon Machines
in front of the products on the shelf.
-
Store Coupons – There is a
lot of ways to get store coupons. They
have them in the stores on a turnable or a display. You can get them in the mail.
What you do to get started on couponing is
just browse the weekly sales ad and do coupon match ups. The best news is, there is a bunch of online
sites that has already done that for you.
So all you need to do is go to that site, look and see where the coupons
and deal is, clip/print that coupon and get it at the store.
All you have to do is google the store you
want and the week it starts so for example Kroger Matchups 9/2 and you will
have a bunch to choose from. Here in the
southeast, I use the following sites for my coupon match ups
(refundcents has an $12 annual membership fee
which you will get back in tenfold so well worth it in my opinion)
You will need to look in your area to find
out who has the best coupon policy and what that policy is. Like for example, in my area – I find Publix
to be the best for my grocery shopping.
They always double up to .50 cents, so that means my .50 cent coupon
will be worth $1. Publix also accepts competitor
coupons. You will have to go to your
local customer service desk and find out who they consider their competitor. Publix also allows a Publix coupon and a manufacture
coupon to be used on the same item. You
will just need to go to the local grocery stores in your area and find out what
their coupon policy is. Each store will
have a different policy.
For example – Publix has the GoGo Squeeze
Applesauce pouches (which my son loves!) on sale buy 1 get 1 free (bogo) at
$2.59. There is a .50/1 printable, which
my store doubles up to .50 cents so that coupon is worth $1. I can use 2 of the .50 cent coupons because I’m
purchasing 2 boxes of GoGo Squeeze. So I
will end up only paying .59 cents for 2 boxes which ends up being .15 cents a
box!!
You are allowed to use 2 coupons on a bogo
deal. Here in Georgia the bogo deals
ring up ½ price. So if you only wanted 1
item, it will ring up ½ price. You don’t
have to get 2 items. Now in Florida,
their bogo rings up 1st one at full price and the 2nd one
at .00 so you will have to purchase 2 to get the bogo deal.
Handling
your coupons
There is a bunch of different ways to
store your coupons. You will have to
find one that meets your needs.
Binder
Method – You can clip
coupons and put them in a binder with baseball cards. You will have to be faithful in cutting and
sorting and going through to make sure they aren’t expired every week.
Insert
Method – Have a file
cabinet or box with file folders and just store the inserts in whole. Once you need to clip a coupon, just look for
the date and insert they will be in and go to that insert and clip it out.
Coupon
Envelope – This is good
for people that don’t have a lot of coupons to use. But once you start couponing good and start
saving more, you will need to go to a different method since the coupons won’t
all fit in the envelope.
With couponing you will find that you have
to grow a thick skin. You will find
cashiers and customers behind you in line complain and hassle you about using
coupons. Don’t let this affect you, you
are not doing anything wrong as long as you are using the coupons correctly!!
This is one of my biggest pet peeve with
couponing. The cashiers or managers will
say this “it’s limit 1 per purchase” which the cashiers think that you are only
allowed to use 1 coupon for the whole transaction. NOT TRUE!!
If you are purchasing 5 things, you are allowed to use 5 coupons as long
as they are for 1 product not for $1 off 2.
The only time you are not allowed to use more than what you purchase if
the coupons say “limit 1 per transaction” or “limit 4 like coupons”. A lot of P&G coupons now say limit 4 like
coupons, which means you can only purchase 4 razors and use 4 - $4 off coupons,
but you can purchase 4 – Dawn Dish Soap and use 4 - .25 cent off coupons on
that same order. They just don’t want
you using more than 4 of the same exact coupons in the same transaction.
I hope the things I explained makes it
easier for you to get started or to do better. When you get started at
couponing you won't notice much of a difference money wise for the
1st couple months, but you will notice that your pantry and fridge/freezer is
getting fuller! Once you get a good stockpile, then all you will need to
do is replenish your basic items. You will still be able to get
stuff but they will be at a really low price after coupons and sales.
I will do another post on the drug
store game! If you have any questions,
please feel free to leave a comment or email me and I will be glad to help!
