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Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Couponing Tips and why you should clip them!

Yes... I'm sort of obsessed. It all started when I came across a blog called www.hip2save.com while working one day. (I do internet website rating type work)
I flagged it to go back to once I was done working for the day and found TONS of helpful information and LOTS of good coupon codes and deals for all my Christmas Shopping.
(which I did mostly online and never paid full price for anything except my husbands I-pod shuffle for the gym - but Apple NEVER has good deals....)

Anyway... armed with this website and a few links to other websites such as
Thefrugalfind.com
Pennypinchinmom.com
totallytarget.com

I decided one of my new years resolutions would be to REALLY make an effort with couponing.
Here are some things I have come to realize and that I wanted to share with you.

  1. It's free money. Literally. I know, I know you think who wants to sit down and spend a half an hour each week going through the flyers and cutting coupons... here's what I say - grab a cup of coffee or tea, grab your scissors and do it. Try it for a month and see how quickly and easily you create an efficient system for yourself and you will realize just how much FREE money is out there for everything you could ever possibly need to buy on a weekly basis.
  2. Don't buy things you don't use or need - UNLESS there is a coupon and sale match up that makes an item entirely free which you could then donate to your local food kitchen or animal shelter - then BUY AWAY! it will only cost you the half a second it took to cut out the coupon and the 5 seconds it takes to locate the item at the store and put it in your cart. Charity is a wonderful thing and in these times, you never know when something like this could help you greatly - so think about all the people out there who can't even afford to buy a paper to cut coupons from.
  3. don't use a coupon, just because you have a coupon - Sometimes coupons are not the better deal - in the beginning I used to have them burn holes in my pockets so I would rush to use them and not pay attention to other brands pricing, etc... Sometimes even if you have a High Value coupon ($1) the generic is still cheaper...
  4. If saving money is hard for you in general, make a plan for what to do with the money you save every week. I heard of a woman once who, after every shopping trip transferred the amount of money she saved with coupons and buying sale items into a savings account. INSTANT gratification/rainy day/emergency fund. (possibly vacation fund for some????)
  5. You have to be patient and create a stash of coupons before it gets easy. After a few weeks you will have a very decent stash of coupons to use to match up to what is on sale at your grocery store. This will mean that you can take advantage of not JUST using the coupon - but STACKING it on top of a sale at the store. An example of this was a Special K coupon I got online (printing coupons is also AMAZING) it was Buy one Get one Free - then one of my favorite blogs pointed out that Rite Aid had that cereal on sale for Buy one Get one Free - the coupon STACKED on top of the sale meant I got 4 boxes of Special K cereal for NOTHING.
Total time spent - maybe 4 minutes - total savings - about $18.

5. For maximum benefit, use coupons on top of sales. The best way to do this is to never buy anything when you NEED it. Once you create a good stockpile of basic supplies in your pantry, you will have more leeway to wait a week until your favorite ice cream goes on sale AND then you can use that awesome $1 coupon on top of it - making it cost only $2 instead of $5.

Now I'm not talking about extreme couponing where people buy 500 candy bars with coupons - I'm talking about taking some time every week to organize your coupons and grocery list - create a meal plan based on sale/coupon stuff and saving TONS OF MONEY for you and your family.

Every weekend I get a paper and I cut out the coupons. The websites I have mentioned as well as many others do a GREAT job of matching up the weeks coupons to what is on sale at local grocery/drug stores. So, you don't even necessarily have to spend lots of time matching stuff up - which is a huge time saver! To be honest, It's kind of one of the favorite times of the week for me, because as a Full time SAHM, I feel like I am actually doing something for our family bank account. Every week I get so excited to see how much money I have saved at the bottom of my receipt and my husband entertains and encourages this obsession.

I am committed to continuing couponing for the entire year. I have found coupons for everything from Fresh Produce, paper products, dairy products, and medicines and diapers for the kids. I have also committed to keeping track of how much money I save every week at the grocery store on an EXCEL spreadsheet so that I can have my instant gratification.

So far in January I have saved $158.57 on grocery/household products - with my biggest save being $49.68 last week in one trip at Shop Rite.
(I'll admit, that receipt was hard not to put on the fridge)


One of my favorite things about coupons is that most stores and now ONLINE stores accept them. For all you new moms or veteran moms out there who are sick of running to the store for diapers... I HIGHLY recommend Diapers.com - you order a stockpile of diapers (cause seriously... why bother buying a million small packages when you can buy them by the case) you get free 2 day shipping to your door! AND they accept coupons. You just send them into the company ahead of time and the next time you order, they will apply whichever coupon you like to your order. How easy is that? I'm creating my stash to send to them for the baby as we speak! AND they sell other things like toys, bottles, books, even stuff for mom like toiletries... check it out - you might become a huge fan! Also, their sister site Soap.com which is everything drugstore you could need!

It's time to feed my bottomless pit of a daughter her favorite breakfast (special K with milk and a spoon as she requests it) but I will be back later with some tips and tricks about shopping at drugstores and how to MAKE money after coupons and sales.

Happy Reading!

3 comments:

  1. My favorite place to use coupons is BJ's. The store sends coupon books but you can also use manufacturer's coupons on top of the BJ's coups. Also most people dont know it but if you buy a 3 pack of toothpaste, you can use 3 manufacturers coups on that one pack on top of the BJ's coups.

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  2. Woohoo for couponing! Just think--if you add more papers, that's more free stuff! We have a service out here (Couponsense) and we get a deal on papers thru them. So, I get 6! I've gone to the store, spent $9 and saved over $200! Another great site is retailmenot.com and slickdeals.com

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  3. I love that you wrote this! I have been saying I want to commit to some coupon savings but then I get overwhelmed and don't know where to start. This is a nice guide on getting started and some things to keep in mind. My sister-in-law is an amazing coupon cutter and I always say I'm going to tap into her as a resource but I never have the chance. This is great because I can re-visit any time to get the full understanding. Another great post!

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