Money Saving Week, Day 1: Coupons!

Couponing is my absolute favorite was to save my family money. Who can argue with coming home from the store having paid pennies for fabulous name brand items?! It's fun, rewarding and my husband thinks it's amazing how much I can save!

Here are a few of my favorite couponing purchases I've made in the last few months!

32 Bottles of Purex Laundry Detergent = FREE!

Used Buy 1 Get 1 Coupon + Buy 1 Get 1 Sale

16 Cover Girl Products = $7 Total

Regular Price for = $98

Combined Coupons with store sales

Here is a basic review of how to use coupons. Don't get discouraged with how much information there is. Couponing works best if you take time to educate yourself and start slowly until you get the hang of things.

Before you know it your cupboards will be bursting at the seams with all your couponing purchases! The best part is you'll have lots of money left in your pocket when you are done!

$ave Money with Coupon$

Get BRAND NAME products for less than the store brand or even FREE.

You need a Coupon Stash: Where to get coupons?

You need the coupon ads from the newspaper – SmartSource, RedPlum, P&G Savings

*Purchase multiple Sunday Newspapers at the grocery store (often available on Sat. afternoon or even Mon-Tues, grocery ads come either Tuesday or Wednesday)

*Have multiple newspapers delivered to your door - ask your newspaper provider for a deal for purchasing multiple papers.

*Ask your friends, families, neighbors & co-workers for any coupons or coupon inserts they don’t use.

*Trade coupons – trade the ones you don’t need for some that you would use

* Search the Internet for coupons:

The Coupon Clippers – they do the physical clipping for you and mail it to you for a small fee

            Ebay - one of my favorites - this is where I ordered enough purex coupons for my purchase above                                
            Smartsource
            Red Plum

            Coupons.com - my favorite printable site. Click on the logo and check out the great coupons they have that you can print right from your home! Very Easy to use!

How to Organize Your Coupons:

You’ll want to organize your coupons by categories or alphabetically by brand names.

Use dividers (purchased or homemade) to organize/label to make things clear and simple to read.

            3 Ring binder with trading card or business card sleeves

            Plastic storage box – use envelopes to hold coupons

            CD Case- one that zips closed 

            Put the Whole coupon ad in a clear sheet for future reference

Keep a calculator, pencil, scissors, pad of paper, and the ads with your ‘coupon case’

Pay attention to the expiration dates as you put new coupons in your file.

How to Find the Deals & Sales:

*Search the Ads yourself (paper or online), find out what is on sale and then compare to the coupons you have to find the best deals.

            Rite Aid

            Walgreens

            Fred Meyer
            CVS
            Kroger
            Target

            

*Let others do most of the work for you: Follow blogs or websites dedicated to couponing. They will tell you what the sales are and which coupons and rebates to use with them for maximum savings. Take time to read their tips and advice as well as follow along for a week or two to see how deals come together.

            Money Saving Mom – inspiring in more than couponing - she and her husband just bought their first home with cash
            Hip 2 Save - she has some great videos about couponing and lots of great deals outside the regular stores.

            Hot Coupon World - forums that outline the upcoming deals for you - sometimes even several weeks ahead of time
            Southern Savers - great for those of you located in the south like me giving you deals from Kroger, Harris Teeter etc . . .
            Fabulessly Frugal - based in Boise, ID which is great for the NW area as they give you the deals from WINCO, Safeway, Albertsons etc. . . . There will also be a giveaway from these gals tomorrow. You'll love it!

          

Stacking Coupons & Sales:

To get your maximum savings at the grocery or drugstore you’ll want to stack coupons, sales, and rebates when possible.

***For EACH product you buy you can use one STORE coupon and one MANUFACTURERS coupon. If that product also has a sale or rebate that week or month you’ll save even more.

Examples:
Walgreens: From Hip 2 Save
Raid Ant & Roach Spray 17.5 oz. $4.99
Use the $1/1 coupon from the 7/11 SS
Use the $2/1 coupon from the August Coupon booklet (found in store)
Final Cost $1.99!

Sometimes you can get products for free or even make money!!

From Fabulessly Frugal
Rite Aid Office Expert Tape $2.99
SALE: BOGO (Buy one get one free)
USE: $1/1 Rite Aid Tape (Video Values Coupon)
OOP: $1.99 for 2
SUBMIT: $3 SCR wyb 2 (rebate #129)
$1.00 Moneymaker!


Giving your coupons to the cashier in a certain order can also get you the best deals:
Moneysavingmom found this order to work best at Walgreens:
-Register Rewards first
-Then manufacturer's coupons
-Then store coupons

What to Take With You Shopping:  Organization is the key!

*Your Detailed shopping list – make note of the product, the original price (if known), the sale price, what coupons you will use for each items, and make note of any rebates you will need to send in for

*Your organized bundle of coupons- take a smaller envelope or file with the coupons that you have listed on your shopping list. (You might choose to take your whole coupon folder with you just in case there are unadvertised sales or clearance items that can be matched up with your coupons for amazing savings!)

*A clear head (leave the kids home if you’d like) Try your best to pay attention to how things are ringing up, making sure the sale prices are correct. Then at the end give the cashier your coupons (refer to order above) and pay attention again making sure you’re getting the savings you had planned for. If something isn’t ringing up correctly ask to talk to a manager or have the item voided off so you don’t have to return it later.

A few more tips:
*Couponing is a great way to get your food storage for hardly any money at all.
* Check if your stores double coupons - My Kroger doubles coupons with a value of 50 cents or less. Makes fro some grea sales when my 50 cent coupons are instantly doubled to a $1!
*Even when couponing stick to a budget. You're not going to save yourself any money if you over spend.
*Don't be brand loyal. Branch out and use products you can combine coupons and sales for to save yourself the most money even if it's not your favorite brand.
*If couponing seems too overwhelming for you just keep it simple by printing on line coupons for products you already use.
*Take breaks when you need to. Couponing can get tiring since you probably aren't just doing one stop shopping anymore. If you've couponed for a while and have a good stock pile of products take a break when it gets tiring. Just start up again when it's right for you.
*Don't try and get every deal. That will take way too much time and effort!
*Have fun saving money!

Well, I hope you're learned a little about the art of couponing. Tomorrow there will be 2 Giveaways to help you and inspire you in couponing and saving your family money! The Giveaways are sponsored by Fabulessly Frugal and one from me - The Family Scientista. Come back tomorrow to enter!

***Take a minute and check out Coupons.com for some of their great coupons they have right now. If you've never printed from there you will need to download the couponer printed as prompted. It's totally safe and I've never had an problems with it. I use it all the time.

You can also print the coupons twice. After the first one prints just hit your back button and print it again! This is per computer so if you have more than one computer at home you can print even more coupons!!***

Here are some of my favorite coupons you can print:
$3 off Huggies - 60 ct or higher!! Print and save for a later sale
$3 off 2 Right Guard Deodorant - can be used on some sales for a great deal - possibly free deodorant
$1 off Purell - great for the upcoming flu season and for school supply lists
$1 Yoplait Smoothies - so good and refreshing
There are tons more coupons you can choose and print - 177 to be exact!