If
you’re a new to couponing, then I’m guessing you may feel a bit
overwhelmed! I still feel overwhelmed half the time and I’ve been couponing
for quite a while. When I started out I jumped in full force! I clipped every single coupon, went shopping all the time and had to snag every deal I seen. Well, I definitely learned my lesson because after a few months I
was tired and burnt out. The point I’m trying to make is that it’s alright to
NOT clip every coupon and NOT snag every deal. When you’re starting out it’s
best to take baby steps and slowly ease in to what will work best for you. Couponing is like learning to read a book.
It takes time and patience, but it’s well worth it in the end… and once you’re
a coupon pro, there is NO turning back!
Here are a few little tips I wish I had known when I first started
using coupons:
When
clipping coupons ask yourself these questions–Will my family use this product?
If we can snag it for free will we use it? Can we donate it? If you answered no
to all those questions, then don’t save the coupon.
Don’t
feel like you have to clip or save every single coupon. There are so many
coupons available, so to clip and save all the coupons you find would take way
too much time and definitely make you feel overwhelmed. & you will end up
having a huge pile of expired coupons on a monthly basis.
Think of coupons as cash, and you may be more motivated to use them.
It
can be a lot of work to clip and organize coupons, but if you think of them as
“free money”, you may have a different attitude towards investing a little bit
of time each week before shopping.
Stack those coupons!
Oftentimes
this is how I save the most money on my shopping trips. Retailers like Target,
RiteAid, CVS & Walgreens all have their own store coupons you can acquire
on their websites or in the store. You
can stack those with a manufacturer’s coupon for a like item and save even more
money!
Get a coupon organizer.
Some
people use envelopes, folders with labels and so on and so forth. You can create your own coupon organizer or
storage unit using the following materials:
1:
envelopes
2: an accordion file
3:
an index file box: you can make one out of a shoe box, a plastic tub
(with lid), or a recipe box.
4:
a zippered 3 ring binder where you can store the following items:
·
Small
pair of scissors for coupon clipping
·
Calculator
·
Pad
of paper (for grocery list making)
·
A
Price Book
·
Baseball
card inserts to hold your coupons
·
Coupon
sorting mat (you can make your own)
·
Pens
or pencils
Develop a couponing system.
Create your shopping list, then search for coupons online or in your Sunday paper or previous Sunday paper inserts (which is a very good idea to save for a few weeks), for those that match what you have in your list. File and store them in your coupon organizer by any of the following methods:
Create your shopping list, then search for coupons online or in your Sunday paper or previous Sunday paper inserts (which is a very good idea to save for a few weeks), for those that match what you have in your list. File and store them in your coupon organizer by any of the following methods:
1: expiration date
2: product type
3: alphabetically
Read coupons carefully.
There
may be several ways to use a coupon. See if you can make use of a coupon in the
best way possible, so read the descriptions or fine print carefully.
Buy the smallest size possible that the coupon will allow.
For
example, if you have a $1/1 Old Spice Body Wash coupon (with No size
restriction), buy the smallest size–which is usually the trial size. Why? Well,
the trial size bottles are only $1 at most stores, so FREE body wash after the
coupon! AND, if you have a few coupons, then you can STOCK UP! Free is FREE and regardless if the product
is smaller- it’s still FREE! If you have lots of coupons and buy enough of the
smaller items, then soon enough it will add up to the larger item… BUT you will
have paid a lot less! I always do this with travel/trial size products. As long
as the coupon doesn’t exclude travel size, then you can use the coupon.
Size matters.
Figure
out your best savings based on price per unit or size of the item you are
interested in buying. You may think that buying larger sizes of the same
product will be the better deal, but that is not always the case so you’ll need
to determine unit price and make comparisons across alternative products. Not
only that — some coupons only apply to those items available in smaller sizes,
so you’ll need to calculate your true savings with the coupon thrown in. For
example:
Without Coupon:
Diapers 28 count package: Price: $7.00 Cost per unit: $0.25
Diapers 56 count package: Price: $13.00 Cost per unit: $0.23
Diapers 28 count package: Price: $7.00 Cost per unit: $0.25
Diapers 56 count package: Price: $13.00 Cost per unit: $0.23
With Coupon:
Diapers 28 count package: Price: $7.00 – $1.50 coupon = $5.50 Cost per unit: $0.20
Diapers 28 count package: Price: $7.00 – $1.50 coupon = $5.50 Cost per unit: $0.20
Diapers
56 count package: Price: $13.00 – $1.50 coupon = $11.50 Cost per unit: $0.21
In
this example, the cost per unit for the smaller package is cheaper when a
coupon is used for it.
The
reason…
$1.50
when taken from $7.00 is about 21.5% off.
$1.50
when taken from $13.00 is only about 11.5% off.
So
how about matching high value coupons with the smaller-sized or less expensive
items? You may end up getting the item for free or close to free this way!
Pick up the best (and all) coupons from your Sunday paper.
Despite
online coupons that are available at various money-saving web sites, the best
coupons are still those offered in newspaper supplements. 82% of all coupons
are found in your Sunday inserts, which can carry several hundred coupons per
edition. Collect ALL available coupons and don’t just pick out the coupons you
think you’ll need, because:
1:
Its possible the coupon could be applied to a future deal, when an item goes on
sale at a later date.
2:
You may actually get an item for free with a coupon even if it isn’t on your shopping
list, which you can
find a use for or donate to charity.
Buy several copies of your Sunday paper, for the coupons!
You
can more than make up for the cost of the paper by collecting and using all the
coupons they provide for items you frequently purchase. You will start building up a nice
stash of coupons and that way when a good deal comes along you can stock up.
Dollar Tree sells the Sunday paper for only $1.00! Or you can also buy any extra coupons you need
online via www.ebay.com,
www.couponsthingsbydede.com,
etc.
Stockpile
Do NOT feel you have to use every single coupon you clip
right away. This is what the manufacturers want you to do. If you use a coupon
when a product is not on sale, then you’re usually not getting a good deal at
all. In fact, it’s most likely less expensive in this situation to buy the
store brand. When an item is on sale
and you have a coupon for it, then STOCK UP. Better yet, if you have several
copies, use lots of the same coupons to start stockpiling the items. Building
up a stockpile is the biggest key in my opinion to really seeing a HUGE
reduction in your grocery bill! The more you stock up, the less likely you’re
ever going to have to pay full retail price again. Once you build a
well-rounded stockpile you’ll really only need to spend money on produce, milk
and any other perishables.
Make use of available rebate checks and booklets.
If
grocery items have accompanying rebate offers, snag those checks and get some
money back.
Use online discount codes.
If
you shop online, then the electronic version of coupon clipping would be to go
surfing for online coupon or discount codes. www.retailmenot.com
is a good site to find online
coupon codes.
Check the product’s packaging and shelf location for coupons or offers.
If
your a careful and perceptive shopper, you should be able to easily spot deals
that may be advertised on product shelves and packaging.
Keep coupons with you.
Whether
it’s in your purse, bag or car, why not store them somewhere you can use on the
fly or as needed? You never know when the need will arise!
Digital
Coupons.
Most
grocery stores are providing digital coupons. At retailers like Kroger, you can
sign up for a Kroger Plus Card and load digital coupons onto it via Kroger’s
Website. Meijer has also recently come
out with Mperks. They are digital coupons as well, only there is no shoppers
card involved. They are linked with your own cell phone #. Go HERE
to learn more.
Use
those store coupons.
To
get the most for your money, sometimes you’ll need to break up your items into
several transactions. I personally like
to take advantage of the coupons certain stores like RiteAid & CVS provide.
Their coupons can vary in value from $4 off $20, $5 off $15, $5 off $25,
etc.
For
example:
If
your planning on spending $50.00 or more, separate your purchase into two
transactions of at least $25 each before tax and you can use one $5 off $25
coupon on each transaction, which in the end will give you $10 off your $50
purchase instead of $5!
You
can also register your email address online and these coupons will often get
sent directly to your email.
Double
up.
Like
I said previously, think of your coupons as Cash! Do your grocery shopping at
stores like Kroger and Meijer where they double your coupons up to a certain
amount. These stores will quite frequently do their $10 for $10 sales, so with
double coupons you can usually score some FREE or extremely cheap items!
Dollar
Deals.
Look
for cheap deals at Dollar General or Family Dollar. They accept Manufacturer
coupons as well.
Your
opinion counts!
Many
companies provide their contact information right on the package so customers
can provide comments on their products. Quite a few of my coupons come directly
from the companies just simply because I take a moment out of my day to either
call or email them my opinion on a product. I have gotten anywhere from $0.50
off coupons to FREE product coupons!
Always Remember:
Before
shopping, make sure you go and check out the web sites for the products on your
list to see if they may have any coupons available to print.
