How To Use Those Coupons

I'm back! We've been moved in for about a week or so now, but I've been busy, busy unpacking. I'm trying to get my sewing room unpacked and put back together and then I'll be hitting it with new pattern designs and handmades too, but in the meantime here is the last part of the couponing info for you all. Thank you to everyone who comes and visits and reads. I appreciate it!

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How to Use Those Coupons

Ok, now that we have our coupons and they are all neatly organized into our coupon binders how do we best use them.

A coupon is good on average for about 6 weeks before it expires. The key is to save the coupon until the item comes on sale at the grocery store. Sale items have a cycle of approx every 4 weeks to every 12 weeks, so most likely sometime in the lifetime of your coupon it’s item will be on sale and that is the time to use it.

For instance I bought Ritz crackers for .99--the big box--not a little bitty box. They were regularly priced at 3.99 a box. On sale for 1.99 a box and my coupon was $2 off of 2 boxes, so that made them .99 each for a savings of 6.00!

Watch your grocery ads for in-store coupons and then use your manufacturer’s coupon along with the in-store coupon to save even more and yes the majority of stores do allow this. What they don’t allow is using 2 manufacturer’s coupons on the same item.

Combining your coupons with sales and or in-store coupons is called layering your coupons and that is how you will get the optimal amount of savings from them.

If you have a store in your area that does double or even triple coupons then you have a gold mine!

Watch your grocery ads and plan your menus around what is on sale and stock up on what is on sale. It does take a bit of doing in the beginning to get that stockpile going and you will most likely even spend a bit more, but it will eventually get to the point where you’ll have your own well stocked pantry to pull from.

Watch your grocery stores ads and find out if they come out on Sunday or Wednesday and make sure to buy the paper for that day.

Did you know that not all sale items are posted in the sale ads. This was news to me too. They simply do not have enough room to list everything, so this is where a Price Tracking Website comes in handy.

There are 2 that I like…..

Pinching Your Pennies and Coupon Mom

On both of these you can find your state and then a list of stores in your area. The website will have a full listing of the current grocery sales and it will show you if there is a coupon available--they also have a link for each item that will take you to an online coupon if there is one available--and it will break down your savings. This is a great tool to help you organize your shopping trip.

A few extra tips……

Look in the meat department for reduced priced meats. There is nothing wrong with these meats they are just at or near their last date to sell and they must be moved, so stores will discount them anywhere from a few dollars to 50% off. Take them home and freeze them and enjoy the savings.

Drop Shopping---Drop shopping is when someone has a coupon they don’t need and they leave it next to the item it belongs too. This is a good way to find a coupon you might use and it’s a good way to get rid of the coupons that you won’t be using.

Outdated coupons--Did you know that military bases and food banks can use coupons up to 6 months after they expire. First contact the military base or food bank of your choice to make sure that they participate in this and see what their requirements are. It’s a great way to dispose of your expired coupons and help others out at the same time.

Coupon Train--A Coupon Train is a group of people that exchange coupons with each other usually via snail mail. The basic rules are that once you have your group--you decide the size that you would like it to be--there is a Conductor and the Conductor starts the train by mailing a mass of clipped coupons--not expired to the first person on the list. Person #1 goes through the coupons and removes what she wants and then replaces at least the number of coupons that she took--adding more is even better and highly suggested. Then she mails the envelope full of coupons onto the next person and so forth and finally the Caboose will mail back to the Conductor who then pulls her coupons of choice and then everyone repeats the process over and over again. Also each person is responsible for checking for expired coupons and pulling those out of circulation. These groups can be done locally or cross country.

I hope everyone has enjoyed this as much as I have and has learned as much as well. I know I’ve learned a lot and I’m still learning, so make sure to Google for even more coupon sites and info and Happy Savings!

Coupons-Where to Find Them & What to do With Them

Where to find coupons

The best place to find coupons is still the Sunday paper. If you like the coupons in the Sunday paper make sure to either buy more Sunday papers—1 for each member of the family is suggested or ask family & friends for theirs if they don't use them or on Monday morning you can go to stores that sell newspapers and ask for their extras. There is a portion of the paper they have to return for credit, but the coupons are not in that portion. Note—you may not want extras of each weeks Sunday coupons, so make sure to check them out first.

Not all Sunday papers carry the same inserts, so if you have access to more than one Sunday paper check them all out.

There are several online sites where you can print coupons and they change on a regular basis. A few you might try are .....

Pinching Your Pennies

Coupons.com

Shop At Home.com

There are many, many of these sites out there so find the sites you like the best and use them. Make sure to sign up for their email alerts too.

NOTE—Not all grocery stores will accept computer generated coupons, so make sure to check the stores in your area first.

Go directly to the manufactures websites and check for their promotions. Watch to sign up for coupon booklets they will gladly send them to you for free!

Watch and search the web for more free coupon booklets.

Catalinas—these are coupons that are printed on the back of your cash register receipt. You never know what good deal you might find.

Blinkies—these are the coupons you see in the little plastic holders hanging off the shelves with the little blinking lights. You know the ones the kids love to keep pulling the coupons out of!

Coupon Trains—start or join a coupon train—more on this later.

Couponing Blogs—There are tons of couponing blogs out there. Find a few that you like and follow them. Two of my favorites are...

Deal Seeking Mom

Being Frugal is Fabulous

Again there are tons of these blogs out there, so search them out and find your favorites.

Organizing!

Now that you have all of these coupons clipped and in a huge pile what do you do with them? You organize them!

There are several different ways to organize your coupons and the easiest way I have found is by creating a Coupon Binder. I used this tutorial by Home of 5 and made myself a coupon binder. I couldn't find the same size sheets that she used, so I used the 4 X 6 and it works great.

I have also seen at least 3 other shoppers recently using these coupon binders and they were using baseball card sheets. I just preferred the bigger slots, so it's really up to you and what you like.

They say to save all of your coupons even if you think you won't use them, because you might find a deal that is just too good. What I do is I save the ones I'm not likely to use—not that I wouldn't mind using the item, it's just that I'm not likely going to spend the money on it—but I have found good enough deals that it was worth it. Of course there are those items you just will not use no matter what—pass those coupons on.

After you've made your coupon binder you might want to make a “Price Book”. I have not done this as of yet and I'm not sure if I will, but here are a couple of sites to explain what a Price Book is and a template to get you started.

What is a Price Book and How to make one

Printable Price Book Sheets

Next up....how to put these coupons to use....

How To Start Couponing & Really Saving Money

I thought I'd brake this down, so it's not so long of a post. I'll try and post for the next couple of days to share what I've learned on how to coupon the most effectively.

How to start couponing and really saving money.

First you'll need to shop the ads and plan your purchases around what's on sale. Remember though—it's not a bargain if it's not something that you will use, so only buy the sale items that you will realistically use.

This does take some time, but the savings is worth the effort and after all as the wife and mother isn't this part of what we do. It's our job and if you'd like you could use the savings as your paycheck!

Instead of using a coupon on an item just because you have the coupon wait for the item to come on sale and then use the coupon for an even bigger savings and if you're lucky enough to be in an area where the grocery stores will double or triple your coupons then you've won the lottery!

Coupons on average are good for about 6 weeks. Items in the sale flyers on average have a sale cycle of about every 4 weeks, so your coupon should have it's optimum useage during it's lifetime. Just wait and watch.

By shopping the sales you will create a stockpile. Stockpiling is the key to really saving money. Buy items when they are at their lowest price, don't wait until you need them. By doing this you can save on average 50 to 70% on your grocery bill.

Those that save a lot don’t use a single coupon--they get multiples of that coupon and by multiples.

In the beginning stockpiling may actually cost you a bit more until you get your stock pile built up, but after that you can end up spending significantly less.

Yes, you will have to shop more than one store and no Wal-Mart is not always the cheapest. So you'll have to get accustomed to no store loyalty and no brand loyalty. However always double check these savings against the store brands and generic brands, because they may still be cheaper.

Make sure to get store discount/rewards cards. You can keep them on your keyring and they'll be easier to find and access. Many stores require that you have a store card in order to get their advertised savings. Not only that, but some stores will even download savings from their website to your store card and when they scan your card your stored savings will be deducted at the checkout.

Next up—Coupons—where to find them and what to do with them........

I Love Saving Money!

Guess how much I spent?

First I have to tell you I have just learned the secret to coupon shopping and how to really get a savings using coupons and sales. I was asked to give a short mini class on this subject for our Relief Society (women's church group), but first I had to learn it myself, so I set off on the world wide web and started learning and boy did I learn a lot! And now I'm so excited!

I gave my class last night and so yesterday afternoon I thought hmmm...I think I'll give this a try. The husband went with me and he was impressed too! And I'd say he actually enjoyed it although I'm sure he won't admit to it. ;)

So did you guess? What was your guess? Ok, I'll tell you.....

The total value of these products is 137.00.

I spent.....drum roll please..... 47.00!

For a grand total savings of 90.00! Can you believe it!

In a nut shell what I did was I bought items that were on sale and then combined coupons with them. The non-food items I purchased at K-Mart on a double coupon day.

Here's a few examples of my savings......

The Chex cereal was originally 2.50 on sale for 1.50 if you bought 4. I combined that sale with a coupon for 3.00 off of 3 boxes, which made each box..... .75 cents!!

The Ritz crackers was originally 3.99 a box (you've got to be kidding!). On sale for 1.99 each coupled with a coupon for 2.00 off of 2, which made each box..... .99 cents!

The Cottonelle tissue was originally .99, on sale with an in store coupon of .79 coupled with a .50 off on 2 made them .54 cents each!

The Colgate toothpaste was 3.99 on sale for 1.99 with an in store mfg's. 1.00 off coupon for a total of .99 cents!

The 2 spray cans of Lysol originally 5.29 each. On sale at 2 for 10.00 coupled with my 2.00 off coupon (which I had 2 of--so 1 per can) and they were doubled, so it was the same as 2- 4.00 coupons (8.00off), for a grand total of 2.00 or 1.00 each!!

The 2 bottles of Cascade rinse agent originally 3.79 each, not on sale, but with the coupon (2 actually) they were freeeeeeee!!

Anyway that's just an idea of what some of the deals were. I can't wait to do it again and again and again! If anyone's interested I'll see about posting the tips and tricks that I learned sometime this coming week, but in the meantime I'll be off coupon clipping and searching the sale ads.......................