Maybe the first real question is "Why Coupon?" When I first contemplated couponing, hours of clipping and savings of only 25 cents filled my imagination. Why would I want to spend time cutting coupons and matching store fliers to save a few dollars here and there?
Why? Because it's not that much work and it saves a whole lot more than a few dollars!
1. Use Coupons WITH Sales
Crest toothpaste is usually around $2.50 for a large tube. If you use a .75 cent coupon on that, you pay $1.75. But, if you buy the toothpaste when it is on sale for $1.00 and use your coupon, you pay .25 cents!
I used to buy non-brand pull-ups at Walmart for around $13.50 a package because name-brand pull-ups were over $15. Every once in a while, I'd use a coupon and get the name brand for the same price as the non-brand. Since I've started couponing, I haven't paid more than $7.00 for a large package of Huggies Pull-Ups. Several stores have had them on sale for $9.00; coupled with a $2.00 coupon, it makes for cheap diapers.
Because of the internet, matching coupons with sales is extremely easy. Grocerysmarts.com is my favorite. To access Utah stores, the passcode is g84rcm. It then lists the sales, by store, for that week. Anything with red stars is a good deal; the more stars the better. The magical thing about this site is it lets you know what is a good deal, and then it tells you which coupons to use and where to find them. You can make your grocery list right there, print it out, and you're ready to go save some money.
2. Buy in Bulk
Getting Crest toothpaste for a quarter is a sweet deal. But what happens when you run out next month and it's not on sale again? If you have four coupons, you buy four tubes for a dollar, and that should hold you over until you can find toothpaste on sale again. Same goes for shampoo, fruit snacks, make-up, spaghetti sauce, etc. You start creating stockpiles of items you use often, and only buy them at sale prices. This puts you in control of how much you want to spend.
3. Buy Multiple Newspapers
There are ways to get printable coupons on-line and you can certainly start seeing savings without newspaper inserts. But getting multiple Sunday papers, in my opinion, is where the real savings lie. It's usually a good idea to get a newspaper for every person in your household. I recently told someone I get five Sunday papers and he said, "Oh, you're one of those people!" Yes, I am. I'm the one buying 10 cans of tomato soup because they're on sale and I have 5 coupons (of buy 2) and getting them for .35 cents a can.
If you're worried about the cost of subscribing, try getting creative. Ask neighbors for their old papers; find day old papers on discount. But remember, my savings on the first grocery outing easily pays for my subscription cost, and then some.
4. Price Match
Wallmart is great at price matching. They'll match non-brand items with their brand (ie.:Kroger with Great Value). They won't match buy-one-get-
5. Stack Coupons
The main type of coupon is a manufacturer's coupon (MFR). You can't stack (or double) manufactures coupons--meaning you can't use two manufactures coupons on one item, even if they're different coupons (one for .50 cents off and one for .30 cents off). But you can stack store coupons or general coupons with manufacturers coupons.
For example, Kellog's sends out coupons for their cereal and other products. But Target also has their own store coupons. So you can take a manufacturer's coupon for $1.00 off two packages of Pop Tarts, and stack it with a Target coupon for .50 cents off one package of Pop Tarts. You wait until Pop Tarts go on sale for $1.50. So you end up getting two boxes of Pop Tarts for .50 cents each.
Another example: Yoplait yogurt is on sale for 10 for $4.00 (.40 cents each). You have two Yoplait coupons for .50 cents off six and two printable coupons for .75 cents off any 4 yogurt. You end up buying 12 Yoplait yogurts for $2.30 (.19 cents each).
A Learning Curve
Whenever you learn something new, there is a learning curve. I found couponing had it's own curve, but it's manageable and even a little fun. There's something exciting about hunting for the best deal and trying to get the lowest price possible for an item. But it takes more time in the beginning than what you're used to doing right now. Just keep with it, post your questions, share your success, and get ready to save.
Ready to learn more? Come along for additional coupon tips.
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