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Couponing Made Easy

by Holly Syx

Do you like to get products for free or really cheap?  I sure do.  That’s why I use coupons.  Coupons are like cash.  You can use them at the store to get that grocery total WAAAY down.  There is a little strategy involved, but it’s really easy.

Maybe you’ve seen someone in the store, on the internet or the television buying huge amounts of groceries for pennies on the dollar.  You can do it too! Let me show you how easy it is.

Here are 5 steps to easy couponing:

1. Change Your Mindset: Many people are like I used to be in thinking that coupons are just not worth the hassle.  Who wants to clip all those coupons just to save a measly few dollars? Not me!  To save big with coupons you must change your grocery shopping mindset.

Don’t just see what you’re out of & put it on the list.  Stock up when items are dirt cheap or free so you don’t ever run out.  If you’re out of something & must buy it just get the smallest & cheapest, and wait for the next deal to stock up again.  Don’t worry, It will go on sale!!

2.Get your Coupons: If you’re going to start using coupons then you’ll have to gather up some coupons. Where can you get them?

  • The largest source of coupons is the weekly Sunday newspaper.  There are typically hundreds of dollars worth of coupons inside.  I recommend getting at least 2 per week.
  • Get them in the store.  Look around when you go in the grocery store & purposefully try to find coupons.   There are blinkie machines(the little machine that spits out coupons).  There are tearpads and peelies stuck to the product.
  • Order them.  If you see something that’s going to be free or really cheap and you want to stock up you can almost always go online & order what you need.  There are several sites to help with that like Ebay, The Coupon Clippers, and Coupons & Things by Dede.

3.Get Organized: There are so many different ways to organize your coupons.  Some people use coupon binders with slip in baseball holder type inserts, some use envelopes, and other ways.

Here’s what I do:  I get 10 sets of the inserts each week.    I do not clip them.  I have a file box I use, and when a new week comes along I file them under the date.  I only clip then as I need to use them. You’ll also need a coupon organizer of some sort to keep up with all the other non-insert coupons.

4.Get your list together

Get the sales ad for your local grocery store, and look through it making notice of the items that you are interested in. Especially look for items that are buy 1, get 1 free (BOGO), or 10 for $1.00 or 2 for $3.00, etc. Now look through your coupons to see if you have any that match the sales. Chances are that you do.

Don’t want to do all that?  Don’t worry, I do it for you over at Saving For Eight at al.com. Just head over there & click on the store category that you want to shop.  You’ll find a list of all the hot sale items that week plus coupon matches.

A Full Cup has a great coupon database.  You can use it to find out where the coupon you need is located.  Just enter the product name in, hit search and there it is!

5.Go shopping

When you’re matching coupons to the sales make sure you note the coupon policy of the store. If they double & to what amount, do price matching, or take competitor’s coupons.

Let me give you an example, One week at Publix their Mott’s Juice was on sale Buy one Get one free with a regular price of 2.59.
That was 2 Juice bottles for $2.59.
I had 2 coupons for “Save $1.00 when you buy 1 Mott’s Juice”.
I purchased 2 bottles, used both coupons and got $1.00 off of each bottle making the price for 2 64 oz bottles of juice only $.59. That’s 30 cents each!!

“But I just don’t have time to do all that work just to save a few bucks…..”

Trust Me…It’s a lot more than just a few bucks. Here are some numbers from previous trips to the Grocery store: One week I got $425.00 worth of groceries for $113.00. another week my total was $43.50 for $237.00 worth of items. The previous week I spent $36.93 on $145.00 worth. And I have all the receipts to show for it. They all included bread, milk, produce, etc…So you see it is WELL worth it!!

Got Questions?  Just ask..I’m here to help.  You can find me over at Saving For Eight on AL.com, on Facebook, or shoot me a message on Twitter.  You can also email me at Savingforeight@live.com

I will also be teaching couponing workshops starting this month in the Birmingham/Jefferson areas.  Register now for the Coupons Made Easy Workshop and see how truly easy it is to save lots of $$$ on Groceries.

2 thoughts on “Couponing Made Easy

  1. Holly-
    Great tips! Thanks for sharing…
    I find myself on coupon kicks…where I will do really well for a while, but then fall off the wagon! 🙂
    You have inspired me to jump back on!
    Thank you!

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