Coupon Extravaganza

Couponing is for everyone! Anyone and everyone should use coupons! Why wouldn't you? Why would you want to pay full price if you didn't have to? If you could get deals for things that you need everyday? I am so glad that I finally decided to get involved with couponing. It is something I have wanted to do for a while I just kept putting it off. I kept telling myself "No I don't have time," or "Well I have to go to the store now so what is the point?" or "Why bother the stores usually have the things I need on sale!" Boy was I just lying to myself and depriving myself of the awesomeness of saving money! Plus with all the money I do save I can spend it on the fun things...like make-up or new cookware! (Yeah, I like cooking way too much! :P)

Taking the hour out of one week to sit down and go through the coupons online is definitely worth the effort. Also, getting up early to get a Sunday newspaper to get all the store coupons is, also, completely worth the effort. If the corporations didn't want us to use the coupons they wouldn't print them. We are just kidding ourselves if we don't take the time to go and cut those coupons. We are just letting money and trees go to waste cause those coupons are getting printed whether we get them or not (well at least the ones in the papers are).

I won't lie and say that couponing is easy and only takes an hour a day out of the week cause that is far from true. It takes at least one hour, one day to go through the coupons online. Followed by at least thirty minutes of going through the Sunday newspaper. As well as at least an hour to hour and a half of going through the coupons to decide what you need at the store and what you have a coupon for. It is definitely a time consuming hobby but it is a well worth it!

Below is a list of step-by-step instructions on how to maximize your couponing as well as some links to different coupon sites I use. I would just like to say this method has worked well for me for a couple of months. I hardly ever throw away coupons because I forgot to use them or because I didn't really want that item. Sometimes the temptations of the savings make us want to buy the item (which is exactly why the company makes the coupon) but you must resist that urge! So hopefully this will help get a new couponer started today!

Well here are the steps that I follow:

1. Pick a day to look for coupons on-line. Pick one day to sit down and take an hour or so to go through all the websites and deals you get through your e-mail. It takes some time to go through all the sites so make sure you have that time. Late at night or early in the morning works best for me.
   
2. Take every Sunday to get up early at get a paper. This is a must! Most of the store coupons will be in the Sunday paper and you can couple store coupons with the manufactures coupons that you print from online. For example: one coupon for $1 off cereal from manufacture coupled with a store coupon for same cereal for another $1 will work together to give you $2 off that particular item. Also, this is a good time to hit the local stores and grab a flier from each of them. Some stores print their own coupons and if you shop at Publix they take all competitors coupons! Saves you a trip to each different store but you still get the same deal!
3. Have some sort of filing and organizing system. I know some women use large bidders with clear sheets and are super organized but I didn't have that stuff lying around the house and I was trying to avoid another excuse to not start couponing so here is how I do it: I use mail envelops. One month per each envelop based on the expiration date. For example, if the coupon expires October 31 I put it in the envelop for October and on the front of the envelop I write 10/31 so that I know that is a specific date of a coupon that expires. Or if there is one that is November 17 I put it in the November envelope and write on the front 11/17 so that I know that there is a coupon that expires then. I do that for every different date in that month. Once the envelop is done, such as the October one, then I begin a new month there for new coupons. I just recently began to get coupons that go to January 2010 so I turned my October envelop into a January envelop. Save envelops.  Note: I write the dates in the upper right corner and small so that I have this huge envelop to re-use and re-use.  I, also, use the long check envelops just fyi.
   
4. The night before you go shopping make a list for everything and then sort. This is where it gets a little tedious and where it would probably be best if you had a notebook to just simply flip through. If you are like me and you don't have a notebook then be prepared to take some time to go through them all. First start with writing a list of everything you need to buy at the store. My family has an 86 board and if you have worked in restaurants you know that means we are out of something on the board. I just have a write-on-whip off board on the fridge and when we use something up we write what it is on the board so that I know that is something I need to get at the store. Reduces the time of me going through the cabinets and pantry to figure out what we are missing. I, also, try to figure out a general idea of what I plan on cooking so I can make sure that we have those ingredients. Nothing is more frustrating than going to the store coming home and realizing "Great I was going to make homemade Mac and Cheese but I have no noodles!". So check and double check. Once you have gotten the list written down sit down and go through the coupons that will expire first. You don't want to loose one to its expiration date. Never fun. Try and match the coupons to what you need and anything you might have forgotten. Write all the coupons down in a separate list! This is important so you can see what you need and where you are going to save money. Cause sometimes something that is going to expire soon isn't something you really need (See Helpful Tips for the Beginning Couponer). Once you have the two list then you combine them to make your master list and I suggest putting a little (c) symbol next to the items with coupons so you don't forget!
   

And that is it! Or at least for the Week and time needed to spend on couponing! About three days (unless you combine the online and Sunday paper) and about 2 to 3 hours of work!