I used to spend around $400 a
month on groceries and another $200 a month on household products (toiletries,
diapers, laundry detergent, etc.) Since
I began couponing I spend $300 a month on both groceries and household items
together and some months I only spend $200 for our family of 5.
Four years ago a group of my
friends at church started couponing and telling me how much money they were
saving on groceries. I was excited to
get involved and give it a go. I had
used “a” coupon before but nothing like what I was about to do. So I went out purchased a “coupon binder”
bought 4 copies of the local Sunday newspaper at the Dollar Store and was ready
to save my family some money!
Well very soon into couponing I
realized this was crazy! I spent my
entire Sunday afternoon clipping coupons to organize by category in my “coupon
binder”. Then in between dropping kids
to school, going to work, and everything else we moms do I was constantly on
the internet looking for coupon deals and making quite a few trips to the local
drugstores and grocery stores to snatch up the best deal. This was not working for my family or my
sanity.
Instead of quitting, I modified it
to work for me. I looked for tips online
to make this easier; I got ideas from friends and found out what was working
for them.
The “coupon binder” method is
great because you can take your binder with you every time you go to the store, and if something is on clearance or on sale that wasn’t in the ad or the online coupon blog, you have your coupons with you and you can snatch up some really
great deals, but it’s time-consuming.
 |
| My coupon file crate. |
Here are some tips if you are just
beginning to coupon or like me desire to coupon but not be an “extreme
couponer”. I file my coupons in a file
crate by date. You don’t even have to look through your
coupons each Sunday, just purchase them and file them away. Then let someone else do the work for
you. I follow or as my husband says “stalk”
PantryOverflow.com. You then go pull that week’s coupons clip the
ones you need and you’re done, go shop and save some money, sometimes lots of
money.
Another great idea (and I do
quite often) is go through the coupons on Sunday when you purchase them, clip ONLY the ones you know you will
use, and put them in a mini purse size organizer, so you have those with you
whenever you shop. I frequently keep the
coupons for my kids’ favorite cereal, kids’ drinks and snacks with me but the
other coupons I don’t clip until I hear of a deal for those items. If you have the time to go through the local
grocery ads and match coupons to what’s
on sale then do that, I don’t want to invest that much time in this couponing
lifestyle.
With coupons you can purchase
name brand cereal for .25 cents a box, you can get high quality name brand
makeup and hair products for super cheap and even FREE, and you can ALWAYS get
toothpaste for FREE. I tell people even
if you coupon just for cereal and kids snack foods for school lunches you will
save a bundle and it is well worth it.
So head on over to PantryOverflow.com
and get started today. Don’t feel guilty for getting items for free or at crazy
low prices enjoy the savings. If you
don’t want to have a stockpile of items donate them to a local food bank or
share your extras with family and friends.
My Keys to couponing:
- Purchase your coupons every Sunday.
- If you miss a week and a few weeks later there is a sale but you need the coupon from the week you missed you might regret it.
- File your coupons by date.
- Download Ibotta a digital form of coupons on your phone.
- Download the Coupons.com App.
- Follow coupon sites to find the deals.
- I use PantryOverflow.com and TheKrazyCouponLady.com
- Don’t run out for every deal, it will come around again, coupon deals come in cycles.
- Consider the gas you spend, the time you spend and cost of coupons, if you don’t watch it, couponing can end up costing you more money then you planned.
- A big key is if you currently spend $400 on groceries each month, continue to use that $400 for your couponing then whatever is left over at the end of the month, use the extra money to apply towards debt, or to save for a family vacation. Because many times, if you don’t do that, the money you used to spend just gets absorbed or spent other ways and you don’t really see the difference.
- Only buy what you use! Don’t get caught up in “but it’s free” and then the item sits in your garage or you are trying to give it away to everyone you know.
- Choose one drugstore and one grocery store to start with and watch the savings add up. Then as you get a handle on couponing you can add to that or pick your favorites. (Mine are Target, Safeway & CVS).
- Purchase 1 copy of the Sunday newspaper for each member of your family. I started with 4 to begin with, but now subscribe for 6 copies, delivered right to my door each Sunday.
- Use your coupons and savings to bless others.
- When you get a great deal on something share with family members or neighbors who maybe out of work or going through a tough financial time. Send some of the fancy hair products you purchased for pennies to your friends or family in a care package.
- You can get great deals on kids’ toys and games that you can use for Toys for Tots and other organizations to help make a difference!
Thanks for reading! Want to try Ibotta a digital way to save, coupons right on your phone, no clipping or cutting download here https://ibotta.onelink.me/iUfE
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