I have been couponing all my life - not like the crazy people on extreme couponing, but my mom always clipped coupons as a kid and I always helped her. (I think the super organized anal kid in me was really developed during these times). I used to like matching up the things on sale with the coupon. As I got older, it became more of a reality for me to coupon b/c that's all i really knew.
NOW, as a married woman with a family of 3, I'm starting to really fine tune my "couponing skills" by doing my best to ensure that the deal i'm getting really IS the best deal. Here are some things I've learned in the past month:
1. there are LOT of bloggers that coupon and a lot of them do coupon previews the week before the coupons actually come out! This helps you because you can see what types of coupons will be coming even before they come out. If you are not a weekly sunday paper subscriber, this is another great way for you to access coupons without purchasing them.
2. The preview + the weekly ads that come out (grocery circulars run from Wednesday - Tuesday and the drug stores run from Sunday - Saturday) = the BEST SAVINGS when matched with these bloggers' coupon databases. These men and women are VERY diligent and what's great is that they do all the work for you! All the deals I'm posting i'm copying from their websites and just reposting.
3. If you don't want to do your own matchups, you don't have to! Some websites, most actually, do a bunch of matchups for you and at all the different types of stores, ranging from target to ralphs.
That's about where I am right now with the couponing thing. Of course you must consider the lingo and all the other nuiances, however... for now, I'm happy with just "cheating" and being thankful for their hard work! After my May 2011 budget calculations come in, I will have a better idea of how deep i want to go with the coupon thing. Until then, I'm happily clipping my circular coupons and my online coupons.
1. I get the sunday paper that comes, at most with 4 coupon books, and at the very least, none. I get 2 papers, mainly b/c I got the LA Times for a RIDICULOUSLY cheap price... $9.88 for an entire year of SUNDAY ONLY!
2. Online coupons are legitimate and totally worth you looking into for the things that don't always come every week. The greatest thing about online coupons is that you can print up to 2 of the same ones PER IP address. In other words, if you have a desktop, and 2 laptops in the house, you can print up to 6 of the same item coupons. That's a little MUCH, but you get what i'm saying. here are some helpful sites:
- coupons.com
- SWAG BUCKS - REFER ME and we both benefit! http://www.swagbucks.com/refer/mbdykim
they have coupons on their site and if you print them out after you sign up - you get swagbucks for each coupon redeemed! - PROBABLY YOUR BEST BET, kill 2 birds with 1 stone! - I recently redeemed swagbucks for a $5 amazon.com gift card.
- Remember, all you need to do is sign up and use swag bucks as a search engine. you get, on average 10 points, just for searching on the web! I signed up about a month ago and I already have enough to cash in. There are other prizes and ways to get the most swagbucks you can!
3. Get someone to help you clip. My husband is graciously clipping all my online coupons for me. :)
4. START SMALL. I had a TINY accordian file i was using for the longest time. I upgraded to a bigger accordian file b/c they were on sale at target for $1. had that for 3 years and then recently upgraded to the folder, but not the CRAZY folder, just a regular 1 inch folder. bought the baseball card inserts for $6.88 or something for 25 and just got going.
If you are one of my friends that wants to get started, but isn't sure how, leave me a message and I'd love to help you out. We can schedule a time for you to come over to my place (you don't want to do this in public - too much hassle with all the paper flying everywhere!) and we can work something out.
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