Make coupons work for you!
I used to say, “Coupons don’t work, when I get to the store it is cheaper to not use them” and “what I buy is never on sale”. Almost every brand goes on sale at some point and there is a coupon for it. Let me change the way you think about shopping. You will see immediate savings but it will take at least a month or two to really start getting your favorite stuff for 50% or free. Products are like groceries and are seasonal. Thankful for you and me we don’t have to spend an enormous amount of time, thanks to the wonderful website resources that already do this for us.(Links below) But until you get the hang of it, you will have to commit some time. So let’s start saving.
The Sunday paper-
You must get the Sunday paper every week. (Skip buying on holiday weekends like Memorial Day weekend because there are no coupons in the paper on those weekends. I buy my paper on Saturday, here in our area, we have the Sunday early addition and it’s the same coupons as the normal Sunday paper.) I suggest when you start you buy two. Yes, buy two papers, that is two sets of the same coupons. I do know people who buy 6 a week but until you are ready for that kind of shopping, two will do.
Clip those coupons-
Clip, organize and save all the coupons. Yep even those ones you will think you will never use and will explain why later. Get you a binder or an accordion file and organize them. (I will add links on some of the best way to do this below)
What do you buy?
Make two lists, one with the top 12 meals you cook the most. And another for the top products you buy. Example, every month, I make spaghetti, tacos, burgers and have pizza at least once. So I am always looking for deals on spaghetti sauce, noodles, ground meat and pizza. Also every month I but toilet paper, paper towels, tissues. And I used to buy them twice a month before I started coupons. So you need to know what do you but the most so you know what deals are best for you.
Now you need to know lingo-
Being a military wife, acronyms rule my life, not to mention text message lingo. Well coupons have a lingo too and you need to know it. Here are the top ones. (A link to a full list is below)
BOGO- most widely known, buy one get one free
B2G1, B1G2- Buy 2 get 1 Free and Buy 1 get 2 free
SS- Smart Source
RP- Red Plum
P&G- Procter and Gamble
Pick where you shop-
We are military, so our top grocery store is the commissary. But I live right next to a Safeway and Shoppers. I also shop at Target and Wal-Mart. But we have a CVS, Rite Aid, Walgreens and Giant close to us. That’s a lot of stores. I don’t shop at them all. I tried going to all of them when I first started and quickly found out that it was too much to do. So you have to pick where you are going to shop. The deals at the other stores have to be really amazing for me to head that way at all now. I shop at the Safeway and Commissary. If you are military and have a commissary I will tell you down below in the Military wife heading how to save money there. I have also chosen Target and Wal-Mart as my two product stores. You are doing this because it’s easier to learn two stores policies than six.
Know the policy-
My Safeway doubles all coupons up to 99 cents. My Wal-Mart doesn’t double coupons ever. Go to the website of where you shop and print up that stores coupon policy, you will bring this when you when you shop. Trust me it will save you headaches and ensure you get your savings. I didn’t do this, but after having my coupon not honored, I will never again make this mistake of not having the policy with me. After awhile you will know your store and it’s normal prices better than the people that work there!
Make a charity box-
I promise you will need this. Dedicate a box that you will fill with items to give to charity.
Get your stuff ready before you go!
Make sure before you leave to go shopping you pull the coupons you are going to use and have them with the list you will be using. I have a second small organizer that I use that has Ziploc bags in it with the store name on it. I add my list with my coupons’ into the Ziploc that has its name on it. I pull the coupons as I go to ensure that the prices and deals match up to what I had planned. I also have in it a calculator, blank paper, pen and my store savings card.
How to use coupons basic use-
Remember I told you to clip all the coupons even the ones you don’t think you will use? Here are some examples of why you will do this.
Scenario one Grocery Store like Safeway- You store has baby food on sale for .97 a jar. (I personally no longer have babies in the house, so I would have thrown those coupons away, not anymore!) So baby food is on sale for .97 a jar, you have a coupon for .50 of one jar of baby food. Your store doubles coupons! So your coupon is worth 1.00! So for every jar of baby food you buy, you make .03! Well if you have store savings card, the jar of baby food is only.87 a jar. That’s .13 a jar you make when you buy it. Now the store is not going to give you .13 but and if you know your policy, the will give you an overage. So you have bought 2 jars of baby food (because you have two coupons)and made .26, which that .26 will go toward the rest of your order. (This is why more advanced shoppers buy 6 papers plus, if you have 6 coupons, you would make a total of. 78) And then you can give that baby food to charity or to a family member!
Scenario two Product store like Wal-Mart- If you are my Face Book friend, you have already seen me post photos and information about this one. Precise Tylenol patch was on Sale for $5.97, Lady products where on sale for $2.97(I got two a making it $5.94), Women’s Razors on sale for .97 (I got two, price 1.94), Bikini Razors where every day price of 1.97 (I got two, price 3.94) Degree travel size deodorant for .97, Ivory bar soap’s every day price was$.97(I got 2, price$1.94) and a toothbrush every day price was for $1.50, also speed stick deodorant was every day price $.98 (I got two, price $1.96).The total before coupons was $24.16.
I had the following coupons: $5 off Tylenol Patch, making it $.97, 2-$2.00 off coupons for lady products, making those $1.94 for two, 2-$1.00 off coupon for the razors, making those an earnings of .06, 2-$2.00 off coupons for the bikini razors, making those an earnings of .06, $1.00 for the degree deodorant, make that an earnings of .03, 2-$1.00 off ivory soap, make that an earnings of .06, $1.50 coupon for the toothbrush, making that free and I had a coupon to save $1.00 on two speed sticks, make that .96 for two. So I paid $3.66 for 13 products, I saved $20.50, which means I got $20.50 in free products.
Now I don’t use all those products, so I will give them to charity, but my over all savings and out of pocket pay, was cheaper than had I bought just the product I needed. Plus some of those coupons I have had for over a month and didn’t use them until this month. This is the way you save. If you use the coupons before the deal, it usually isn’t a deal at all.
How to use coupons by stacking-
Stacking is one you use a manufactures coupons with a store coupon.
Scenario - Coupon Stacking- Target
My Target has target coupons. They are coupons I can only use at Target. These are sometimes available in the paper, but you can print them from Targets’ website. Target had a sale on John Frieda hair dye, when you bought two you got a $5.00 target gift card. They also had printable coupons from their website for $5.00 off one hair John Frieda Hair dye, in the Sunday paper three weeks earlier there where coupons for $5 off John Frieda hair dye, so I had two of them. I printed two of the Target coupons. The hair dye was $11 a box. I got 2, so that’s $22.00, I used two Target coupons for $5 off each, making that $10 in coupons, now the price is $12 for two boxes, but I also used the two manufactures coupons for $5.00, making that another $10.00 off. Making the price now $2.00 for two boxes of hair dye. Well the deals is buy two boxes and get a $5.00 Target gift card. That means I made $3.00 at Target after the Gift Card.
Where do I find these great deals, without using a lot of time?
Luckily for you and me all we have to do is a few clicks and we can see where the savings are. These sites will show you where the deals are and the coupon to use with them. They also tell you from which Sunday paper the coupon was from or if it’s a printable coupon. But also remember that not all sales are in print! I take my binder and leave it in the car when I shop in case there is a major discount when I am shopping.
Military wife:
The commissary has a website that you can sign into and find the sale items at your commissary. I print this list and compare it with my Safeway, Wal-Mart and Target list. This way I ensure that I am getting the best deal. The Commissary does not double coupons, nor can you do stacking, but with the already low prices a coupon can make a big difference. In the front of the store when you walk in, you can commissary only coupons (remember no stacking). I have found that my laundry detergent is cheaper at the commissary than doubled coupons, but not everything. We only spend 1/8 of our grocery bill there now because after double coupons, it’ cheaper at Safeway. We used to spend on average $477, twice a month on groceries and personal items. Now I spend on average $200 and get on average $175 in free product.(In the coming months it will be cheaper than that because I am stock pilling and will only need to replace items.) Which is still less than I was spending. The prices there are not public prices and are for us only. So don’t post any deals you get from there. That’s also why I never post any deals from there, we are not allowed to. But remember it’s not always the cheapest. And there are better deals. So don’t over depend that the commissary is cheaper, because it’s not. http://www.commissaries.com
So now you are ready. I would suggest that you browse through the sites below to really help you get going! Remember it will take you a month or two of buying before you really start saving, this is because you don’t have the coupons from a month ago to use on the current deals. But if you keep them and wait for the deals you will be saving and stock piling products in no time. But it really does take a month of coupons to really start seeing the savings. After awhile, one year cycle, you should be getting most of products for free or next to nothing. No go learn more by checking out the links below! And good luck!
Sites that do the work for you:
http://www.couponmom.com/ - great website, sign up (it’s free) and then go to groceries by deals by state. You can find your grocery store, Wal-Mart and so on. Be sure to click “Extreme Drugstore Deals list for all national stores” for prices that are 50%-90% off!
http://thekrazycouponlady.com/ - another great website where she tells you the deals you can get.
Coupon Lingo:
The Krazy coupon lady has a great site for beginners, everything you need to know and how to make binders, use coupons and the lingo.
List of what is in season:
Where to get more coupons, printable:
Organize your coupons’:
http://thekrazycouponlady.com/beginners/ see day 5
