As with many newlyweds, we saw our savings account take a huge dive with the exorbitant costs of a wedding these days. Now don’t get me wrong, it was worth every penny to have the perfect, fairytale wedding, but now we’re back to reality and even just a trip to the grocery store can be costly. I literally cannot get in and out without spending over $100 on each trip and when I get home wonder why I have such little groceries for that amount of money.
Coupons to me were at one time daunting. I had visions of coupons spilling out all over the aisle as I tried to figure out what coupons I had with me and what I should by. I also didn’t want to be that girl that held up the entire line of grumpy customers while the clerk had to check and scan all my coupons.
I’m sure many of you have seen the TLC show Extreme Couponing. This show takes clipping coupons to crazy levels. I don’t need 5 cases of Kraft Macaroni and Cheese and don’t have space to stock up on a year’s worth of toilet paper. So this type of show is a little over the top for me, but it has made me at least look into the value of coupons.
Couponing does not have to be that extreme. You can do little things to save money here and there. You will get more for your money and those savings can add up and go towards more important things in life!
Here are my tips for maximizing your coupon experience:
- Get the weekly paper. Clip ONLY the coupons of the products you use or know you would normally buy.
- Coupons can get messy and overwhelming if you leave them out on the table or desk. Keep them all together in an envelope until you are ready to use them.
- In addition to clipping coupons, check out your local store’s weekly circular. Make a list of things you want to buy that are on sale.
- Example: If pork tenderloins are buy one get one free, and you have room in your freezer, put that on your list!
- Tip: If something like Rice-A-Roni is listed as a 10/$10 sale, you do not necessarily have to buy a quantity of 10. Stock up on 4 of them and still get the discounted rate!
- When you get ready to go to store, don’t take all the coupons with you. Sort through and figure out what you want to buy in advance and take only those coupons with you.
- Match up what is on sale with what coupons you have. Try to do this as much as possible to get more than double the savings!
- For the coupons that you take with you, write what items you want/need to buy with those coupons on the outside of the envelope. For example if you need at least 4 cans of Campbells’ soup to get the sale, write that down! This eliminates pulling out the coupons while you are in the aisles.
- Check off the list on the envelope as you add the items to the cart. Then when you get to the checkout, you can pull the whole stack of coupons, hand it to the cashier and start ringing up your deals!
I have not yet gotten much into looking for coupons online yet, so if anyone has tips, please let me know! Happy couponing!
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