Coupon Newbie?
Couponing can seem extremely overwhelming, but with a bit of time and knowledge you can instantly cut your grocery bills in half! This site will give you various ways to live a frugal lifestyle including online sales, freebies, couponing, and any other deals that I come across. I am by no means a coupon expert, and my ways may not work for you, but I have taught myself many tips and tricks to save myself a lot of money.The key to saving yourself money is to stock-up on items when they are on sale for rock bottom prices. You want to do this so that you never have to pay full price. When you see those products on sale you add your coupons to the item to double your savings. Here are some basics tips to become a strategic shopper:1. Get a newspaper. It is not necessary to get a newspaper subscription, but buy a Sunday newspaper that has coupon inserts. Manufacturer coupons come in the Smart Source, Red Plum and the P&G inserts. Smart Source and Red Plum are weekly, and the P&G is only once a month. I normally buy at least two of each of my local papers so that I have enough of one coupon when a particular item goes on sale.2. Get a printer. There are tons of printable coupons via the internet that you cannot get elsewhere. I post many printable coupons each week that are different from the inserts you receive from the newspapers.Other Coupon Sources:
Coupon Clipping Services
All You Magazine
Free Samples
In-Store Coupons
3. Get organized. There are many ways of organizing your coupons. Most people create a huge binder of all of their clipped coupons. Personally, I do not have the time to clip every coupon. I simply write the date on the front of each insert that I receive from the paper and file it into an expandable file. I have a folder for each month that I will then file the inserts into. I will then only clip the coupons when I am going to use them. This way I can keep all my coupons organized while still being able to quickly sift through them when I am making my shopping list.4. Get creative. Learn your store’s coupon policy to maximize your savings. Here are a couple of pointers to consider when making your store list:
Use two coupons when you see Buy One Get One Free deals
Don’t use your coupons until the item is on sale
You would be wasting the coupon if you purchased it at full price and not when it was on sale.
Example 1:
Toothpaste price $3.00
You have a coupon for $.55 (doubles to $1.10)
Final price $1.90
Example 2
Toothpaste on sale for $2.00
You have a coupon for $.55 (doubles to $1.10)
Final price $.90
See how important it is to stock-up instead of purchasing the item when you need it! You could get 2 tubes of toothpaste for the price of 1 at regular price with your coupon!
Stack manufacturer coupons with store coupons (See Stacking Coupons)
Utilize the stores’ rewards program to combine your coupons
5. Start checking your stores’ weekly ads. You will be able to spot when an item goes on sale at the stores in your area. I mainly post store match-ups for Giant Eagle, Walmart, Target, Walgreens and CVS. The match-ups that I post will tell you exactly where to find the particular coupon you need to get the deal. To read more about understanding how to match-up your stores’ deals with your coupons see Understanding Store Match-ups.6. Understanding how to read the deals I post. Here is an example of a match-up for Giant Eagle:
Ken’s Marinade $1.67
$1/1 5/8 SS
=67¢
Beginners Guide Pic 2
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Ken’s Marinade $1.67 = This is describing the product along with the current sale price.$1/1 = The first number gives you the value of the coupon, the second is the amount of the item that you have to buy to use the coupon. So the coupon is good for $1 off of 1 Ken’s Marinade.5/8 SS = This is the date of the newspaper that the coupon was issued in along with which insert you can find this particular coupon in. SS is Smartsource. You will also see RP-Red Plum, and PG – Proctor & Gamble insert. This is why I put the date on the front of each insert I receive. Now that you have some basic knowledge here are a few articles that will help you to get started: