Mastering the skill of COUPONING
Do you know how to use coupons? I mean really use coupons?
I am going to teach you how to REALLY use coupons. Once you have finished reading this, and with the help of my blog, you will be able to go to the store and save an average of 75% on your grocery bill, including household items, personal care items, healthcare items, and food.
This is not coupon use the way grandma uses them. This system takes time, organization, and dedication. You will not only be changing the way you shop; you will be changing your lifestyle.
I could tell you that you can coupon with only a few spare hours per week, but that would be a lie. On average you will be spending 15-25 hours per week acquiring, clipping, and organizing coupons, researching deals, and shopping. I am not saying that you cannot save money if you don’t have 15-25 hours per week; what I am saying is that you will not be saving 75% or more. How much you save depends on how much time and effort you are willing to put into couponing.
I’m sure, since you are here; you have tried to save money in the past by using coupons. You have also probably realized that using a $0.50 off coupon for a $3.00 box of bisquick is not cheaper than tossing the coupon and just paying $2.29 for the store brand. This, my friend, is where you are going wrong. I am going to show you how you can get the name brand items you want for a fraction of the cost of the store brand.
Forget everything you know about grocery shopping.
- No more running to the store at 3:00pm to buy what you need for dinner.
- No more making one list every week to buy the five meals you are going to cook- regardless of the price.
- No HUGE monthly shopping trip where you spend who knows how much.
- No more running to the store because you are out of bathroom tissue or paper towels.
Say Goodbye to those days and Hello to never running out!
- You will be going to the store a lot, and you will most likely have a very intimate relationship with certain stores and the checkers who are employed there.
- You will have a year supply of toothpaste, body wash, razors, and cleaners (among other things) before you can blink our eyes!!
- Before you know it you will be saving between 50-90% at the grocery store!
- It’s all about shopping with coupons while a product is on sale and STOCKING UP so you don’t have to buy something when it’s not cheap or free.
Once you have decided that this is a change that you want to make in your life, we can get started.
While I am not going to show you how to pay $7.43 for 5 carts of groceries totaling over $1200, I assure you, from this point on you will never have to pay for items like toothpaste again.
Acquiring Coupons
The obvious first step to couponing is acquiring your coupons. You are going to be using a few different resources to obtain your vast coupon collection including the newspaper and the internet.
You will also find store ads that contain local store coupons.
Source #2: The internet
· Printable coupons are available from many different websites.
o Smartsource.com
o Redplum.com
o Coupons.com
o Target.com
o Facebook.com
o And many more
· Usually there is a print limit on these coupons of 2 per computer. The good news is that more times than not, the same coupons are available on multiple websites.
· Coupons are updated and changed regularly so be sure to check back to the sites often for new coupons.
· If you see a coupon that you may want to use make sure that you print it as soon as possible. Many of the coupons have a preset print limit (50,000 prints); once the limit is reached the coupon will no longer be available.
Source #3: Local stores and on the actual product
· Many stores have Catalina machines. Catalina’s (also called Your Bucks) are the coupons that print along with your receipt when you make specific purchases at the store. A Catalina can be for a set amount off an entire purchase or for a specific amount off of a specific item. Catalina’s are usually limited to 1 per transaction, but in some cases can be rolled. I will get into further detail later.
· Blinkies are often found in your local stores. Blinkies are machines attached to the shelf next to the item. Usually they have a blinking light on them (this is how they got their name), once you pull a coupon another one spits out for the next consumer. These machines are placed in the store by the manufacture to entice the consumer to buy the advertised item.
· Peelies are also found inside the store. These coupons are attached to the item much like a sticker. When you purchase the item you peel the coupon off of the package and hand it to the checker.
· In-Store coupon books are a great way to obtain both store and manufacture coupons. These books are usually found throughout the store and at the customer service counter. Typically theses are monthly promotions focused around a specific holiday or event.
· Coupons can be found inside packages as well. However, these coupons cannot be used until the next time you wish to purchase the item.
Source #4: Magazines
· There are several magazines that also contain a few coupons inside. “All You”, available only at Wal-Mart, is filled with tons of money saving coupons. Perhaps next time you are in the check-out line you may want to pick up a copy. “All You” only costs $2.49, but contains on average $60 worth of coupons.
Source #5: Electronic Coupons
· Electronic coupons are coupons that you can digitally load to your store club cards. There are various web-sites to help you do this including the specific store’s site.
· First you will want to find where you can go to load these coupons onto your store card. For Safeway you can do this on www.safeway.com.
· After selecting the coupons that you want select the button to load them to your card
· Once you scan your club card at the store the discounts will automatically be taken from your total.
o Use caution with electronic coupons. While they can be very convenient and allow you to carry less paper coupons; you have no way of knowing if the coupons were actually loaded to your card prior to check-out. If your coupons did not load properly you will be paying full price for items you thought you had coupons for.
o These coupons can also be used in conjunction with your paper coupons depending on if you have loaded store coupons or manufacture coupons. Be sure to note any item limits on the coupons. Most electronic coupons only allow a limit of 1 item, 1 coupon, and 1 use.
Now that you have piles of inserts, sheets, and books, all filled with coupons, you are going to need to clip and organize them.
So what is the best way to clip and organize the vast amount of coupons you have acquired?
Clipping and Organizing Coupons
Clipping coupons: This is a time consuming process. You are going to need a couple of supplies such as:
· Scissors or other cutting tool
· Stapler
· A large flat surface
1. To get started you will want to carefully tear apart your newspaper inserts page by page. Keep each insert separate and stack all like pages together. If there are 2 inserts for the week and you have purchased 4 newspapers, you will end up with 2 stacks of inserts. Each stack will have several pages and 4 of each different page.
2. Take each set of like pages and place a staple in each coupon on both the front and back of the page. Be sure that you have not stapled through the barcode or any information that the store will need to redeem the coupon. I recommend placing the staple either in an empty space on the coupon or in the middle of item pictured.
3. Once you have stapled all of the coupons on each page you are ready to begin cutting. Carefully cut out each coupon along the line indicated on the coupon. Pay close attention to insure that you do not cut into the barcode or the expiration date. Note: not all of your pages will line up together, as you cut be sure that all 4 sheets (or 6 if you purchased 6 papers) line up.
You should now have one stack of clipped coupons per insert.
Once you have cut all of the coupons from each insert you will be ready to organize them.
Organizing coupons: This process is going to take slightly longer than clipping did. You will need the following supplies to organize your coupons:
· 1 – 3” 3 ring binder
· Several packages of baseball card holders
· Dividers or Slipcovers to create dividers
· Sandwich bags (Ziplock) or envelopes
· Writing utensil (Sharpie)
· Shoe box or Photo box
· Accordion File (13 pocket)
1. Sort through one insert at a time. Look at each coupon and decide if you will use the coupon or not. If there is the slightest chance that you will buy the item if it were cheap enough; place it in the keep pile. All other coupons that you do not think you will use; place in a separate pile. Do this with all inserts keeping the ones you do not want to keep in separate piles depending on what insert they came out of.
2. Label one sandwich bag or envelope for each insert including the insert name and date.
Example: SS - 2/11/10
3. Place the coupons that you do not want to use in the appropriate sandwich bag or envelope.
4. File these bags or envelopes of coupons in date order into the shoe box or photo box.
The coupons that you wish to keep will be filed away in your binder. You will want to place one set of stapled coupons in each slot of the baseball card holders. Each card holder will hold 18 coupons if placed back to back (9 on the front and 9 on the back).
1. Start by creating your dividers. You will want one for each department. You can make your own or you can find dividers that you can print at www.thekrazycouponlady.com. KCL has about 40 categories to print and use.
2. Place baseball card holders behind each divider.
3. Sort out your coupons by category and then by expiration date.
4. File each coupon in the appropriate spot in your notebook. You will want to use a separate sheet of baseball card holders for each month that your coupons expire.
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Example: You have 5 different coupons for cleaners. 2 expire in May, 2 expire in June, and 1 expires in July. All of these coupons go in your binder behind the divider for cleaners. However, you will need 3 pages for that divider, 1 for each month.
If you do not wish to use 1 sheet per month you will spend additional time pulling expired coupons and filing new ones as they come.
The accordion file will be used for coupons that you are using for each shopping trip and to store your Store coupons.
Labeling according file: You are going to have 2 tabs for each store in you according file. The front half of your file should mimic the back half.
Front half: Dedicate 1 tab/pocket for each store that you plan to shop at. You will use these pockets to place your shopping list and coupons in before you head to the store each week.
Back half: Again Dedicate 1 tab/pocket for each store that you plan to shop at. These back pockets will house all the coupons you have for that specific store.
By now I’m sure you are wondering what you are going to do with all of these coupons.
Well, you are going to SHOP!
It is now time to get down to business and start finding those awesome deals.
So where are you going to shop?
You have a few choices:
· Drug Stores, such as Walgreens and Rite Aid. These stores often have the best sales. Here is where you are going to products that you use every day for cheap, free, or even better. What is better than free? These stores will often times pay you to take items from the store. There will be more on that later.
· Grocery chains, such as Safeway or Albertson’s. These stores usually have higher everyday prices, but great sales, promotions and gimmicks. If you stack your coupons with the right sale or promotion hundreds can be saved.
· Supercenters, such as Wal-Mart. These stores don’t offer sales and don’t usually have store promotions or coupons. What they do have are everyday low prices with no frills and no gimmicks.
You will need to pick a store based on your family’s specific needs. I suggest that you pick 1 store at a time, learn that stores policy through and through until you are confident enough to move on to the next store. Couponing can be very overwhelming. There are a lot of policies and rules to remember for each store. Hopefully this handbook will act as a reference guide to help you on your couponing journey.
Now that you have researched and chosen a store, let’s discuss how you are going to find your deals and what a good deal really is.
That’s a great deal – STOCK UP
So what is a great deal?
What is a stock pile?
When do I stock up?
How much is enough?
Let’s start with the GREAT DEAL or the GOOD DEAL. Each individual is going to have a different idea of a good deal or even a great deal. What you consider to be a deal is going to depend solely on your family’s budget and what you are willing to pay for specific items. Deals are typically going to be 75% or more off the regular retail price; 75%-85% being the GOOD DEAL and 86%-100% being the GREAT DEAL.
So, what is a stock pile and when should you stock up? A stock pile is your accumulated products purchased. When you stalk up depends on the price of the item. I have included in this handbook some “stock up prices”.
Sales cycle on a 3-6 month cycle. This means that every 3-6 months you are going to see the sales return. When you find a GOOD DEAL you will want to stock up on a 3 month supply. When you see a GREAT DEAL you want to stock up on a 6+ month supply.
Creating a stock pile means that you should never have to pay full retail for your groceries again. A stock pile also insures that you are not going to run out of an item and have to run to the store last minute to get what you need.
You have too much product when you and your family are unable to use the product prior to its expiration date. Sometimes you are going to have to make a judgment call. An item like toothpaste is always free just about every week. Buying 6 tubes of toothpaste every week just because it’s free is unnecessary and wasteful. You want to purchase an adequate amount of each item for your family’s needs, not an excess amount that will be wasted.
Remember to arrange your stock pile by date so items that expire soonest are in the front. Check your dates often and purge your stock pile. If you notice items that are about to expire and your family isn’t going to use the item prior to it expiring, remember that there are plenty of families in need. Pay it forward and make donations. Likewise, if you have the means to pick up free or cheap items that you and your family will not use; donate the items to your local food bank or shelter.
Because couponers come across awesome deals on a daily basis, it only makes sense to pay it forward and help out others in need.
Finding the Perfect Deal
After some time you will be able to figure out your own deals. To do this is rather simple. Start by going through the ads for your local stores that come in both the mail and the newspaper. As you read through the ads check your coupon binder for coordinating coupons. Grab a calculator, do some simple math, and decide if that deal is the one that you want to cash in on.
If you are looking for someone else to do the research for you, turn to the World Wide Web. There are many, many different web sites and blogs that list out all the weekly deals and most all coupons available to match with the sale. I have started a Facebook so I can post deals myself for all my friends and family to see. If you wish you can check out my page for some great deals. I do not post every deal there is, but do post my weekly shopping list including what store I am going to and what coupons I am going to be using. On occasion I will also post additional deals that come up throughout the week or deals that are too good for you to pass up.
When I am looking for deals on-line I choose to visit both www.thekrazycouponlady.com and www.iheartriteaid.com. These two sites are very easy to navigate and are where it all started for me. I have since learned to put deals together for myself, but still use the services offered on these 2 sites just to make sure there isn’t something out there that I may have missed on my own. I also use them to get printable coupon information. They both have a huge data base of all the printable coupons available in cyber space.
Remember that just because someone else says it is a good/great deal doesn’t mean that you have to cash in on it. The same goes for the deal that you think is awesome, but nobody posted. Only you know what your family is going to use and only you can decide what really is a good/great deal for you.
Now that you have found your deals you are probably feeling ready to hit the store. Unfortunately you are still about a mile away from leaving your house to go shopping. I must put a stop to you now because you have not yet learned the ins and outs, tips and tricks, or the actual policies of each store. No worries!!! We are headed there next.
To learn the policies and how to shop at each specific store click the tab at the top of the blog for that specific store. There is where you will find that stores policies and couponing tips.
