couponing thoughts

So today at my moms club meeting, we had a speaker come talk to us about couponing. I was like "yes!" I am always wanting to learn more more more. She has her own website/business and besides couponing, she also helps people with their budgets. She's local and came to speak to our club for free which I thought was nice. I will not put her info on here however. She really said nothing I didn't already know. And knowing all that I do know, I found myself interjecting from time to time be/c I could tell some around me were becoming confused and she was speeding right along. Granted, she was trying to do a normally 2 hour workshop in a much shorter time frame, but still. So, after that I find myself thinking about some questions that were asked there and have been asked before. I'm no expert, but I'm going to try to answer some...


My first thought though is start small. Start with one store, one sale, one transaction, one coupon even if you have to. It can be very overwhelming if you think about store hoping at first or even if you think about needing to have a STACK of coupons with you at all times... start SMALL and build up to whatever is comfortable for you.


One question is "do you really buy the Sunday paper each week?" Answer is YES! Start acquiring the Sunday paper each week and saving it. (I recycle the paper, just save the inserts--it takes two minutes to pull the paper apart and get the inserts out). If you aren't already buying a newspaper every Sunday, get one. Don't sign up for the paper to be delivered, in the long run it really is cheaper to just pick one up each week. We swing through QT after church every Sunday to buy a paper. Get a DOUBLE paper for twice the coupons. Pull out the redplum (RP) smart source (SS) inserts weekly. Sometimes there will be Procter and Gamble (PG) (this comes monthly) and General Mills (GM) inserts too. Recycle the rest and keep just the inserts.


Another question: "How do you know which coupons to cut?" Well, I don't cut coupons out of the inserts each week. I SAVE THE INSERTS WHOLE. I date them and store them in a tub. (The most you probably want to save back is 12 weeks worth when they expire). Just because there is something in the inserts that week that I may use, I don't cut it out and use it that week. The chances are that though there are coupons for something in that Sunday's paper, those items wont be on SALE that week. The goal is to use your coupons with the rock bottom sale prices for that item.


The site I utilize the most for looking up deals/sales is Southernsavers.com

She has a very user friendly site that lets you actually click on store (say Publix) then click on the weekly ad date for that week (say 1/19-1/25) and then you can see every sale item listed. On the left of the sale items are check boxes. You can check on the boxes of the items you want to purchase and at the bottom of the list there is a "create list" button. click this and then print off your list. She has coupon match ups listed for each item on sale if there are in fact coupons to be found for that item. For example here is something you'll see:

(for example if you are picking Kroger as your store to start with, here's the check list for last week: http://www.southernsavers.com/2011/01/kroger-weekly-ad-mega-event-19-115/ ) then it will look like this: (I'm just selecting the first entry on that link)

Green Giant Valley Fresh Steamers 11-12 oz. $1.49 ea
S-.50/2 Green Giant Valley Fresh Steamers Shortcuts eCoupon or Cellfire eCoupon
M-.50/2 Green Giant Valley Fresh Steamers frozen steamers, SS 1/02 or printable
M-.50/1 Green Giant Frozen Vegetables printable
(use eCoupon and .50/1, makes it 24¢ ea)

That first M listed (S for store coupon, M for manufacturers) I highlighted the SS 1/02. That means that coupon is located in the Smart Source insert of the Jan 2nd paper. Does that make sense? So you go to that folder and pull out the smart source inserts and look for that coupon and clip that if you're going to buy that product.


If you aren't in the south, there are other similar sites available! Don't be discouraged. I have midwest friends that use pennypinchinmom.com for their deals. There are also couponmom.com (though you have to sign up for it) and sites like ihearttarget.com and iheartcvs.com to find deals.



Another question: "Coupons seem to push a lot of processed foods, I don't want Popsicles and ice cream and Doritos in the house, how do you handle that?" Well, just because Doritos might be on sale, doesn't mean that I'm buying them. Or just because there is an ice cream coupon available, doesn't mean I'm going to use it. There are coupons for pasta-- I choose whole wheat and Hamburger Helper which I do buy from time to time be/c it is a quick and easy meal I can make with a salad and fresh fruit. I don't stock my cart full of junk food just because junk food is on sale. This past week I bought yogurt for free. I see that as a healthy choice. I have in the past bought pringles cans, but we take FOR EVER to go through them, we don't hog pringles just be/c they are in the house. This really comes to self control. Also, I don't let ANYTHING in my cart that isn't on my list when I'm using coupons. So if you plan to purchase ten bags of chips, I guess more power to you, but you sure don't have to, just be/c they are there. Also there are frozen veggie coupons and milk and egg coupons out there. Certain milk brands also have coupons, butter, yogurt, cheese, meat all have coupons... it may "seem" processed heavy, but your cart doesn't need to be loaded down with processed food if you don't want it to be.

Another thought along those lines... it does no good to save 200 bucks, stockpiling junk food if you can't make dinner for your family. Meal planning is part of couponing. Get your own system in place so that you know what you're making when --if it's weekly, bi-weekly or monthly and own it. Going to the store to "pick up stuff for dinner" is NOT how a couponer operates.



Another question I get is "Where do you store your stockpile? We have a small pantry, I can't get four of the same items." Honestly, we have no pantry. We have two kitchen cabinets that are our pantry and I use all three cabinets in the laundry room (the laundry soap sits on top of the dryer) However, I do have a mud room/storage room off the kitchen that is unfinished. We have all our garden tools, strollers, outside toys in there. It used to be a carport I think but the previous owners closed it in (poorly) and cut the car sized room in half, leaving a walk way and a storage room. In that room, I have a three shelf stand that my brother in law drilled into the wall for me. It's crude, but no one sees it really.

If you're just looking for a place to start... get a shelf and put it above the door in the laundry room (what a different friend of mine did.) it's out of the way and no one see it. Or put some shelves in your garage, if you have one, dedicated to just couponing. I store all the soap/cleaning products under the kitchen sink (which is child locked) and all the extra tooth paste/baby soap stuff in the linen closet. I'm sure you can be creative to find storing spots even if you don't have an extra "room" to store stuff in.

So, there are some questions... and my answers to them.



The most important thing I think when it comes to couponing in the beginning is starting small. Do not let yourself be overwhelmed. It would be very easy to get WAY overwhelmed quickly. Just start small. (think of Robin Hood where the Sheriff says "keep the stitches, small"... it's like that.) Keep the coupon trips small. DO NOT go look at the sales next week and spend five hours hunting down coupons for everything that's on sale. You'll think "THIS SUCKS!" and never want to do it again. START SMALL. One store at a time, one sale, one item even. And then when you get to a point, like last week when I spent $12.03 at one store on $76.83 of product, saving $64.80, pat yourself on the back! I sure do!


I'd love to see comments on here if you have anything to add, please leave me a comment about your own couponing experiences or if you're going to start now or any other questions I can maybe answer!