Wwhow, look at these savings!

Do you ever see that lady at the grocery store buying up all the sale items and using a huge stack of coupons? If you are stuck behind her in the checkout line, her total is above $100 but then after coupons she ends ups paying like $30? That’s me! Me and a million other thrifty shoppers who know how to get the most for our dollar and feed our family for much less than we budgeted.

On TV and in magazines they try to sell you grocery shopping instructions, like coupons are some kind of secret. There is no reason to purchase one of those $100 sheets of paper as everything you need to know is readily available on the web. I am even a member of several online coupon communities. We all help each other find the best grocery and coupon deals, just as WWHOW does.

Every Sunday in my house is known as “Coupon Sunday”. Sunday is the day the coupons come out in the paper as well as sale ads for retail stores. The first thing I do is sit down and clip out the coupons. You don’t have to clip every coupon, but if there’s even a slight chance you might want to buy the item one day, clip it be on the safe side.

Next I look at the retail store ads. You will be surprised how many items you just cut out coupons for are on sale. Keep in mind that grocery store ads come out on Wednesday, so you will need to remember to grab up a set of those too. If I notice that biscuits are on sale at a store and I have a coupon, I whip out my notepad and write ‘Name of store: biscuits .99 ea (coupon .50 off)”. I start getting excited when I have five or more things in my notepad for one store. You will have the longest lists for grocery stores, and maybe only one or two items listed for most retail stores.  If the one or two item stops aren’t worth your trip, either don’t go or take the ad to a store that meets other store’s sale prices.

If you have access to a printer you can check out printable coupon sites. Many times the coupon value on internet coupons are a little higher than the newspaper value. Also print out any buy 1 get 1 free coupons you find! If the item goes on sale in stores buy 1 get 1 free and then you use your coupon, you end up getting both items free.

After I make my shopping lists I organize my coupons. I have way too many coupons, so I use a photo album that holds three 4×6 photos per page

 in little clear slots. Some professional coupon shoppers use sport card books, but unless you have one sitting around they can be expensive to purchase. If you are just starting out a plastic coupon organizer from your local dollar or discount store may be sufficient. You can organize your coupons however you like. I organize mine by type of food and keep household items completely separate. Other people organize their’s by isles in the store or grocery departments alphabetically. You can personalize your coupon organizing as you wish as long as it works for you!

Before you head out to the grocery store make a list of every item you plan to purchase, how much it is on sale for, subtract the coupon, and see your total price per item. You will know how much you are saving, how much you are spending total, and if you need to get a second coupon so you can buy two of the item. I always take a small sandwich baggie to the store also. When I add an item to my cart I put the coupon for the item in the baggie. It makes it easier at checkout not to have to pull coupons out from different slots in my photo album, and they don’t get all scrunched up in my pocket.

At the checkout watch and make sure your items ring up on sale. When the cashier says your total hand over you coupons and watch your savings add up (or subtract) from your total. This is the fun part! Look how much you saved!

The first time you get your coupons set up it may take you an hour or two, but after that you will get faster. If it takes you an hour, and you save $20 by buying items on sale and using coupons, you just made $20 in that hour!

There are a few other things I do to maximize my savings. I try to shop at stores that double and triple my coupons. Several chain stores in my area triple coupons up to .35 and double coupons up to .50. That means if I buy the .99 sale biscuits, and have a .50 off coupon, my coupon is doubled and my biscuits are FREE, plus I get an extra penny back!

The main grocery store I shop at not only doubles and triples coupons, but they also have a loyalty card. Their card not only gets you the sale price, but you can load electronic coupons on to it! I use sites like Cellfire and Shortcuts.com and add electronic coupons on before I head to the store. Often, the electronic coupons are for the same items as the ones in the paper. With my .99 biscuits I used my doubled coupon to get $1 off, and them my electronic coupon to save an additional .50! They end up paying me .51 for those biscuits! With each item you can use a manufactured coupon and your electronic coupon. Remember that your electronic coupons are loaded onto your member card, so you don’t even have to keep up with them.

See the photo? That was from my very first couponing trip. I was shy about using coupons and wanted to start out with just a few things to give it a try. I had 22 items and my total was over $40. After scanning my member card for the sale prices and electronic coupons, and handing over my newspaper coupons, my total went down to $14.44!

Have I inspired you to give coupons a try? If so please leave a comment! I would love to hear from you!