How to Start Couponing

I decided to write this post because of the numerous questions and comments I've received lately about couponing. I'm guessing my husband is pretty impressed with my couponing because he is constantly telling people about my deals and how much money I've saved... which is where some of these coupon questions/comments have been coming from (thanks hun!). At first I thought about writing a generic email with other people's websites so that other people could explain to you how couponing works but then I decided .. "why not add a post on your own blog!" Surprise! I have a blog for those of you who didn't know. I guess I haven't wanted to share my blog with many people because I didn't think it was very helpful (especially compared to other blogs that I follow) and I thought people might make fun of me for having a blog but then I thought .. who cares! If my blog can help even a few people save money then why not! The other reason I decided to post this is because everyone has a unique way to coupon shop .. what works for one person might now work for another .. so I will be posting the way I coupon shop.

Let's see if you have the same questions/comments as other people do:

• "how do you get stuff for free?"
• "can you teach me how to coupon shop?"
• "i clip my coupons every week but barely save any money and sometimes end up spending more because i have to buy multiple items to use the coupon."
• "i don't have time to coupon shop"

If any of these comments/questions sound like you .. keep reading!

Getting Started: Saving Coupons

First and foremost I want to say that couponing does take a decent amount of time (preparing, researching, and waiting for the sales)... but like anything you can make time for it if you make it a priority.

Secondly - you have to start saving coupons! You can't coupon shop without coupons! There are several ways to get coupons:

• Sunday Paper (I get most of my coupons from here) - almost every Sunday of the year (except Holidays) your local paper will put coupon flyers in their paper. There are 4 local flyers that end up in our papers: 1. Smart Source (SS) 2. Red Plum (RP) 3. Procter & Gamble (PG) and 4. General Mills (GM). SS and RP tend to come every week ... PG and GM tend to come once a month. The coupons you receive in your paper can be regional. So if I get a $.50 coupon off toothpaste from the Press Enterprise, you may get a $1 coupon off toothpaste from the Williamsport Gazette. Sometimes people in Indiana get a coupon that people in Pennsylvania never get in their flyer.
• Online - You can get coupons online by registering for a specific product or by visiting websites that generate coupons: which you print. The first time you use these websites you have to download a coupon generator (well worth it!) which sets a program up on your computer so that your coupons come with scanable barcodes. Another way to get coupons online is from a stores direct website (which are similar to the websites I just talked about).
  Here are a list of websites where you can find coupons: www.coupons.com, www.redplum.com, www.target.com, www.smartsource.com
• Grocery Store - There are three ways to get coupons at your local grocery store: 1. In the Weekly Circular 2. Peelies - coupons located directly on the product you are purchasing 3. Blinkie Machines - usually located in an aisle at your grocery store... they have a blinklie light to grab your attention and they hold coupons. They are based on a timer so if you want to pick up more than one coupon you may have to wait a minutes until the next one comes out.
• Mail (snail mail) - Sometimes when you register for a product online to receive a coupon it will come through the mail. There are websites such as http://www.pgeverydaysolutions.com/ that send coupons through the mail.

The two main sources of my coupons are from the internet and the Sunday paper. I print internet coupons when I know I need them for a deal. Sunday coupons I collect every week. I have a huge binder filled with coupons that date all the way back to June 2009. I have them organized by category and will make a new post sometime about how I organize my coupons. Some coupons don't expire for over a year and you never know when a sale might come up and you may need the coupon from back in June. I would recommend getting 1-2 papers worth of coupons every Sunday if you are just starting out. If you become a serious couponer (like me) you might want to think about getting 6-10 per week! I know that seems like a lot but I've found that the more coupons you have the better the deals. You may be thinking that it could get costly buying that many papers but the truth is you might not have to buy them .. I get coupons from my mom, my mother-in-law, my aunt, and Jason's gram (thanks everyone!). So ask around and see if there is anyone you know that throws their coupons out.

Getting Started: Using Your Coupons

Knowing how to use coupons and where to use them is one of the most important parts of couponing. There are many, what I like to call, "hidden secrets" when it comes to using coupons. These "hidden secrets" are as follows:

• Buy One Get One: Many times stores will offer a Buy One Get One Sale (BOGO). Good deal right? Well actually the deal can be made even sweeter in two ways. 1. Use two coupons: one for each item even though you are getting one for free. Yes you can do this: I do it all the time. So if Herr's pretzels are on sale BOGO and they are originally priced at $1.99 and you have two $1 off one bag of pretzels coupons you can use two and get both items for free. 2. Use a BOGO coupon: I think these coupons are like gold .. if there is a sale BOGO and a BOGO coupon the two cancel each other out and you get both for free. Hard to believe and hard to explain but it works. The store is giving you an item for free (which is considered a purchased or bought item) and the manufacturer is giving you an item for free - your grocery store gets reimbursed for this coupon .. for all coupons!
• Use Multiples: I kind of touched on this above but the overall message is: you can use as many coupons as you have items. A lot of people believe that if they are purchasing two toothpastes on a 2/$5 special they can only use one coupon. Use two and save yourself a lot of money!
• Stack Store Coupons with Manufacturer Coupons: Store coupons are coupons that a store produces themselve and can only be used at their specific store. Manufacturer coupons are all the other kind of coupons I have already mentioned. The word Manufacturer is often written directly on the coupon. Stores like Target and Rite Aid allow you to use 1 store coupon and 1 manufacturer's coupon on 1 product. Yes - you can use 2 coupons on 1 item in these situations.

Getting Started: Where to Use Coupons

The main stores I like to coupon at are: CVS, Rite Aid, Target, Weis & Giant (sometimes Wal-Mart). I regularly try to post a blog on CVS, Weis and Giant. If I end up with more of a following I might start posting on Rite Aid (my favorite store). If you want to learn how to shop at CVS click here to read my post, Rite Aid click here, Target click here, or if you are interested in Weis or Giant click here to see my weekly post.

If you have any questions feel free to leave me a post and I will get back to you ... If you have any trouble understanding the abreviations that many couponers use check out this link. Hope this helps someone!