Couponing 101

My friend Christy recently wrote a blog post wondering how to save money with coupons. This blog post was an inspired response to her recent post. (You'll also find this article that I wrote at AFullCup.com.)

Couponing 101
If you are like most people, you clip a coupon here and there and feel great about saving your 50 cents. You probably have also seen those die-hard coupon clippers in front of you in line at the grocery store who have a coupon for everything. Have you ever wondered to yourself, “How do they find all those coupons and save so much?” Today is your lucky day. Here are the keys to couponing success!

You obviously need to take the time to match your coupons to items you buy. Maximizing your savings means matching the coupons to items when they are on sale. If you save 50 cents off Ziploc bags, it is a better deal to save that 50 cents off the sale price than full price!

Horde all the coupons you can find! Coupons are found in more places than just your Sunday paper. Look for coupons online, at the grocery store, attached to products you recently bought, attached to bottles of wine (this varies by state), and through coupon clipping services. If you horde all the coupons you find, you’ll be able to trade away coupons you’ll never use for multiple copies of ones you will use. I don’t have any pets, but I love to trade those coupons for diaper coupons to keep my little one dry! A great resource for finding coupons you’re looking for is AFullCup.com. Since the membership is free, it is a great one-stop shop for all your savings needs (and not just at the grocery store)!

Stockpile items that have a long shelf life. Shampoo, razors, canned goods, soda, soap, laundry detergent, diapers, perfume, gifts, lotion, cereal, the list could go on and on. When a good sale pops up, get a fistful of coupons and go stock up! When cereal went on sale $10 for 10 boxes, I got 30 boxes, matched a coupon to each, and watched the cashier’s jaw drop. 3 months later, I’m still enjoying it!

Rebates are the frugal couponer’s dream! The triple threat: sale, coupon, rebate! Partial rebates definitely add to the savings and sometimes combined with the coupon and sale actually end up being full rebates. Find an item on sale, clip the coupon, send in the rebate. I often get items (like my contact solution) for the cost of one postage stamp!

Sometimes spending more means saving more. My local grocery store often hands out dollar off coupons if your total is higher than the stated amount. Recently, the amount was $180. For a family of three, I rarely get $180 worth of groceries at one time. However, if I am getting $20 off of $180, why not take the time to see if there are some areas of my stockpile getting low and add them to my grocery cart to bump my total up so I can save that additional $20 I would not have before? Don’t let this be a trap. Only get what you have a coupon for and what is already on sale!

Don’t be loyal to one store. It is so tempting to save some time and shop only at one store; however, this mentality keeps you from maximizing your savings by having multiple sales available to you at once—after all, not all sales are created equal!

Ask for the coupon policies at your store. Some supermarkets double coupons. If yours doubles up to $1, a .50 cent coupon (which can be doubled) is more worthwhile than a .55 coupon (which will not double) for the same item. My local supermarket takes expired coupons up to 6 months old! Maybe yours takes competitor’s coupons!

The more you coupon, the more you save. It is an investment of time, but just like most things in life the more you put in, the more you get out! The more you coupon the better you get at it.