How you can do it, too. (remedial couponing, part 1)

I started this blog in October as a way to have accountability for our spending and budgeting, and it has already led me to a place I didn't expect to go-- mainly, learning to get awesome deals every week on items I'm used to paying full price for.  I do need to re-focus on family budgeting, but I've realized that most of the people who read my blog are friends, friends of friends, church people, etc. who are curious about how I get these insane deals.

Thing is, I'm not too different than you.  If I can do it, you can do it.  I've been mulling over a sort of "how to" for a couple of weeks now... a remedial course in couponing, leading to couponing 101 and drugstores 101.  But first things first!  Today I'll tell you how to gather the tools you'll need to consistently save big, as well as what to expect when you start out.

NOTE: at some point in here, you're going to need to pick up the Sunday paper.  That's where you'll find the week's coupon circulars, as well as the store sales circulars.  You CAN save money without the paper (by using store websites, various deal blogs, and printable internet coupons) but trust me, after a week or two you're gonna want the coupons you missed out on two weeks ago when you decided not to get the Sunday paper.  Just get it this week, even if you do nothing else related to couponing.  When you get further on this journey, you'll thank me.

The very FIRST thing you're going to need is a place to put your couponing stuff.  You're going to amass a good amount of paper that you'll need to keep close by, so you might want to designate yourself a drawer, a small cabinet, or even a plastic storage tote.  As you begin, throw EVERYTHING you need in this storage space.  Trust me when I say that you'll thank yourself later.

I also suggest that you keep a ziploc bag for your receipts.  Keeping track of your receipts is a big morale booster in the beginning, especially if you're feeling overwhelmed and like your work isn't making a change.  Check your pocket book, dresser, etc and see if you can locate your most recent grocery receipt from your last "normal" shopping trip.  This will be a really helpful tool to have because you can see what you normally pay for your household staples.

Now stop for a minute and decide what store you're going to start working on.  Listen, don't believe the mommy blogs you read- you can't just up and run to 15 stores in your first week and throw $75 in your pocket after carrying home bags and bags full of free items.  It takes a bit of work to figure out the systems at each store, and I highly suggest that you start by concentrating on ONE store and learning how to work deals there.

I began with my local grocery store, which is a chain.  In general, chain stores are easier to "deal" at because they advertise sales, work out promotions with manufacturers, and the bigger the store chain, the more likely that you'll find blogs online who do your coupon match-ups for you (more on that later).  If you choose a chain drugstore to start with (ideally one of the big 3: CVS, Rite Aid or Walgreens) you'll find that there are probably hundreds of blogs out there, doing most of your match-up work for you.

What else?  Oh.  Scissors.  Grab a pair, keep them in your coupon hiding spot.  Don't let your kids find them-- they'll inevitably end up hidden under the couch, or used to give the cat a haircut.  Having your own dedicated pair of scissors makes you feel like a grown up.  Make sure you've got some printer paper, too, and printer ink.  You don't want to miss out on a hot coupon because your black ink cartridge is empty.  And yes, I know how silly that sentence sounds, but if you get further along in this process you WILL run across hot coupons and you WILL be mad if you miss out on it because you used your last piece of printer paper to print directions to that place that you never ended up going to anyway!

Grab an envelope, too.  Write your chosen store's name on the outside.  You may also want (or need) to write NOT TRASH or DO NOT THROW AWAY all over it in big red letters just in case you're like me and you occasionally leave your store envelope on the counter by accident.

Now that you've got all your stuff gathered, and your Sunday paper (you did get it, right?) and your scissors and a plastic baggie and an envelope, I want to tell you what to expect in your first couple of weeks of shopping.  You MAY have the resources to get one or two things for free.  You MAY even get a "moneymaker" on your first trip.  More likely, you'll come across 3 or 4 good deals on items you need, and you should absolutely count that as a success.  People who consistently get tons of freebies are people who collect coupons for months, pay attention to sales cycles, and have the funds and time to strike when the iron is hot.  You CAN be one of those people, but you likely won't be in your first couple of weeks of couponing.

Maybe you've tried clipping coupons from the Sunday paper before.  What did you do?  What most people do- cut out the coupons for products you need, and use those same coupons that week at the store when you're picking up the food that lasts you for the next week.  You'd save a few bucks this way, but it wouldn't feel like enough to justify the clipping, so you'll end up saying "coupons aren't worth it" or "they only release coupons for stuff I never buy" or "why should I do all that work just to save .25 off a jar of peanut butter?"

Here's the first secret of couponing that I'm going to share with you:  if there's a coupon for something, it'll probably be on sale within the next month.  You can use a $1 off coupon on a box of brownie mix today and still pay $2 for it, or you can wait a couple of weeks and use that coupon when the brownie mix is on sale for $1, making that brownie mix free.  What's better- $2 brownie mix or FREE brownie mix?

The key to every deal I get, and all the savings you see out in blog land, is to combine sales and coupons to reach the lowest possible price on any item.  Having a bit of patience in couponing will get you far!

And with that, I'm done for the day.  Keep an eye out for part 2 of remedial couponing: the fine art of the match-up!

If you read this post and liked it, or hated it (yikes) please leave a comment and let me know!  After all, I know this stuff already, so I'm not gonna bother typing it all out if I'm the only one who reads it ;)