Couponing

Many of you may have seen that T.V show “Extreme Couponing” (if you have Netflix they have it streaming on instant watch).  I wondered how much stock to give couponing so I did some research on it.  The extreme couponers were able to do what they do with store cards, coupon matching, and individual store policies.  Here are somethings to knwo off the get go if you want to do some heavy couponing:

1. Know the stores policy for coupons.  If you want to coupon at max savings find a store with a store card, coupon matching days, or other special discount days aimed at consumers and shop on those days.

2. Match sales with your coupons to maximize your savings.  i.e you see Kellogs cereal 4/$10.00 and have a coupon for $1.00 off two boxes.  With two coupons you are now paying $8.00 for 4 boxes of cereal vs. the sale of 10.00.  The regular price would probably be near $12.00 for 4 boxes, so again you’d be paying $10.00 with no sale using the coupon.

3. Read the fine print on your coupon, if it doesn’t specify a size, go for the smaller size.  Almost all stores have a 1 coupon / item rule.  Grab a few of these $ off one item that have no size specification, and usually you can come close to not paying anything or actually getting money back on the smaller items by buying more.  Here is an example:

1 large stick deodorant 3.50

1 travel stick (1/4 the size) 1.0

Coupon: .25 off 1 deodorant (no size restriction)

Buy 1 large stick your cost is now 3.25

Buy 4 travel sticks (using 4 coupons) your cost is now 3.00

Couponing can be a very effective way to trim your grocery bill down by hundreds of dollars every year, allowing you to breathe more freely about other things like rising gas costs or your kids braces.  I make a habit to always buy a Sunday paper, as essentially you are being paid to do it.  You will always find more than $2.o0 worth of savings inside helping you more than double the value of that 1 paper.

 

Try sites like http://www.coupon.com – or google “coupons”.  Don’t pay to join a site, or give your personal info out as mostly likely you could be signing up for a spam service.