Everyone knows someone who has jumped on the couponing bandwagon lately. As the cost of everything from milk to gas continues to rise, we are all trying to find ways to save and cut corners. Three months ago, a friend convinced me to give couponing a try.
I'm not talking about that extreme couponing you see on TV. Really, who needs 138 boxes of couscous? (Unless you are going to donate it to the local food bank, which is a great way to help those in your community who are less-fortunate.) I wanted a way to get stuff our family actually likes at a lower cost so that my husband wasn't having the "money melt-down" every week.
With baby number three, my immediate concern was saving on diapers and wipes. Then, my friend happened to mention all the other stuff she was getting for free or under $1.00 . . . and the things were items we actually used, like milk, bread, cereal, and pasta. I decided to give it a try.
I guess the media is calling this new technique "organized couponing." It is in between the extreme of getting 127 free yogurts and those people who only cut out coupons for items they need that week. My process calls for getting an extra copy of the Sunday paper and using online sources to compile lists and print coupons. Also, this strategy asks you to stock up when there is a good sale rather than just buying things as you go.
Like any project I tackle, I dove in head-first and full-force. I thought I needed to utilize every grocery store in our area, as well as Rite-Aid, Walgreens, CVS, and Target. If you like your sanity, DO NOT start out this way. Pick one or two stores, learn their couponing pros and cons, and see how those places work for you before adding any others. I used to shop exclusively at Giant. Now, I go to Harris Teeter and Kroger and rarely have to enter a pharmacy. While I do still visit Target on occasion (I just love going in there), I have combined our shopping into one day a week rather than several. For a mother of three kids, that's a blessing in time and money savings!
As I was learning the ropes, I sat down every evening to pore over lists and clip coupons. It is no exaggeration to say that my husband was not very supportive in the beginning. He was having to do more of the night-time chores so that I could get my coupons ready. Also, I told him that at first, this was going to be more cost out-of-pocket because we had to start our stockpile. His lack of enthusiasm was like a cold water shower for me. My first time out, I called him, ecstatic because I saved 38% on our grocery bill. His response was fairly noncommittal.
I stuck with it any way. Around Week 4, I realized I must be making a difference in our budget because he wasn't moping around the house, wondering how he was going to pay bills that week. It took him until Week 6 to admit that the whole thing really was working. Now he thanks me for all the time and energy I put into couponing. When I come home with seven bottles of detergent, he smiles and says, "Must have been a great sale!" He also know we won't have to buy any more for three to four months. Even more exciting . . . we can occasionally go out to dinner again or buy something special for the kids.
If you are wondering how to get started, I suggest finding an online source that compiles all the sales for you week to week. This will save a huge amount of time for you. Many people start with couponmom.com because it was the first. While she includes some great tips, the layout of this site didn't really work for me. My absolute favorite is southersavers.com. Jenny, the woman who runs this, works diligently to provide people with a site that is user-friendly while saving you the most money possible. At first, although I loved the site, I was disappointed because my favorite grocery store wasn't covered. I decided to switch stores for awhile and see how my shopping went. I've been thrilled and haven't missed my old store at all.
There are two other sites I use occasionally - dealseekingmom.com and hip2save.com . I like checking these to make sure I haven't missed out on anything major. Also, all of these sites offer great ways to contribute to various charities. At the very least, you can get free groceries and donate them to the food bank. All of these sites are also wonderful for finding explanations about various places on the web where you can get even more savings (swagbucks.com, savingstar.com, and upromise.com, just to name a few.)
While my couponing does take time out of my day (wouldn't it be nice if we could just snap our fingers and save?), it definitely has been worth it for our growing family. I hope that you can take some of the above suggestions and start saving for you and yours, as well!
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