GETTING COUPONS

Before we can start saving ton’s of money we have to get the coupons. The booklets I get in my area are, Red Plum (formerly known as Valassis), Smart Source, and Proctor & Gamble. The best way I know so far to verify or find out what coupons you get in your area is to call your local newspaper and ask them. I recommend that you get the same amount of coupon packets as members of your household.

The papers usually have a special if you buy a weeks subscription they will sell you extra sunday papers for cheep. You can cut cost even more if you split with a neighbor. For exapmle: you get a daily paper and six sunday papers, then give three to your neighbor and she pays for half.

You can also find coupons online. Just go to the Printable Coupons page. Online coupons can also be printed from manufacturer sites and other reputable sites. Online coupons require downloading plugins to print them. Make sure your coumputer allows you to download the plugins or active-x controls.

I like online coupons but they can be a pain and some sites require registration to print. Also, online coupons are use at your own risk. I can not be held responsible if the coupon you are looking for is not there any more or if the store you shop at will not take them. Some stores will not take coupons printed from the internet. If you have a question about using online coupons at the stores near you, it would be best to call them and ask.

**TIPS**

Some people don't like to print coupons because they say it cost to much money in ink and paper. I buy my paper in bulk so it cost a third of what you can get at walmart or office supply stores. Also if you take your empty ink cartridges into Staples (you have to be signed up for the rewards program) they will send you $3.oo per cartridge every quarter. Then you can use that money to buy more ink. So it is not as expensive as some might think!

ORGANIZE YOUR COUPONS

Don't go run away because you think you have to spend hours and hours cutting all of the coupons out and putting them in alphabetical order in baseball card holders. Talk about way to hard, right? I will teach you an easier way. They way I do it is much more simple. Besides the baseball card way, there are two simple ways and I will teach you both of them.

First- File folder

You get a hanging file folder box and make lables for each of the coupon booklets. (i.e: label for Red Plum (RP), Smart Source (SS) and Proctor & Gamble (P&G) and Misc.) Then on Sunday pull all of the booklets from your newspapers and sick them in the files oldest date to the back of the folder. (So you could have a file named RP and the first booklets are from 3/1/09 then the next RP booklets are 3/8/09 all in the same file folder.)

Second- Binder (I think easiest way!)

Get a 2 or 3 inch binder and some clear paper holders. Then when your sunday papers come you pull out the booklets and put all of them (RP, SS, P&G) in one of the clear holders and mark it with the date.

Then the next week get all the booklets and put them in another clear holder and mark it with the date.

This way it only takes me a couple of min. to get all my books and file them away. (To many kids at my house to take any longer!) Always remember to have a folder or clear holder for your misc. and printable coupons!

Now when you look at the grocery lists you can see it lables all the coupons accourding to date and booklet.

example:

The Goodlife Recipe brand cat treats
-$ .50 / 1 RP 3/8
=unknown

This shows that you will get $.50 off on 1 cat treats, it is found in the Red Plum booklet from March 8, 2009.

PRESHOP

We maximize our coupons by combining coupons and sale price. How will I know what is on sale you ask? Well the list I put together are for my local Stores but I know they work in areas of Utah, Idaho and some in Washington state. So check your local stores ad flyer’s out weekly as they change their sales. (If you want to know when their sales run you can look at the bottom of their flyer for the dates or you can call the store.)

In my area some stores run sales from Wednesday to Tuesday and the others run Monday to Sunday. You will find these ads in the newspapers and/or the mail, or sometimes right inside the door of the store.

You will want to choose a store you would like to shop at, and keep in mind that a store that seems expensive to you now may not be so expensive when you start using coupons with sale prices. I know that I was a Walmart fan until I started, now I do most of my shopping at Albertsons. I still go to other stores because they are close and sometimes you can't give up a Free deal.

As you go through the ads, it would be best if you had a budget amount already decided upon. I recommend you ask yourself this question, “Does my family eat/use that?”. If your answer is yes, then write down or circle the item. Also be thinking of recipes you can use with the items that are on sale that week. By planning your menu like this you will save more money than if you ate out because you couldn’t think of what to eat that night. Once you have all your items chosen then it is time to create your shopping list.

MAKING YOUR LIST

This step is nice for some who love list and for others (like me) you have to get use to it. Using a list when you shop I have learned is going to save you a ton of money. So if you are on a buget do not skip making a list!! It helps you be organized, get in, get out, and get on your way.

My shopping list will have the following things on it to help guide me and keep me in check: -

-Name of store(s) (seriously I HAVE to have this!)
-What I am getting, including sizes
-How many of what I am getting
-What coupon I am using and where to find it
-How much I am spending
-Any special instructions I need, like how many of this to get that discount.

So to get my shopping list I go online to the GROCERY LIST page and I pick the store(s) I will shop at usually depending on sale items, needs, and distance of travel for me. If you are not in my area you can compare this list with your local ads. Now go to your copy of the Excel worksheet. If you still don't have one leave me a comment with you e-mail and I can get you one.

It will tell you how much you could spend which helps you know if you need to remove things from your list OR if you can ad things, yeah!

**TIPS**

I like to have a list for each store so if I am going to shop at Walmart, Albertsons, Smith I will print a worksheet for each store.

Also I like to get my list and coupons ready at the begining of the week and put them in my glove box or bag. The reason behind this is because sometime when I go out to dance or if my husband calls and needs me to take him something, I have my list and coupons ready and I might have a little extra time. So if I am close to one of my stores I can just run in and spend a min. getting what I need. Then on my real shopping day I might have less places to go.

I do all my shopping on mondays because I have time while my girls are at dance. I plan my shopping trips around my everyday week, I hate spending time shopping at the grocery store.
In the first few months plan on spending your normal budget.

You should be able to stock up your pantry with three times as much on your budget then you would have before. Then when you are all stocked up you don't have to get as much lowering your monthly budget.

GATHERING YOUR COUPONS

Now you have your list all made out we go to our coupon books.

I start at the top of my list and find the first coupon I need to clip.
So on this list it is Sauve in the Red Plum (RP) from Dec. 14th. I go to my coupon book and find the clear cover I marked 12/14 and pull out the RP booklets, find the coupon, & cut it out. Next on my list is Kraft Salad dressing in the Smart Source (SS) from March 29th. I go to my clear cover I marked 3/29 and pull out the SS, find the coupon, & cut it out.

**TIP**
I like to check every time I pull out a new date that there is nothing else on my page(S) from that date.

This process takes me any where from 15 - 45 min. depending on the amount of items I am getting. Generlly if there is a great sale and I am going to save a bunch it might take the 45 min. On the tipical week I spend15-30 min.

SHOPPING DAY!!

I use to really hate going to the grocery store, but now I am saving so much money I don't mind very much! It is a lot of fun to watch the price go from $200.00 to $50.00 and I am not kidding, that is a usual for me!

Here are some of tips for your Shoppoing Day to make it as easy and fun as possible.


-I always like to go shopping on a full stomach and alone if possible!

-Use your list as your guide. Remember to mark how many you want on your list so in the heat of the moment you don’t forget and get flustered, this can happen!

-When you get to the check out you can wait to give all your coupons to the checker after each shopping order.(Sometimes you have more then one order at a time to help maxamize your savings) You DO NOT have to give the coupon with each product as it rolls off the conveyor. The only exception to this rule is for Rain Checks. Give the Rain Check to the checker first thing so she can change the price of the product you are getting.

-If the people behind you are giving you dirty looks make sure you smile at them and then when you are done say WOW look how much I saved using coupons I am the coolest!!

-Make sure to tell you family how awesome you are for saving them a ton of money, and that they should all treat you like a queen and clean up the dinner mess!!


**TIPS**

Sometime when you go shopping there are extras that print out, these are called catalina's. So if there is a sale of buy so many items get x amount of dollers on you next shopping order (OYNSO) you might want to use the x amount of dollers on your next items. So you can split up your items into different orders to maxamize your savings. (some stores only let you do three orders at a time, so I will do three and if I have more I will go back through the line again and do three more. You don't have to break up your orders, but if you get a catalina for money off your next order then you can use right then or save for next week. When you are on a buget it is worth it!)

As you can see I have three orders this week. I get a catalina for 3.00 OYNSO on my first order. Then I use that catalina on my next order. This order will pint a 5.00 catalina that I use on my last order. This way I maxamize my savings and get an extra 8.00 off!!

Rain checks are when you want something that is on sale and the store is out you can go and get a rain check to use the next time they have some, you don't want to miss the great price! Be sure to give the checker the rain check before she rings up the particular item you are getting.

I find that when I go to the store and use my coupons I always have someone in the line behind me that really wants to know how I am saving so much. So I tell them how to find my site. People are hurting right now and everyone wants to find ways to save so please let everyone know!