I need coupons for dummies

[freelancemama]

This weekend I bought the Sunday paper and clipped about ten coupons. These coupons were for stuff I was buying and or would us. I went grocery shopping yesterday and saved a whole $7 lol my grocery bill was still over $160. I don't understand how a few coupons in the Sunday paper is supposed to save me money.

[MelindaJ]

I am so glad you posted your questions! I just started a money saving blog and my main focus is how to save money on your groceries by using coupons. You can check out my blog in my signature below. I just started the blog so I do not have everything in it yet. I wrote an article that you can read on my blog that explains how I save a good amount of money on groceries by using coupons.

I wanted to give you a few tips when using coupons. Check to see if you have any grocery stores in your area that double coupons and check to see if they limit the amount of coupons they will double in one transaction. You can also find bloggers who will match up coupons to sales going on in your local grocery stores every week, this is how you save the most money.

You should also make sure that you are buying a paper from the biggest city that is near you because this paper will have the most coupons because it has a larger circualtion. It is a good idea to have the paper delivered to you, you can usually find really good deals on having just the Sunday paper delivered.

Please let me know if you have any other questions and you can always post questions on my blog too!

[freelancemama]

I do not have any stores that do double coupons. The only grocery store I shop out is Wal Mart and thats because they are by far the cheapest in the area. For example a can of tomato paste is .34 cents at Walmart and .89 cents at Safeway and Bel Air.

[MelindaJ]

You can still save lots of money, even if you do not have stores that do not double coupons. For example, my family and I recently moved to a suburb of Minneapolis where the prices in food is much higher than they were in Indiana, where we use to live. I am use to all of the grocery stores doubling coupons every day with no limit.

You can use coupons at Walmart and save quite a bit of money. This lady has a very good blog that matches up sales and coupons for Walmart: Store Deals

You should check out this blog, this lady matches coupons to items on sale at Safeway every week. However, she does state that her matchups are assuming that your store doubles coupons because many Safeways do double coupons, your Safeway must not. Here is her blog:Saving with Shellie ? Where Saving Doesn’t Mean Sacrifice!

I do want to stress that to save the most money on groceries is by only buying items on sale and pairing them with a coupon, if you are going to the grocery store with a few coupons and using them on items you normally buy, you won't save money, it's actually a waste of coupons to do this.

If you have a Walgreens, CVS or Rite Aid in your area, you really need to start going to these stores. I get basically all of my families toiletries and personal items here for free! There are many good blogs for all 3 of these stores. If you can save on these kind of items, then it can really cut your grocery cost.

If you have a Target in your area, you can save a good amount of money too because you can stack the Target coupons that are online with manufactuer coupons that are in the newspaper each week. Here is a good blog for coupon sale match ups: Stretching a Buck ? Spend Wisely, Live Well, this blog also has drug store deals on it.

Another thing that you should do if you are not already doing it is to plan a menu plan for the week. I always do mine on Saturday and then it starts with Monday for the week. If you are needing to cut cost, you do not want to make extravagent meals at dinner time. Make your menu simple, but still healthy. You should be able to feed your family for 5.00 for an entire meal at dinner, so if you have 5 people in your family, it should only cost 1.00 per person. This price should be less at breakfast and lunch.

I also only use cash when I go grocery shopping so I do not debit over my budget. It is also a good idea to bring a calculator so you do not go over your goal amount you want to spend.

Here is an example of my menu plan for this week:

Breakfast
Strawberry/Banana Smoothies
Omelets with fruit
Cereal with fruit x3
Overnight French Toast Casserole x2

Lunch
Grilled Cheese and veggies x 2
Peanut Butter Sandwiches and fruit
Leftovers x 2
Pasta , roll and veggies
Cheese Quesadillas and fruit

Dinner
Homemade Pizza and breadsticks
Chili and veggies
Haystacks (build your own Mexican dinner), green bean casserole
Cheeseburger Meatloaf, veggies and bread
Parmesan Chicken Strips, veggies, rolls
Cheesy Chicken Bundles, veggies, rice

You also want to stock up on items when you see that it is a good deal. For example, we have an Aldis in our area and they had strawberries on sale for 1.29 this week and I bought quite a bit and then cut up many of them and put them in the freezer.

I know this can be overwhelming at first. I still have lots of information I could give you, but I do not want to overload you with info. Please let me know if you have other questions.

[khakigirl]

I used to be WAAAAAY into coupons. Like obsessively checking coupon sites, stockpiling, buying anything I could get for free for under a quarter, etc. CVS, Walgreens and Target were the only stores I ever really saved a lot with coupons but there were plenty of times when my grocery store (Schnucks) ran a 10 for $10 sale on mostly items with coupons. I could get free pizza rolls, canned biscuits, frozen veggies, etc. That happened about ever 6 weeks or so.

I know it seems frustrating but if you want to give it another try, check out i heart cvs, i heart wags, and Totally Target Getting You More Red for Less Green!

[lorah]

This thread is REALLY timely for me! I have always been interested in saving money (who isn't?) but have only recently been interested in couponing/refunding. I know absolutely nothing about how to get started. There are only 2 of us. Hubs and me, but coupons would help me stock the pantry and freezer. I'm going to check out the blogs mentioned. I am also going to ask whether my grocery store doubles coupons and whether or not there is a limit. My problem is that I don't have access to any of the mega newspapers that have the coupons in them. I live in a very rural area. I'll watch this thread more closely for any tips anyone might have. There is also a new show coming on April 6th in my area on TLC. It is called Extreme Couponing and the commercial shows a woman getting 646.00 worth of groceries for 6.46 I will be watching with interest!
**Edited to add: I was reading one of the blogs and it mentioned 'buying coupon inserts' on Ebay or some websites. I thought it was illegal to 'sell' coupons? I know some get around this by charging a 'handling' fee.?????

[ApronGuy]

I was changing channels on the tv and saw a show about couponing. We are just two in our household now so it is not like we need a bunch of stuff. However I have managed to save 50 % on some purchases by strategically utilizing CVS coupons. Buy $15 get $5 back. I just spend the $15 and use the coupon to buy the next $5 etc.
It takes a bit longer but is kind of fun. Just hope the lines aren't too long !

[khakigirl]

Originally Posted by lorah

**Edited to add: I was reading one of the blogs and it mentioned 'buying coupon inserts' on Ebay or some websites. I thought it was illegal to 'sell' coupons? I know some get around this by charging a 'handling' fee.?????

They charge for the time it takes to find, clip and list the coupons. I've bought and sold these coupons and it's really simple.

[Lady M]

WalMart has recently implemented an amazingly coupon-friendly coupon policy, so even if WalMart is your only reasonable option for shopping, you can do well with coupons. I would suggest I Heart The Mart | All Walmart All The Time for WalMart deals. I really like Hip2Save - Not Your Grandma's Coupon Site for weekly drug store deals and ask questions on Grocery Coupons & Deal Forums - A Full Cup - Coupons when I want more information about a deal or am confused about a store policy.

I would strongly suggest looking for a local blog with deals for your area grocery stores. By stocking up with sales and coupons (and price matching all of the best deals at WalMart on stuff that doesn't often have coupons, like produce), I'm able to stick to my monthly budget of $100 a month for groceries, pet food, toiletries and cleaning items. We always have meat in the house (usually either boneless skinless chicken breast or ground beef, though at the moment we have chicken and a variety of steaks because with coupons steaks was cheaper than ground beef) and fresh produce, so it's not as though eating cheap necessarily means you need to eat unhealthy. On this budget, I've been able to build a stockpile with so much stuff that I often donate 100+ items to food drives.

The reason I suggest looking for a local blog to follow for your grocery store shopping is because grocery store policies and ads vary by region, especially with Safeway. If you're not able to find a local blog, I'd check out Grocery Coupons & Deal Forums - A Full Cup - Coupons and WeUseCoupons.com, both of which have forums listing deals for nearly all grocery stores throughout the country.

The real key to scoring great deals with coupons is knowing when to use them. For example, if you have a $1 coupon for a box of cereal and it's $4 this week and you use your coupon, you spent $3 for the cereal. Obviously, $4 is better than $3, but if you wait until the cereal goes on sale and then use the coupon, you may be able to get some free cereal or at least really, really cheap cereal. For example, Ronzoni pasta was recently on sale at a local grocery store in my area for $0.49 and I had manufacturers coupons I printed on the internet for $1 off 2 boxes. Let's just say I have enough free pasta to last me forever! If you're totally new to using coupons, a coupon class might be a really good place to start. The Frugal Find ? Save more. Give more. Live more. has free online video coupon classes.

Come back and let us know if you have more questions. Between all of us frugal folks, I'm sure we can help you become addicted to paying for your groceries in coins!

[lwilber]

I used to be very diligent about using coupons. I used a website that was called the grocery game or terislist. It tracked grocery store sales trends and gave a list for great deals, okay deals and free products with a coupon. About 10 years ago I only spent $40 on groceries a week and had a baby needing diapers. My local stores don't double coupons and my local paper has poor coupon selection, so I haven't been as diligent. Coupons can save you a lot of money, there were years that I never paid for tooth paste, deoderant or barbque sauce. Just don't buy products you won't use. This is a reminder to me to be more diligent about the coupons I do have access to in my paper.