Extreme Couponing

I have learned over the past six months that I can easily save 50% weekly on my grocery bill. From spending $100.00 – $160.00 to spending $50.00 – $80.00. You can check out all this tips on my couponing page.

Now, I’ve decided to try my hand at extreme couponing. The objective is to get every single item for free or only pay taxes. My first trip I got $19.00 worth of merchandise for $1.35. I went again today and got about $29.00 worth of merchandise for $4.04.

First, you have to find out all the local store’s coupon policies. They are all different, so you have to know if any double and triple on which day of the week. Find out if the store will accept 2 coupons on 1 item; say a online store coupon and a manufactures coupon. In my opinion the store that does this is the best one to go to, if you can get 2 coupons on 1 item. I recently found out that my local Target will allow me to use a manufactures coupon out of the Sunday paper and a printed coupon just for Target, this way, I can sometimes save $3-$5 on a single item.

You can sometimes find stores that will give you money back on an item. If say, your coupon was for $3.00 and the item was on sale for $1.50. If you find a store that gives you money back on the item you can put it towards your sale tax or toward another item. Some stores may only give you cash up to a certain amount and some many allow every cent to carry over and you can get cash back.

It is so important to know every single stores policies. I recently went to target and the cashier tried to tell me I had too many coupons and couldn’t use anymore on that transaction. I had to ask her to try it anyways because as many times as I have been in, I had never been told that. She tried the last 3 coupons on my most expensive items and they worked. Unfortunately, I think she wanted me to pay full price for those last 3 things. I would have had to void the last three items and paid for them separately.

Do some research to find out what is on sale that week. I’ve started checking Target’s website because there are tons of discontinued items and sale items that don’t end up in the weekly ad and they are at every store!

If your coupon does not specify the certain size of the product, it is best to buy the smallest or trial size so that the item will be free. Unless you can find a really good sale and the larger item would still be free.

Good luck fellow couponers!

Tips on an average weekly coupon shopping trip.

On Wednesday afternoon, after I get the grocery ads out of the mail and the ads out of the Sunday paper I began searching ads for the best priced products! Anything I find that is cheaper than normal I circle. Anything I know I have a coupon for I circle and write the amount of the coupon discount next to the price.
After finding all the best priced items I get a notebook and start with the first store; listing the items I will buy, the price of the item, any coupon I have I write the amount and whether or not it will be doubled or tripled and finally the price that I will pay for the item.
EXAMPLE:
Duracell Batteries (10 pk)  - $5.99 – ($1.00 off coupon) = $4.99  <--- This week at K-mart)
I do this with each store then after listing all my items, I write the total amount I will send in each store and the total amount of coupon and savings card savings. Then after each trip I can make sure I saved that amount if not more!! This way I can track all my savings for the month!
Make sure to only buy what you have on your list unless it’s a great deal or you have a good coupon. Also, pay close attention at the register to make sure everything scans correctly and all your coupons go through.
**Don’t forget to get your rain checks on items they are out of!!**

Tips for a well organized coupon binder

There are only 4 things you need for a coupon binder.
1. Binder ($0.75)
2. Notebook paper ($0.75)
3. 15-20 Clear trading card display sheets. (This is the most effective method I have found for displaying and easily finding the coupons) ($5.00)
4. coupons!!!
Total Spent on Binder : $6.50
I have a table of Contents in the front of my binder if I forget where something is I can look there.
You make your table of contents according to what coupons you have and how you want to set it up. I have mine set up with each page being for each isle in the store. I only shop at Wal-Mart now that I know they honor their price match guarantee. So I can easily go up and down each isle and look at each page to see if I have a coupon for items when I get to the isle. This way I’m not backtracking through the store looking for things!
Check out my other post ; Coupon Shopping!!!, for more great tips and money saving ideas!!

Coupon Shopping!!

Ok! Ok! I'm letting the secret out....... I'm a coupon shopper!! I never pay full price for anything, I always brag about my saving (as you can tell), I use a saving card or coupon on every item I buy. I promise it isn't hard to do!! I save between $150-$300 a month. Ok... this does take some thought and planning but once you get the hang of it, it's really simple.
First, we have a few rules to follow anytime you go coupon shopping.
#1. If it isn't on sale DON'T BUY IT!
#2.Search grocery ads BEFORE u go to find the best deals and lowest prices.
#3.Take coupon binder in the stores with you, just incase you see something on sale that wasn't in the ad.
#4. Use store savings cards and coupons on EVERY item to save the most money.
#5. Always clip coupons out of the Sunday paper.
#6. Sign up with websites like freestuff.com. I check these websites daily to see which brand websites are offering free samples and coupon. They send them to you in the mail!! I receive at least 2 samples or coupons in the mail each day now... How awsome is that!! One of my last shopping trips I bought Gain Dishsoap..... .25 cents! I now have a 6 month supply!! LoL!
#7. If you can print coupons online.. DO IT!! Find only secure websites. Usually product brand websites are the best. Although coupons.com is also a great website.
#8. Write down everything you are going to buy and how much it will be. You MUST go by this sheet in the store. If it is more than you thought it would be, don't buy it.
#9. Pay very close attention at the register. If something rings up wrong it could mess up the whole price. A shopping trip could go from $6.56 to -$16.56. This would defeat the whole purpose of coupon shopping.
#10. Always get rainchecks!! I can't stress this enough!! Sometimes it's a good thing if the store doesn't have something I wanted on sale. I can wait until I have a coupon with a raincheck and get the item super cheap!!
*REMEMBER*- Coupon shopping is like a game... and you are trying to beat the store!
Good Luck Fellow Couponers!!

I helped a friend get set to start couponing!!

Ok, so for the last couple of weeks, I haven’t really been keeping up with my coupon binder. I have been saving all my coupons not clipping and organizing. B it took a few hours to get it back in order but I got it ready for an afternoon of shopping!
Yesterday afternoon, I went to my sister-in-law’s house and we clipped, organized, searched ads for several hours. This was the first time she had an organized coupon binder and I was proud to have helped her. She did use coupon here and there but I wanted her to know that it is possible to get 120.00 worth of groceries for 40-45.00!
I went back today and we searched through all the ads for the best deals and I explained to her how I coupon shop. I tried to give her as many tips as possible and gave her a good head start on going on the FIRST trip.
She proudly called me after her shopping trip only going to one store, which in my opinion is the best choice with a teething baby. I explained earlier that if she didn’t mind taking quite a while at the register, she could go in wal-mart find the best priced items out of all the weekly ads, and when she checked out she could she the cashier the price in the other store’s ad and Wal-Mart will honor that price. It does take a long time to check out but if you can do this, why waste the gas driving around town with a fussy baby.
She was able to get everything she had planned to get and with the 31.00 gift card and 10.00 cash, she got a week’s worth of groceries!! I was so happy to have been able to help her out and I’m so glad that she is a coupon shopper now!! Yay Whitney!!
Let me know if I can help out in the future!!