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Using Grocery Coupons

by WhiteOak50

Last updated: 05/04/2012
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You can SAVE a lot by using coupons

In today's world it is almost impossible to save money without having a good saving plan. Recently I have put a plan into action and wanted to share it. Being a coupon clipper has really been proven to be a good source to use for a "Savings Plan". For years now I have experimented with several different methods of trying to save money, some of them worked, others have failed. This particular method is one that I have been using consistently since October without fail.

If you stop and think about it, coupon clipping is actually like a part-time job and needs to be treated as such. In order for it to be successful, you need to envision clipping coupons, organizing them, printing them and making out your grocery list as a regular part-time job, and as such you need to be sure to write yourself a check.

Using online free printable coupons has become almost a daily ritual for me. I am connected to several different sites and lately I have also been searching for coupons for items on my grocery list that may not be on the different sites I belong to. As an example "Almond Breeze Milk". I actually found a manufacturer coupon for $1.00 off of two Almond Breeze Milk which is wonderful because I always purchase two a week anyway. I am not always successful in finding those extra coupons but the ones I do find is greatly appreciated.

I am going to share some of my tips, sites and ideas in this page. Hopefully you will find something that may be of help to you.

You have got to stay organized!
Learn about couponing
Store Sales, Meal Planning and Saving

Coupon Clipper

When I wrote Are you a Coupon Clipper I shared some of my favorite links to get coupons online. Since I have been coupon clipping for many years now but only recently started to experimenting with clipping coupons to use as savings, I shared a few of my ideas how I go about it.

One of the things that really bothers me is using coupons to the EXTREME. I know many of you have seen that reality show "Extreme Couponing". Don't get me wrong here, I love to save as much as anyone, but when people call in advance to have the store ship in extra cases of items, I am just not sure how I feel about that.

I have seen a lot of limitations either online or using coupons in the stores, and I often wonder if those limitation came to be because people were abusing the right to use coupons? Just my own personal thoughts here so no "Hate" mail please. At one of the local stores that I do my grocery shopping they offer double coupons but you have to spend a certain amount for each coupon that is doubled.

When you print coupons online, somehow all of the sites are linked together and keep up with how many coupons you print and once you hit your limit you are not allowed to clip that coupon any longer.

I know on direct manufacturer sites, once you clip a coupon you are not allow to print anymore, usually their limit are one per customer. So there are a few different limitations you need to follow.

Three Ring Binder Organizers

You have got to stay organized!

I wrote an article called: Organizing Coupons because TRUST me that is as important as clipping coupons.

There are several different ways to organize your coupons once you have printed them and/or have clipped them from the newspaper. You can place them in different envelopes, you can use a regular coupon divider, you can paperclip them together but for me, I have found using a notebook with plastic sleeves works best.

Most households will have a spare three ring binder laying around. If you purchase some plastic sleeves either at your local store or on Amazon, the cost is not that much and really it is an investment. If I saved $19.00 using coupons one week and spent $5.00 on some plastic sleeves; I still came out ahead on my savings. Besides for me, the cost is well worth the time it takes to organize and use my coupons. I believe the first set of plastic sleeves I purchased cost me about $5.00 (including shipping) from Amazon. I got a pack of 24 sleeves with three sections on each sheet so that gives me 72 different pockets to separate my coupons. I am able to carry my grocery list, the stores sale sheet and my coupons all in one organized space. Often I will see other items that are sale and luckily I will have coupon that I did not plan on using at that time, which saved me money all because my coupons were organized.

I also added a pack of dividers that I had so I can keep my categories separated. Because remember, you will not only have regular grocery store coupons, but there are also coupons for drug stores, and department stores. Oh, and something I just learned, remember to get rain checks when your store has a sale on an item and runs out before you had a chance to purchase it.

Lately, I have been seeing more and more people using the notebook method for organizing their coupons and now I totally understand why.

Learn about couponing

Store Sales, Meal Planning and Saving

Believe this or not if you plan things out right you can even plan meals around using coupons and save money too! I wrote an article called: Coupon Budget Meals. I showed one example of a meal I cooked using my coupons, which brought down the cost of the meal per person to $1.22 each. Not bad is it?

Many grocery stores will you send you their items in an email weekly if you sign up for it. Every single week I will run off a copy of my stores sales, correspond my coupons with the sales and plan out my menu if possible. Remember, this whole coupon deal is like a part-time job so everything you can do to save money all benefits you and your savings.

This is one of my favorite sites: SavingStar. SavingStar is an ecoupon site which means, if you sign up at their site and post your store card (s), then click on the ecoupon at their site to activate it and purchase that item at the store you shop at, SavingStar will pay you the amount of savings on that ecoupon and send you a payment via your PayPal account once you reach $5.00 savings!! I have already been paid twice. This is no gimmick or joke-they are for real.

Using Grocery Coupons

You can SAVE a lot by using coupons

Contents at a Glance

Contents at a Glance

Coupon Organizers

Coupon Clipper

Three Ring Binder Organizers

You have got to stay organized!

Learn about couponing

Store Sales, Meal Planning and Saving

Coupon Clipper

Some of my favorite Sites for coupons

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I wonder how much I can save in a year from now?

Countdown to Total for Coupon Savings

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