Some tips for Grocery Couponing

1. Read your weekly grocery circular and see what's on sale. Usually the loss leaders, that is the items that the grocery store sells so deeply discounted that they take a loss, will be on the front and back cover, but skim the rest of the circular too.

2. Look through your grocery coupons to see which of those items you have coupons for. Calculate how much each item would cost after coupon.

3. If an item is completely free, or nearly free, and your family will use it, buy a bunch. Don't buy one or two, by twenty. Stock up as much as you can.

4. Look at the items that are on sale, but aren't free. Choose a few items that your family uses regularly and buy twice the quantity you usually buy. That way, next week you won't have to buy it at regular price and you'll be able to spend more money stocking up on something else that's on sale.

5. As time goes on, and your pantry gets stocked, your buy price for most items will continue to go down. You'll be able to buy most of what you need for free or mostly free.

6. If you want to buy luxury items that don't usually go on sales or have grocery coupons, wait until you have a week when you aren't spending very much. Try to buy one luxury item a week, on light weeks, so that you don't bust your budget all at once.

7. Enjoy!

The key to the super-coupon shopping that you'll find in magazines and on YouTube videos is to accumulate multiples of the coupons you need. This way when a sale hits, and you can get an item for free or cheap, you don't just get 1 or 2, you get 20. So where do you get enough grocery coupons to do this?

1. Your Sunday newspaper. This should be your first source for grocery coupons. While you're at it, get your friends'/neighbors'/enemies' Sunday newspapers.
2. Home mailers. Sign up for mailing lists from all your favorite companies to get their best coupons mailed to your house.
3. Online. This can be a bit tricky, though, because not all stores accept online grocery coupons. Always check your store's grocery coupon policy first.
4. Coupon Clipping Services. Because, for the most part, you will only use a few coupons from each week's insert, it is a much better idea to purchase multiples of those few coupons than to buy extra newspapers. One clipping site I like is Coupon Clippers, which tends to have a lot of high value coupons available at any given time.

The best grocery coupon resource, bar none, is Crystal Paine's grocery e-course Supermaket Savings 101. For only $9, you will get 6 easy to follow mp3 audio lessons, along with an accompanying workbook. The lessons cover everything from menu planning to finding great coupons.

Plus, when you order Supermarket Savings 101, you'll get 6 bonus free ebooks on other ways to save money in your home.

Read more of my articles on Grocery shopping.