When I moved back home with my parents to start student teaching, I had no real need to keep couponing and so I stopped and haven't done it in about a year and a half. In October I'll be moving into an apartment and so I decided to start stockpiling my coupons so I'd be ready on my first grocery shopping trip.
For anyone who's interested, here's a quick crash-course in how to start couponing yourself:
1. Buy multiple copies of the Sunday paper. Check here to see what coupons should be in the paper each week.
2. Pull out the inserts, date the front covers. There are now many ways to proceed. Either file the inserts, then check southernsavers.com each week to see what coupons you need, cut those and go shopping, OR cut every single coupon from the paper and file in a binder. I choose a combination of these two...I cut out coupons of products I use and file those in my binder, then file the inserts in case there is a MAJOR deal and the item is going to be free or cost pennies. Then I can cut those coupons before shopping.
3. Check the weekly store ads. Most grocery store sales run from Wednesday-Tuesday. Go through the ads and highlight products you need or that you know you have a coupon for. Check Southern Savers again to see if you missed any deals. This website will also tell you if there are online coupons for you to print to use at the store. The best grocery stores to shop at around here are BiLo and Publix because they both double coupons up to a certain amount and allow you to "stack" coupons-that means to use a store coupon and a manufacturer's coupon for the same item. Make your list for each store, designating which items you have coupons for.
4. Take your coupons to the store and STICK TO YOUR LIST!!!! Most people like to take their coupons in one envelope or in their binders and pull them out as they use them. Then they have an envelope of only the coupons they are using at that store...this makes it very easy when its time to hand the coupons to the cashier.I take both my binder and my inserts to the store so if I see something on sale that wasn't I still have my coupons right there (this defeats the sticking to list rule, but if you KNOW something is a great deal, it is okay to cheat)
5. If you start a stockpile of a million deodorants that you will never use, donate some of them to a church or a local clothes closet. Don't be ridiculous like the ladies on that awful TLC show and have enough toilet paper to last through an alien invasion. That's just hoarding, and I think its embarrassing as well.
Anyways, that's my couponing advice in five simple steps.....here are my supplies!!!
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| zip-up binder, recycled from my brother's middle school days...its ugly, but the point IS to save money! |
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| zip-up pouch for scissors, highlighters, and pencils |
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| inside each section, several sheets of baseball card holders that the coupons slip down inside |
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| dividers labeled: frozen foods, canned foods, condiments, dry goods, meat and dairy, produce, drinks, personal care, cleaning and paper products, school supplies, restaurants, clothing |
So that's about it...I got my first newspapers today and I'm so excited to begin again!
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