Couponing

I've seen a lot of news reports on TV about how people are saving $100's on their groceries by using coupons on sale items. I saw one today were these two ladies bought $110 worth of groceries for $1 and some change! They do it by collecting lots of coupons and then looking at the sales ads for the week and then match the coupons with the items on sale to maximize their savings. I have a friend who does it and she has had lots of great experiences doing it. So I said teach me how.
First she said to go to www.afullcup.com to start. I did, and it is overwhelming, but it can be a good place to start learning everything. So I've spent 5-6 hours over the last week collecting information, making a shopping list and then finding coupons. There are a few places on line you can get free coupons, www.smartsource.com and www.coupons.com. There are many more, but a lot of them you have to fill out a lengthy survey giving your birth date, address and what kind of expensive equipment you have in your home. That was a little too much info. for me to give out.
So here is how I did it. I first had a small list of 10 items I needed to get at the grocery. I then looked up various different places on the web for coupons for those things. I only found 3 coupons for the things on my list, and they weren't anything to get excited about. Then I went to www.kroger.com and viewed their sales paper. They have a nifty feature where you can click on an item that is on sale and they will compile it on a list for you. I loved that. Meijer.com also does it, as I'm sure many other places do too. Kroger is having a sale right now, where if you buy any 10 items on a list you get $3 off at check out. So the big sale for me was that Pillsbury cookie dough was on the list of "buy 10 get $3 off". So I bought 10 things of cookie dough for $2.49 =$24.90-$3=$21.90. But then I had 5 coupons (I found on line) for buy 2 get a dollar off, so I got $5 more dollars off, bringing it to $16.90, that's only $1.69 per cookie dough. Not bad, I think. I can store the cookie dough in my freezer for a long time. I can make cookies for my kids. Or make a plate for a sister who just had a baby or just a good friend.
So the biggest thing is where does everyone get so many coupons and how can you use so many? Well afullcup.com teaches you how it's legal by knowing how to understand the fine print.
Another great deal I got at the store tonight was on cereal. I found $1 off 1 box of cheerios. My kids go through cheerios like crazy and usually you have to buy 3 to get a full $1 off. But I found this one on coupons.com and it was $1 off 1 cheerios, and 1 coupon per purchase. Well, one box of cheerios is one purchase, so i could use as many coupons as boxes I was buying! So I bought 6 boxes of cheerios for $.67 each box! I think that was pretty dang cool! The next big unexpected deal was, boxes of choc. chex had an instant peel off coupon of $1 off one box. Plus I had 2 or 3 chex coupons and that is a cereal my kids love! The Chex were not on sale so it wasn't as great of a deal, but I got $1 off each box. It was reg. $3.29, I got it for $2.29.
Bottom line, I saved $50 tonight in manufacture coupons and kroger savings combined. Not too bad for a first time. AND, I bought things we use, and things that can store.
I hope to get better at this and get faster at finding the good deals! If you want to consider doing something like this you have to look at it as a second job. If you are looking at your income, or lack of income and wishing there was some way to make more money or save more money. Think of getting a part time job called "couponing". You can spend an hour after the kids go to bed looking up sales and collecting coupons. That can save your family $100's each month. It can also help you build up a storage of food, for those times when you are stuck at home in a state of an emergency!
I hope to have more good news to share about couponing as time goes on.
p.s. I saw another lady at the store with this huge binder with pages of coupons and a printed out list like mine. I saw her at the check out with a stack of coupons. I was tempted to stop and watch how much she saved. She probably did better than I did, but she looked like a pro!