I've used coupons a few times in my life. I was really proud of the times I've said close to $10 on my grocery bill by using manufacturer coupons. It's great saving money on things you were going to buy, anyway. But every time I've tried using coupons, I've found myself letting coupon inserts pile up or finding that half of the coupons I'd clipped were expired when I was finally ready to use them.
We've been looking to cut down our budget where we can, and I know that groceries are one area that can really vary from month to month. I was also sure that I could save some money there by going back to planning menus a month ahead of time (which I still need to restart) and by using coupons on a regular basis.
I watched Extreme Coupons a few weeks ago. Rather than inspiring me, it freaked me out a little. These people were *really* extreme. The first woman profiled claims to spend 70 hours a week couponing, but she also has a full-time job. I'd like to know how much work she actually gets done for her job on any given day, not to mention how much attention she pays to her husband, who was clearly fed up. She has two rooms devoted to her stockpiling and had started to take over the room that was his "man cave." I personally think that's a goofy term, but I get it, and she was telling him he should remove some of his things from that area so that she'd have more room for storage. The woman had 3,000 rolls of toilet paper in her stockpile! I read that it's enough to last an average couple for 30 years. She also had things that she didn't seem to have a plan for using ("They paid me a dollar for each of those tubes that I took out of the store;" "Those boxes there are beauty products.") and was simply hoarding.
At any rate, I have no desire to duplicate that obsessive level of couponing. I *do* have a desire to save my family some money and help pay off debt sooner, and free up money for the fun things we'd like to be able to do more often. And I think with a few hours here and there (especially once I've gotten in the habit), I'll be able to do so. Some couponers use coupon clipping services, but I think I can save plenty by just using the ones in the paper. Still, it's good to get extra copies of the paper for particularly good coupons.
We already get a free city paper on Saturdays with 1-2 coupon inserts in it. I checked to see if I could get more copies delivered (as my friend Angie had done, and is now getting 5 copies for free every Saturday), but I was told it would be $80 for a subscription, and I'm not sure if that would be $80 for each of the copies (or $320 for the non-free copies total). I didn't want to pay for the extra copies if I could help it, but I did find some places in town where they stock extra copies for people to take for free. Score! I figure that since pretty much everybody in my city gets the paper for free, it's not a problem for me to pick up a few extra copies, so my plan is to now have 5 copies of the Saturday paper each week and use those coupons in my shopping.
With that taken care of, my next problem is organizing them in a way that will work for me so that I can stay on top of what I have and use those savings at the best times, and before they expire. The best way to save is by combining coupons with store sales. I've been told by friends that the easiest thing is to choose 1 to 2 grocery store for this process, since more than that becomes overwhelming, and I agree. There are coupon websites that list store prices for quite a few chains (like Coupon Mom and My Grocery Deals), and some of those websites also show you which coupons are available to go with the sale items. Northwest Coupon Lady lists the sale and value aisle prices at her local Richmond, WA Winco, which should match up with other Wincos even if the price varies just a bit. I have to test this but am looking forward to doing so!
To actually organize the coupons, I'm going to give a coupon binder a try. I've tried putting them into envelopes, but it's hard to find the ones I need and to make sure I'm using coupons before they expire. I was thinking about trying a small file box, like a recipe card box, but I think I would run into some of the same problems. Then I read this article from BeingFrugal.net on organizing a coupon binder. Some of the things I noted that I think will be helpful to me are to use a zippered binder (so that if your binder falls when you're carrying it closed up, you don't end up with coupons spilling out all over the place) and to use photo or baseball card pocket pages to sort and view your coupons. I noticed the extreme couponers on the show used binders, and I think there's some sense to it. A Thrifty Mom also has a great article with tips on getting started and how she organizes her coupons, along with a list of the section headers that she has in her binder to help her find the right coupons quickly.
I've currently got coupon inserts spread out on my kitchen table. I'm tearing the pages apart and stacking the same coupons together so that I can cut them out several at a time, then I'll get them organized. I still need to pick up a binder and the pages to go in it, but at least I can get started and start checking the sale flyers for bargains. I'm looking forward to seeing how much I can start saving by shopping this way!
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