The "art" of Couponing...

When you tell someone that you "coupon," many reply with, "I tried that but it seems like a waste of time just to save a few dollars (if that) each week." You know what--they are right! If you simply print or clip coupons that you need and use them whenever you go to the grocery store, you are probably saving very little. In fact, it is showing little affect on your monthly grocery budget. Now, when I tell someone that I have cut our grocery and household budget in HALF in less than three months of beginning to coupon, I get "WOW...how do you do that?" That is what I hope to share with you in my blog!

First, you need to know what I consider to be household budget--this includes basically anything you need in your home. For us, this means paper towels, toilet paper, DIAPERS, cleaning supplies, laundry deterogent, basics medical necessities (vitamins, first aid, and over-the-counter medicines; not prescriptions and copays) and all groceries. I began couponing in March 2010 and have managed to get our household budget below $300 a month. That may sound great, but my goal is BELOW $200 a month--and I do hope to continue this budget come September when our new addition arrives as well.

Must important question, how do you get started? There are several blogs out there that go into great detail about organizing coupons, getting started guides, etc. Here is what I did to get my couponing journey started:

1. Look over coupon websites. There are several you can print from, but I primarily use Coupons and Redplum.
2. Start getting the Sunday newspaper. If you are in a small town, get the local large city paper because they tend to have more coupons. Every paper differs in their coupons to a slight degree, but larger cities offer more inserts inside the Sunday Paper. When I lived in Concord, NC, I would get the Charlotte Observer still.
3. SAVE ALL COUPONS!! Either save all inserts and cut as you need the coupons or save all coupons. (It is easier to save inserts from papers at first; however, once you get hooked and do it a lot, you'll discover clipping all coupons and organzing in a binder is helpful--that's taking it to the extreme level).
4. Register for a CVS ExtraCare Card. I will make my next post on CVS Extra Bucks and how they work, because CVS is going to become your favorite store. I get all our paper supplies, beauty supplies, diapers, and some cleaning supplies from CVS and spend VERY little (as in probably less than $25 a month).
5. Learn to stock up on items you use often and ONLY buy them when they are on sale and you have a coupon.

This is simply my getting started guided. I will start posting daily tips on getting started and deals/steals I see. I primarily follow four stores that I will keep you updated on: Bi-Lo, Food Lion, Harris Teeter, and CVS. Make sure you have the reward cards for the stores you shop at often. Many of you may shop at Wal-Mart for groceries, which I use to. Although they appear cheaper by the initial price tags, after learning to coupon well, you will see that your local grocery store ends up less expensive. However, when there are good deals at Wal-Mart and Target, I will post those as well.