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How to Thursdays.....How to Start Using Coupons

I'm not a coupon blogger, but I am a blogger who loves coupons! I just recently started using coupons and I am officially hooked. Here are a few tips I've learned so far on my couponing journey that I hope will help you get started on yours! WARNING….It's very addicting!!!

1) Start slow. It takes a while to get the hang of using coupons (I'm still learning). Also, it will take you four weeks or so to accumulate a stockpile of coupons to work with. Don't expect to waltz in the grocery store and get $100 worth of groceries for $20 on the day after you decided to become a coupon queen. Be prepared to stand in the aisle going through all your coupons and then searching through the products on the shelf looking for the items the store has on sale and trying to figure out how to get the most out of your coupons. This does get easier and you begin to start looking less like a coupon newbie the more trips you make. You will make mistakes, but learn from those mistakes, give yourself a break, and keep pursuing savings. You'll get the hang of it!

2) Spend a reasonable amount of time on couponing. It's very easy to spend a lot of time getting ready for a grocery trip. So before you start, decide how much time you can give to your money-saving efforts. If you're up 'til three a.m. scouring couponing website forums and you haven't bathed your kids in two weeks, you might want to scale back a little bit. When you are first getting started, give yourself two hours a week to work on couponing. After you get the hang of it, shoot for one hour a week.

3) Don't clip every coupon. Just clip the ones you think you will use. If you don't have a dog, don't clip dog food coupons. Also, don't print every internet coupon you can find. That will only amount to a huge waste of ink and paper. Just print and clip the ones for products you normally buy (or want to start buying) or for ones you know are on sale that week. I usually go online to http://www.sundaycouponpreview.com/ on Sunday morning and preview what the coupons will be that week. If I want those coupons I go buy the paper, if not then I go to my other sources.

4) Find coupon sources. There are many websites out there that have coupons but here is a list of sources that I have found to be most useful and easiest to use.

• Coupon Inserts that come in the paper: There are three main types of inserts: Redplum (RP), Smartsource (SS), and Proctor & Gamble (PG). There are occasionally other inserts but these are the main ones.
  
• Printable Coupons: Many companies offer coupons on their main websites and there are also some main sites to print from. Coupons.com (or from the link in my sidebar), Redplum, and Smartsource.
  
• Home Mailers: These are coupons that you sign up for on companies' websites and then they mail them to your home. They usually send out good coupons. If you are a new mom, you MUST sign up at your brand of choice websites for diapers and formula. Most name brand formula websites send $3-11 off coupons. Now who wouldn't want that?!?
  
• Store coupons: Many stores offer coupons that can be used exclusively at their store. You can find these in their weekly ads that come in the Sunday paper, in your mail on Wednesdays, and printable coupons on the stores' website. Store coupons can usually be combined with Manufacturer coupons which save you even more money.
  
• Coupon Blogs: I use some excellent coupon blogs to plan my grocery and drug store trips each week. These bloggers tell you what's on sale at which stores, where to find the coupons for those sale items, and most importantly, Matchup those two things so you can see what the final sale price would be on your items after coupons, before you ever even go to the store! Matchups are vital; they tell which stores are best to shop at for the week and save the most money. I want to give a shout out to the coupon bloggers I use most. To find the best deals every week, go to Money Saving Queen, Thrifty Mama, Deal Seeking Mom.
  

5) Divide and conquer. There are two big areas you can save in the retail market: grocery stores and drug stores. Pick one store at a time and become an expert at that store first, then move on to another and learn their system. Try learning CVS' system first and then tackle Walgreens. (Personal Note: If I were you, I'd start with CVS because I believe this where you can save the most money. For a great CVS Tutorial, check out the Thrifty Mama's post here.) Homeland is also another great store to use because they DOUBLE COUPONS up to a $1, everyday!

6) Don't try to figure all the deals out yourself. It can be very overwhelming to go through all the store ads and figure out which deals are the good ones and which deals you have coupons for – so DON'T DO IT! Visit these great blogs Money Saving Queen, Thrifty Mama, Deal Seeking Mom and take advantage of their hard work. Just be sure to comment and say thanks!

7) Finally, be organized. There are many different ways to organize your coupons, just do a google search for "organize coupons" and you'll get some great ideas. I currently just use a plain old envelope and paperclip different categories of coupons together. It's definitely not the best method but it works for now.

Many people go to much greater lengths of couponing then I ever will, for example, I will never buy coupons, participate in coupon trades or dig in dumpsters for other peoples thrown out coupon inserts (yes, this is something that some people actually do). I think the whole idea behind coupons is to just do as much as you feel comfortable with, don't spend too much time on it and don't buy things just because you have a coupon for it. One last thing, don't let other people who don't use coupons discourage you from SAVING MONEY. There is nothing wrong with trying to save money on the things that you are already going to buy. I can guarantee you that they won't be laughing when they see just how much money you are saving from couponing and you finally get to buy that new Maytag front loading washer and dryer or go on that much needed vacation to Mexico (sorry, I just got distracted with my wish list items, please feel free to insert your own). Don't pass up clipping a coupon for something you use, saying, "Oh, it's only a dollar." Designate a purpose for that dollar and then go out and save it! Before you know it, you'll be able to achieve some great financial goals.

No Filter Friday

Today is the day I can say all those things I've wanted to say all week but couldn't because I was filtering myself in order to achieve social acceptance.

• To the moms in the neighborhood that stand in front of their house and wait for the school bus to drop their kids off: You live less than 2 miles from the school! Get in the car and go pick your child up! Let's help save the school district a little money one pickup at a time.
  

• To the neighbors next door that constantly come over and "borrows" items to use for their meals: This is not Reasors, please make a grocery list and try a little harder to stock the items you seem to always forget. Here, I've made a list for you: butter, sugar, eggs, milk, and flour. Here's a link to coupons.com, you may even be able to save some money on those items. Thank you, drive thru, and please don't come again!
  

• To the greeter at Wal-Mart who tried to give my kid a sticker as soon as we walked in the door when she clearly saw that we were in the middle of an all out breakdown because he didn't want to sit in the shopping cart: Please back away and don't try and place your sticker on my kids shirt and then look at me like I'm the worst mother in the world when he tries to whack your hand away.
  

• To the new OBGYN I went to and voiced concern about what the possibility of being diagnosed with Hyperemesis again in my second pregnancy was and you replied, "We moms never come away unscathed from pregnancy" with that smart-ass little grin: Screw you lady! I lost over 20 pounds in three weeks, was basically made to feel like a crazy first time mom that didn't know my own body, had to have IV fluids multiple times, used 6 weeks of sick leave and vacation time and basically wanted to die. You obviously WILL NOT be the doctor I choose when I do become pregnant again.

Ahhhhhh, I feel much better! Why can't we all actually say these things on a daily basis? I bet we would feel much better at the end of the day. If you have anything you would like to say without your filter please share.

The Wordy Owl Syllabus

Remember the syllabus they handed out the first day of class in college to give you a guide as to what would be covered? I’ve decided to do that also since I couldn’t come up with a good tagline for my header. One of the first tips many professional bloggers give newbie’s, like myself, is to have a memorable phrase that sums up the tone and premise of what your blog is about and whether you will have topics that will interest the reader. Like my first post stated, I like to talk a lot, so for me to have to sum up my whole blog in about 5 words or less is like torture. So after days of trying to come up with something clever and witty to describe the type of blog this will be I decided to make a list of things we may discuss.

First, let me welcome you all to class. Please sit anywhere you like. Each of you should have a syllabus below that will give you an idea of what we will cover. I hope that you find topics that interest you and will become a participating member of the class. Please feel free to let me know any additional topics you would like to discuss and we’ll see what we can do.

·         Motherhood in general

·         Being a first time mom

·         Trying to conceive for a second time

·         Crazy and maybe not so crazy ways to try and conceive a girl

·         Explanation as to why it is “OK” to hope for a child of a certain sex

·         Tracking ovulation

·         Pregnancy

·         Raising a toddler

·         All the things nobody mentions regarding pregnancy, birth   and parenthood that would be really helpful to know in advance

·         Marriage

·         Becoming a stay at home mommy

·         Trying to still have a sense of self after becoming a wife and 
   mommy

·         Cooking and Recipes

·         Coupons and money saving deals

·         Rants and Raves on products, places and people

·         Anything else that happens to strike my fancy for the moment