How to Begin Couponing

I've gotten numerous requests for some information, how I started, and how I find deals. I figured posting it would be the best thing!

First off, I need to mention the site, The Krazy Coupon Lady, that has given me SO much information and educated me on how to begin. A lot of what I'm saying I have learned from their site, so definitely visit their site and if you're new, take a look at their "Become a Krazy Coupon Lady in 10 Days" posting.


1. I began this journey by just wanting to save our family some money. There were many sites I was introduced to, but here are some that really stood out to me:
The Krazy Coupon Lady
My Litter
Saving Our Way
My Frugal Adventures

My first piece of advice would be to glance over these sites and any others that you have found and start to learn how they have found deals. At first, it will be VERY overwhelming, but once you visit them regularly, you will learn how they are finding their deals and making the best out of their coupons.

2. This is a piece of advice I got from The Krazy Coupon Lady, but I would definitely recommend choosing a few stores that you like to shop at or notice they have a great amount of deals. I chose Walmart, Target, Walgreens and Albertsons. You then want to print each store policy. You can find these either at their site OR The Krazy Coupon Lady has them all at her site. This is handy for two reasons: 1. You can educate yourself on what coupons they will or will not take and 2. You can have them on hand in case a cashier gives you trouble and you know you're in the right. Thankfully, I've never had this happen, but if it ever does, I have the policy ready and on hand.

3. You want to start getting the Sunday paper. Although their are a lot of coupons available on line and sometimes those are the ones we use, the coupon booklets that come are full of great savings. You want to start out with at least 3-4 per week. I hear a lot of people saying "but I'm spending money on the paper and not saving!" Yes, you're spending around $20/month on the paper, but if you're couponing regularly, they will pay off plus some. As you can see in a previous post, I saved $69.00 for my first month of using coupons.

4. This is something that is VERY important. You want to get a binder and begin organizing your coupons. You will be so surprised by how quickly your coupons can multiply. The Krazy Coupon Lady has a page on organizing your binder, and although I organized mine somewhat like the one she showed, I made it my own since every person's preference is different. I will be posting a blog sometime today or tomorrow on how I organize my binder (with pictures) but I can give a brief explanation for now.
I begin by getting baseball card holders. This is where you will be putting all your coupons and categorizing them.
I sat down and broke down all my coupons into categories, such as groceries, baby needs, household supplies, health/beauty. At first, this worked. However, I still found myself searching and spending more time than was needed fumbling through them. Now, I have them categorized ever further. I have dairy, snacks, breakfast foods, makeup, diapers, etc.
This is where it comes to your own preference. Some people prefer to have each catagory by month. I have my page that says "breakfast" followed by 4 baseball sleeves. Each one signifies 1 month. That way, I'm not wasting paper by printing out each category 4 times and I'm taking full advantage of my sleeves. Again, I know this is hard to understand without visual representation, so I will be including pictures soon.

5. Once you have your book organized, it'll be much easier from week to week putting your coupons in there. Next, you're going to want to chose a few fliers from the stores you like to shop at and begin looking for good deals. I like starting with Walgreens because they advertise A LOT of products each week. Also, their store coupons are directly on the ad. From there, you can choose a product that is on sale, and look through your coupons (that are already nicely categorized!) and start saving! When you're first starting off, it's a good idea to go to some blogs like mine as well as the other blogs I mentioned and do some of the deals that they're posting. That way, you're starting to save, getting a feel for using the coupons, and not stressing over the searching yet.

6. Doubling coupons. This is something that many people get confused over. The only places you can double coupons at are places that have their own store coupons AND take manufacturer coupons. Places like Walgreens, Albertsons, Target, and ToysRUs all do these. Again, this is where your store policy print out will come in handy in case someone gives you a hard time for using two coupons.
Here's an example:
If you see on my blog, I got a GREAT diaper deal last week at ToysRUs. Here's how:

Earth's Best diapers on SALE for $5.00/pack
- Used $1.50 Manufacturer coupon (found on their site)
-Used a $2.00 ToysRU coupon from their flyer
Total= $1.50/pack



There are SOO many more things to go over including using Catalina printouts, so I may have to make this a two part posting. For now, I hope this was helpful to some of you. If you have any more questions or concerns, please feel free to let me know!! The last thing I wanted to post were some useful sites (besides the ones above) that are good to bookmark:

Target Coupons
Sunday Coupon Preview
Baby Cheapskate

Amanda