This is a 5 part course designed to help you understand and get a jump start on using coupons. I first posted this several months ago but thought it might be time to share it again. Make sure to read all 5 parts!

---

Part One – Couponing: Think Big, but Start Small
Okay…this is it! You’ve read about people saving 75% on their grocery bills by using coupons, and you know that if they can do it, so can you. You clip EVERY coupon you can find out of your Sunday paper for three weeks in a row. You print EVERY coupon you see on SwagGrabber and its coupon links. You diligently scour your local supermarket’s sales circulars. You put out the dogs, you pack up the kids, you put on your running shoes and you head out the door. You are ready! Today is the day! You will bring home $100 worth of groceries and not pay a penny over $25. You will be a couponing genius…no a couponing legend.

Fast forward two hours: Scenario #1, either you chickened out, and still haven’t gone on that first coupon extravaganza shopping trip or, Scenario #2, you’re STILL at the grocery store. Your children have screamed so much that their little voices are about gone, so they’ve resorted to flailing themselves on the floor and vowing never to move until you buy their favorite cereal (which you don’t have a coupon for) and three different flavors of juice boxes. You’ve dropped your stack of coupons twice, and the kids threw eight of them on the floor when you weren’t looking. Your basket is completely full, and includes two loaves of flattened bread, three cracked eggs, a squished bag of Doritos, and a leaking carton of ice cream you added to your haul over an hour ago. With a confident smile on your face and a spring in your step, you hand over your coupons to the cashier. The cashier turns to you, and with a smile says, “That’ll be $187.32 please. Oh, and you saved $17.10 with your coupons.” Your heart sinks to your belly-button as you pay for your groceries, and you leave the store completely and utterly defeated.

Sound familiar? Then keep reading. A lot of us, including myself have developed an all-or-nothing attitude. You feel that if you’re going to explore this couponing thing, then you’re going to give it all you’ve got. You’re smart and you know that it can be done, because you read about it on people’s blogs every single day. Okay, well that’s fine and dandy, but just remember that Rome wasn’t built in a day. It takes time, patience, and a lot of research to work up to huge savings at the grocery stores. The people that make it look easy, are able to do so because they’ve been doing it a long time, and have refined their skills. Remember the first time you tried to play piano, or ride a bike, or cook a Thanksgiving dinner for your whole entire family? Those kinds of things take practice to perfect, and so does couponing. So, let’s take just a couple of steps to get started. Each day this week, we will add more to this equation, so that you’ll be a coupon expert in no time!

Want to read more?

Stacking Coupons
If you’re reading blogs like SwagGrabber, then you’re on the right track. Sheri posts great deals from several different stores each week that combine coupons and sales, to get you items for free, or at very reduced prices. If she doesn’t list a store in your area, or one that you prefer to shop at, a good resource is The Grocery Gathering. (They have bloggers from all over the country that submit weekly specials and coupon match-ups from their local stores. The lists of store deals will show you how to stack your coupons and sales. That means that the optimal time to purchase an item is when your store has it on sale, and you have a coupon for it. Sometimes you can even find a manufacturer’s coupon and a store coupon for the same item. And, YES, at most stores, you can use both the coupons on one item. (check with your local stores about their coupon policies) Target is one store that has a perfect example of what I’m talking about. Let’s say that they have a sale on Kraft Mayo for $1.99. They also have a $1 Target (store) coupon circulating, and Kraft recently published a $1 manufacturer’s coupon. If you take both of those coupons to Target, while their sale is going on, you can use the two coupons together on one jar of mayo and leave the store with a completely free jar! Depending on your state’s sales tax laws, you may or may not have to pay the tax on the purchase.

Another way to gain a black belt in couponing, is by knowing the secret to buy-one-get-one free (B1G1) coupons and promotions. Let’s say your store is having a sale on Ritz crackers for $2 per box. You have a coupon for B1G1 free for Ritz crackers. So, in order to use that coupon, you’ll have to take two boxes of Ritz to the register. Now, let’s also say you have a $1 off coupon on a box of Ritz. You can give the cashier BOTH coupons to use on that transaction. You are “buying” one box of crackers with a $1 off coupon and then you are “getting” the second box of crackers for free with your second coupon! Therefore, you have just purchased two boxes of crackers for $1 total, or .50 each. By combining the sale and both coupons, you have just saved yourself $1.50 per box!

Let’s take this a step further. Last week, Rite Aid Stores had Mars candy bars on sale, B1G1 free. A lot of you may have participated in the recent Free Chocolate Friday promo that has been plastered all over freebies sites everywhere, and may have received your free candy bar coupon in the mail. So, here’s what you do. You can take that coupon for a free candy bar to Rite aid, and combine it with their current B1G1 sale and get TWO candy bars completely for free. You are “buying” one candy bar with your coupon, and they are “giving” you the second candy bar for free, per their promotion. Yes, I am telling the truth! Confusing? Read this paragraph again. It’s okay…I’ll wait.

Stockpiling
Now, let’s take the mayo deal one step further and talk about stockpiling. Let’s say you normally pay $2.99 for a jar of mayo every time you run out. And let’s say you go through about one jar of mayo each month. While the Kraft Mayo deal is going on at Target, let’s say you can get your hands on some coupons and make several different trips there. Each time you’re there, you do one or two of the mayo deals. Let’s say that over the course of the sale, you accumulate 12 free jars of mayo. You can store these jars in your pantry or cabinet, until you are ready to use them. So, the month passes, you run out of mayo, and you simply reach into the pantry to get another jar…a FREE jar that you stocked up on during the sale. You JUST SAVED $2.99, by using a free jar, and not having to run to the store and pay full price! Now that you have all the free jars of mayo, you can do that every month for a year. If you did ONLY the mayo deal, in a year’s time you would save $35.88, just on mayo! Now, imagine doing that with some of the other grocery staples you use. Multiply those savings by a year, and look at how much you’re really saving!

Stockpiling is probably the single best way to save a ton of money on your grocery bill. But beware; your stockpile won’t be built overnight. If you decide to run out to the store right after reading this article, and go buy 12 jars of mayo for $2.99 each, in order to start building your stockpile, you haven’t just saved yourself the $35.88 we were just talking about. Stockpiling isn’t just about going out and buying a bunch of one item, it’s about buying multiples of that item when you can get it extremely cheap, or for free. Buy what you must have during each shopping trip, and keep an eye open for an extraordinarily great sale on a frequently used item. And don’t get in a hurry. An awesome stockpile can take you months (if not even longer) to build, and it is always in transition. I’ve been at this for some time now, and I’m still building my stockpile. Here’s a shortened list of items I currently have in my stockpile and approximately what I paid for each item. I have AT LEAST a year’s supply of each item:

Shampoo & cream rinse (purchased for less than 50 cents each)
Toothpaste (free)
Shaving cream/gel (free – .25 each)
Razors and refills (free – $1 each)
Soap/body wash (free – .25 each)
Lotions & moisturizers (free …I probably have a lifetime supply of this stuff!)
Ritz and Wheat Thins crackers (free – .25 per box)
Mayo (free)
Pace Picante sauce (free)
Kraft BBQ sauce (free)
Graham crackers (.66 each)
Kraft Mac & Cheese (.18 each)
Assorted brands of hot dogs (free – .33 each package)

We have a lot more in our stockpile, but you get the idea. And please realize that just because we own our weight in Mac & Cheese and hot dogs, it doesn’t mean that we will be eating that every night for dinner. It just means that when we want to cook weenies on the grill, I can reach in the freezer and pull out a package I paid 33 cents for, rather than running to the store (costing additional money by using my time and gasoline) and picking up a package for $3.00.

Now, here’s where the big money savings come in. Once your stockpile is building, you will start to spend less money on the items you need each week. That will cut you grocery bill down drastically, giving you some extra money to continue to stockpile new items. Eventually, you will find yourself buying only perishables (milk, bread, eggs) each week, and even those will be at great prices, since you will have learned which stores have the best sales and prices. And some of that saved money will go towards more stockpiling, and so on, and so on, and so on!

Well, where in the world am I going to put 10 boxes of crackers, you may ask? This is where you can get creative! We have converted an unused coat closet near our kitchen, into a pantry. And when it gets full, we’ve made a little extra room in our linen closet for the overflow. We recently evicted our furry dust bunnies, so toilet paper, paper towels, and other household items occasionally get stored under our bed. Cans of veggies, fruit, or soda fit great under the bed as well. One more thing that’s very important to remember: ROTATE ROTATE ROTATE! For those of you who have ever worked in the food industry, you know exactly what I’m talking about. For the rest of you, rotating your food simply means to put the newest items at the bottom or back of the pile, and use up the older items first. That way, you won’t have a bunch of expired and useless food at the back of your pantry.

The next question that may come to mind is, “How do I know what a good price is, to stock up on items?” Price points or, buy NOW prices are as individual as your own wardrobe. Each state and region has their own cost of living, and what Sheri may use as her BUY NOW price for chicken down in Florida, may be nothing even close to my BUY NOW price up in Washington State. So although we would love to give you a grocery list with rock bottom prices, it’s just not feasible and probably wouldn’t fit you or your needs. SO…it’s a good thing we’re going to talk more about that in tomorrow’s article!

So for now, the tidbits and secrets I’ve shared with you may not make you achieve the status of “coupon royalty” quite yet, but if it can save you a few manic hours at the grocery stores, protect you from flying coupons, flailing children, and melting ice cream, then I would have to say you’re well on your way. It’s all about those baby steps.

Entire Series….
Part 1 – Couponing Think Big Start Small – click HERE to read Part 1
Part 2 – Price Points & How to Find Coupons – click HERE to read Part 2
Part 3 – The Illusive Foreign Language of Couponing – click HERE to read Part 3
Part 4 – Coupon Organization – click HERE to read Part 4
Part 5 = Your First Shopping Trip – click HERE to read Part 5