Save Money With Coupons: 15 Tips From The Coupon Lady

Back 15 years ago when my kids were young, it was a HUGE treat for me to go to the grocery store at night when my kids were home and their Dad was home with them. I would leave the house at 9:00p.m. and come home at 1:00 a.m. supercharged and excited about all the money I had saved. I always perused the store fliers, compared coupons and made a list of what I wanted at each store, and had an envelope for each store with the coupons I would use. On a regular basis, I spent only $60.00 for a family of 5, and a dog, and saved an average of $110! The cashiers didn't always know my name, but they knew I used a lot of coupons and saved a lot of money, so they would say, Here comes, "The Coupon Lady." That's how I got that nickname. I was very careful not to take advantage of the store policies, or give the cashiers a hard time, and it worked out very well. The cashiers were usually as excited about my deals as I was! The following 15 tips helped me the most to save money for my family. I hope they help you:

TIPS FOR SAVING:

1) Buy the local Sunday paper: Each Sunday manufacturers put coupon fliers into the papers. Some towns it may come on Saturdays, but whatever day your local newspaper has coupon fliers in them, buy at least one copy. This way you will have access to all the coupons that are coming out in your area.

2) Clip ONE of every coupon. I know it sounds crazy, especially if it's a product you don't use, but you may have clipped a coupon for diapers that your neighbor could use, and they may have a coupon for cat food that you could use, and in this way you can share the wealth of coupon savings. File them in your large coupon holder...

3) Have a large coupon holder. If you are going to clip one of every coupon in your newspaper, week after week, then you will need a large container for them. Some people use shoe boxes with cardboard dividers, or if they want something sturdier they use plastic Sterilite containers. Tool boxes and long craft boxes work well too.Other people, including many of those featured in the show, "Extreme Couponing" use binder notebooks with clear plastic windows so they can see their coupons more quickly than digging through a box. Whatever system you think will work best for you is the one you should use.

4) Have a smaller coupon holder that you organize ahead of time, with a separate divider for each store you are going to. That way, all the coupons you will need for that store will be available to you in one organized section. You can use envelopes, or purchase one of the small accordion style coupon holders in grocery stores for this purpose.

5) Shop at more than one store. In this way, you will be able to take advantage of all the stores in your area, and get the best deals on everything you will buy. This works well if you have a lot of grocery and pharmacies in your area. If not, go to the ones that make the most sense gas wise. In my town, there are 3 grocery stores, a Walmart, Walgreens, CVS and Rite Aid all within 5 miles of each other. I can hit them all and spend under 1 gallon of gas ( I get 34 miles to the gallon in my car!!!)

6) Make a shopping list. On Sundays, sit down with the store fliers, and go through each one to see what the sales are and what you want to purchase that week for your family. Make a list, and compare it to the coupons you have just gotten that day, as well as the ones you have clipped and filed in your coupon holder. Not only should you shop with a list, but stick to it! Although it's tempting to pick something up that happens to look delicious, it won't help you stay on your budget. The only time you should purchase anything not on your list is if there is an unadvertised store special that is a great deal.

7) Bring ALL of your coupons with you to the stores when you go shopping. You will need to have access to ALL your coupons whenever you go shopping because you might find an unadvertised special and you don't want to be caught without your stash of coupons because you won't be able to take advantage of the sale.By the time you run home and get your coupons, the shelves will probably be cleared. Keep your smaller container or envelope for that store youa re in at the top of your coupon holder for easier access. Note: if you use a tool box or craft box, it will fit easily into the child seat in the front of the cart...which leads me to the next tip...

8) Never go shopping with your children: You love your kids but you know how excited they get in a grocery store to see their favorite foods, cereals, candy, toys, etc. And it's hard to keep them busy, and to have them not ask for all the things they want. It can drive a mom or dad crazy when they are trying to stay organized with their coupons and match sizes of products to the coupons in their hands when kids are trying to have conversations with you about the newest brand of something they just saw an ad for on TV. It's easier to save and stay organized if you leave the kids home with a parent, grandma, or a neighbor...you can always return the favor and watch her kids someday.

9) Make a budget and stick to it. If you really want to save money, you need to be careful to not go over budget. Decide how much you want to spend on groceries each week, and stick with it. If you have extra money some weeks, put it aside so another week you can use it to stock up on a special.

10) Shop with cash. You will be much more likely to stick with a budget if you know you only have so much cash to spend and you are paying with cash. The freedom of using a debit or credit card can get shoppers into trouble because they don't actually see the cash leaving their hands and figure they have enough money in their accounts to handle a few extras...over the months, those extras can add up, and break your shopping budget.To make this easier, shop with a calculator to keep track of purchases as you buy them.

11) Shop every week. Just as you want to be able to take advantage of every store, you also want to take advantage of every sale at the stores. Even if you just go in for the specials to a few stores, it will be worth it if you can save money on those products.

12) Stock up on sales so you'll never have to pay full price. If you see your regular brand of deodorant that is regularly $2.99 and it's on sale and you have a coupon that will make it 99 cents ( or less) stock up on as many as you can...or at least enough to get you to the next time that product goes on sale. Then you will never have to pay full price for it again. If you do this with all your groceries, you will see a huge savings by the end of the year.If you need storage room, build shelves in your basement, store items in every closet, under beds, etc.

13) Combine sales with coupons whenever possible. Having a coupon for something, or being able to buy a product on sale is great to save money, but if you combine a coupon with a sale, you'll save even more money. Do this every week and you'll see the savings mount up.

14) Call the 1-800 number on most of the products in your house. Tell them you like their products and were wondering if they have any coupons they can send you or put you on a mailing list. Often they are so happy that you aren't calling to complain, they are happy to oblige. It's so nice to get coupons in the mail rather than more bills!

15) Get your friends, neighbors, and relatives to save coupons for you. Most people don't pay attention to the coupon fliers, or only take a few out then recycle the fliers. If they know someone else can use them, most people are happy to save them for you.

HELPFUL WEBSITES:

In the past 15 years, there have been a lot of great improvements in ways to get coupons, and make saving easier. I highly recommend the website Couponmom.com, which will let you log in by your state and see the sales in your towns for pharmacies and grocery stores, and what coupons you can combine with the sales, and how much the final cost will be. You can also go to smartsource.com and download coupons from there. Some stores are reluctant to take them because people have made copies and ripped the stores off. Find out what your store coupon policies are about accepting internet coupons before you try to use them. Good luck saving and please feel free to comment or ask any questions.

Would you like to become a writer for Hub Pages? It's free to join and fun. I am available to answer any questions you may have, but to sign up for Hub Pages yourself, click on this link:

http://hubpages.com/_kbababif7771