A Beginner's Guide to Extreme Couponing

I never thought I would say this, but I am becoming an extreme couponer, and I LOVE IT!

Here's why:

1. It is fun, challenging, and a great way to save your family money.

2. We have more food and snacks in our house than usual, including fun products that we don't usually buy. I am spending less money and getting MORE FOOD!

3. It's a great way to GIVE! I have only been couponing for two months and already have excess in some areas. It is so fun to give away extra stuff you have!

One myth is that it takes too much time. Not true! It takes me about 30 minutes a week to organize new coupons (you can do this while watching TV), and an additional 30 minutes to make my shopping list for the week (sometimes I do this in bed - I think it's fun to plan out all of the deals I'm gonna score!). If you knew how much money you could save, finding this time wouldn't be an issue at all!

If you're interested in learning how to become an extreme couponer, I have compiled my start-up tips below. I was very hesitant to begin couponing at first because I felt so overwhelmed by all of the information out there. But I jumped in, regardless, and have never looked back! Hopefully what I have learned can help encourage you to do the same.

Keep in mind, I am a beginner, too, so feel free to share your tips with the rest of us in the comment section!

Important Things to Remember

1. Just like every other skill you learn, PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT. 

You will not coupon perfectly. I thought I was an exception to this rule, because I am very precise, thorough and sometimes...OCD, but alas, I have already made mistakes - matching the wrong coupon to the wrong item, trying to use the wrong coupon at the wrong place, etc. The important thing is to LEARN from those mistakes, enjoy the savings you DID get, and make changes to improve your next shopping trip.

2. YOU WILL NOT SCORE EVERY DEAL. 

There are simply TOO. MANY. SAVINGS. out there. You will wear yourself out if you try to get everything that's on sale, and if you have kids, they will start to hate shopping with you (if they don't already!). Plan out your trips so that you get the things you need the most first, and anything after that is a bonus!

3. Timing is everything.

Just because you have a coupon doesn't mean you should use it. Use the resources I will share below to learn when an item is at a rock bottom price. If you combine the sale with a manufacturer coupon AND a store coupon, you can get the item for a steal! And sometimes, even FOR FREE!

Got it?

Let's Get Started!

1. Get a coupon binder started.

I started out with one of those collapsible coupon binders. This works ok, but if you're really going to get into this, a binder is DEFINITELY BEST. You will soon tire of shuffling through each section to find that one coupon you know is in there somewhere...A binder makes it so much easier to find everything quickly and efficiently.

There are two ways to organize your binder: 1) By coupon issue date or 2) By section (Produce, Snacks, Dairy, etc.).

I chose to organize mine by section so that's the method I will describe in this post.

KrazyCouponLady.com has some GREAT TIPS on how to organize your binder, AND (bonus!) some really adorable printable section dividers. Check out their webpage below:

How to Start Your Coupon Binder

Here are the basics:

3 in Binder
Baseball card page protectors*
Dividers (I used old folders my husband had from work and punched holes in them).

*Baseball card page protectors can be found at Target or Walmart at the front by the registers. Know where the weird trading card section is with YugiOh and Pokemon and stuff? Ya, you have to walk through that aisle...You can get a set of 30 pages for $4.99. Ironically, I haven't found a coupon for those anywhere...

2. Buy 4-6 copies of the Sunday paper

FOUR - SIX COPIES??? Yes. No arguing. I only bought one at first because I thought 4-6 was only for crazy people. Turns out I'm crazy...but so are you if you don't believe me here! This is how you really save the mega bucks, and YES it is worth the purchase price of the paper. One study found that couponing can earn you on average up to $50+ AN HOUR! HOLY COW!

I buy my Sunday newspaper on Mondays because they are discounted. At Albertsons, they have a bundle of two papers for $3 on Mondays. Some people work out a system with a gas station where they can pick up unused papers after they're done with them on Sundays. This is the best option (obviously) because it's free. But still, I spend $6/week on newspapers and it's a better investment than you know! I turned around yesterday after buying my papers, walking into CVS without a wallet, and got four eyeshadows, one tube of Colgate whitening toothpaste, and four things of deodorant WITHOUT PAYING A PENNY. After my final transaction from my shopping trip yesterday, I spent $50 and saved $82. And I'm a newbie!

3. Organize your coupons. 

Pull apart each page of the coupon section from each paper and stack all of the first pages together, second pages together, etc. so that each similar page is grouped together. Staple each set of pages, then cut out the coupons. I like to organize the coupons in my binder after I clip two or three different ones so that I don't have a huge pile of coupons to organize after I'm done cutting everything. If you need help visualizing this, check out the link I mentioned above: How to Start Your Coupon Binder.

4a. Research!

This step did not sound fun to me, but it really does help. Get to know different coupon policies by store, and start one store at a time. I started with Target (find their coupon policy here). In general, the basic things to remember are:

• Typically you can use four identical coupons on four different items. Example: If I have $1 off of Wheat Thins, I can use four copies of the same coupon and buy four different boxes of Wheat Thins. 

• You can use one manufacturer coupon (the ones you clip from the paper) and one store coupon per item. You can find store coupons by downloading a store's app or subscribing to their emails. 

• Most stores let you have at least two separate transactions. 

This step should be continued throughout your couponing endeavors. You can never know too much about how to save! There are always more sales to learn about and more coupons to find.

4b. SHOP!

(One of my recent steals - all of this for $4.32 from Walgreens!)

I could not be an extreme couponer without KCL (krazycouponlady.com). Sign up for her alerts on her page to receive emails about amazing offers and sales.

Here is how I utilize their website:

I need to go to Target. I go to krazycouponlady.com, click on stores, and select Target. It will then list all of the major deals that week and what coupons to use on each deal. For example:

Wheats Thins - $2.00
Use $1 off coupon from SS 3/23 ( = Smart Source coupon insert from 3/23)
and 50c off Target mobile coupon (text SPRING to 827-438 for offer)

I write out my shopping list by listing each item on sale, and I pull the coupons from my binder to use on those items.

KCL's advice is to start with one store at a time. It is easy to think OMG I'll go to Albertsons, CVS, Walgreens, Target AND Kroger this week and I'll save SO MUCH MONEY.

Don't.

You will wear yourself out and hate couponing forever.

I try to stick to 1-2 stores a week right now while I am still learning. Also, I have a 6 month old, and it's difficult to take her to more than one or two places in a row.

Additionally, CVS and Walgreens have customer rewards programs that are a little tricky to learn at first. BUT, they are worth learning about once you feel more comfortable, because that's where you can really score some serious deals.

Couponing is changing my life by helping me save money for my family, and GIVE to other people! Hopefully I will be able to give increasingly more as I get better at this.

What are your questions? Tips? Ideas?

You're on your way to becoming a krazy coupon lady!

As KCL.com says, "Pick another checkout lane, honey!"