I have been using coupons for about six months now and here are some quick tips that I wish I had known when I started, or just need to be repeated! Money Saving Mom helped me learn about coupons!
- BE PATIENT- (not my strong suit) I am just now really starting to see the rewards of my effort and now saving some money (6 months later). I am stocked up on quite a few things and I even have a list of things not to buy unless they are free!
- SELECT ONE STORE to start with- (I did not follow this advise and I wish I would have, I now am usually only using one store a week). Start with the store that you frequent most often (Dillon’s for me, Kroger) and learn the ropes at that store before moving on to the next!
- STAY ON BUDGET! (Another piece of advise I didn’t follow at first, not intentionally, but just by making rookie mistakes) Do NOT decrease your budget for at least two months of using coupons, it takes a while to learn the ropes and be comfortable! You will still have to pay tax on FREE items! When I first started using coupons, I usually went over our budget by $20 each week.
- GET INTO A COUPON ROUTINE! Block out a certain amount of coupon time and stick with it, otherwise it is very easy to have coupons take over all your time! The first couple of months, I was on the computer (looking for and learning about deals/coupons) at least an extra 30 minutes a day and cutting out and organizing took a while!
- ORGANIZATION, find a way that works for you on organizing your coupons!
Comments
Another thing I would duggest is only clip coupons you know you will use. Or go to the store flier online and see what’s on sale first, then you can clicp the coupons that correspond with the deals. That way you don’t have a stash of 50 coupons with 20 of them expired! I love the idea about one store at a time. Krogers is a great one to start with because you can clip manufactureers coupons (or print them) and also load coupons to your Kroger card (to save ink). I do print out a list of what coupons are on my card, but it is still less than clipping a half a page for each coupon!