How To coupon – Anne’s Way.
Coupons – I get mine mainly from the weekly Sunday newspapers. I follow things like Tide, Gain, P&G, Windex – things like that on Facebook. Occasionally they do ‘high’ value coupon give aways that will either mail them to your house directly or you can print them. You can only print an online coupon twice. I also print off Target coupons on their website www.target.com
I normally get 3 newspapers, but I am noticing I am in need of 4 so I will be updating that. The reason for multiple coupons is so I can score multiple good deals. Example: Everyone uses ketchup – lets say you use 1 thing of ketchup a month – normal sales cycle about every 3 months, so your stuck paying retail value on ketchup.
Networking – I follow many couponers who explain and share deals they come across – Couponers Connections, Couponers United, The Krazy Coupon Lady are some good ones. There are plenty – and its always nice to see the deals on your FB news feed.
Organize – I HIGHLY recommend buying a binder and baseball card sleeves. It has honestly saved me hours in the store. I have mine organized into sections: Personal, Cleaning, House, Dry Food, Condiments, Frozen, Meat, Dairy, Misc. Etc.. do what works best for you!
Print off your stores coupon policy. There is nothing worse than getting in line and having a cashier tell you ‘no I can’t take that’ when they can. Having the policy provides backup. Also – some stores even accept competitor coupons. Stores like Target allow you to use a store coupon on top of a manufacturer coupon (this is called stacking). You can’t use two manufacturer coupons on the same product – only 1 per product.
When to use coupons-
If you shop at the commissary – I HIGHLY recommend waiting until in between pay cycles. They get crazy busy. BUT from what I have noticed is the commissary has better sales the weeks in between the pay periods. Not to mention, there is less of a crowed and less of a fuss – plus there are normally extra deals and coupons on the shelves. You can check your commissaries advertised sales at www.commissary.com/">www.commissary.com
I match up my sales in the flyers with my coupons. If it isn’t on sale, I wait for it to go on sale. That’s the key. Waiting for something to go on sale and then using a coupon on top of that.
Example – Lysol Cleaner is $2.69 at Publix – I had a $1.00/2 ($1.00 off every 2 you buy) so it would of made them $2.19 each – BUT when Lysol Cleaner is on BOGO I can use the $1.00 off coupon and get them for $1.69 – or $0.84 each.
I normally make two or three trips to the store a week, 1 to Target, 1 to publix, and sometimes 1 to WalMart.
Don’t buy something if you don’t need it.
Also, don’t buy something just because you have a coupon. Make sure it really is cheaper, it isn’t always.
That’s really how I do it. I just follow sales and match them up with coupons, and it pays off. I started and only saved like $20 a trip, and now I’m starting to get pretty good at it about a year later.