Getting Started With Coupons: Keep It Simple

Using coupons to save significant money at grocery and retail stores doesn't have to involve hours of coupon clipping and organizing every day, despite what shows like Extreme Couponing might lead you to believe. Couponing is not an all-or-nothing way to save money. Putting in a little time you can easily knock a few bucks off your grocery bill, and with little more effort you can save significant money every time you shop. And you don't need to end up with a massive stockpile of paper towels and canned soup in your basement to have something to show for your efforts. Simply keeping track - whether by spreadsheet or jotting it in a notebook - of the $2, $5, or $20 you save each week will motivate you and give you something to proud of. And take note, or even pictures, of things like scoring a month's worth of your favorite brand of toilet paper at a major savings.

It's easy to get caught up in coupons and potential money-saving deals. To avoid this, keep only coupons for groceries and non-food items that you will actually use. If you see a great deal for something you don't really like, just let it go or tell someone you know who would benefit from it. Don't waste time convincing yourself that you might actually like using Tom's of Main toothpaste when you've been a Colgate-only user since you were 10. Absolutely use coupons to try new products, but don't clip a coupon just to clip a coupon. You'll end up with coupon clutter and wasted money.

Devote 30-60 minutes or so once or twice a week to sort through your coupons. I like to gather and clip my coupons on Sunday after the newspaper is delivered and on Wednesday after the mid-week circulars arrive in the mail. If the week is extra chaotic or I am just not into it on Wednesday, I save the mailers for Sunday. Because I have a child to attend to, I generally get to couponing in the evening, either in complete silence so it feels like "me" time, or with a TV show I've been wanting to watch. Other than those 2 sessions I rarely look at any coupons I accumulate during the week so I don't obsess about what I might or might not save money on during my next shopping trip. If you tend at all to obsess about things, sticking to your designated couponing times will save you from wasting your precious energy worrying about them on non-coupon days, and if you tend to be too lazy to bother looking at coupons from the mail and newspaper, you only have to work for 60 minutes out of an entire week to help your budget.

If you've been on couponing blogs or watched Extreme Couponing you know that coupon fanatics use binders and folders and lists and spreadsheets and every type of organizing system you can think of. While you can get some good tips from these extreme couponers, this won't work for the busy or lazy couponer. Use a very basic organizing system with envelopes labeled: food, household items, pet supplies, paper goods, restaurants, etc. For specific stores, label the envelopes with the store's name. If that's still too much for you, paper clip your coupons by category and keep them in an envelope, folder, drawer, or whatever works best for you. Purchasing a basic coupon organizer can make things even simpler for you. You can find coupon organizers that are set up alphabetically or you can use one that allows you to label the sections yourself.

Using your coupons while items are on sale will stretch your dollars further. Looking through the store ads that come with the Sunday paper will help you match your coupons to current sales. But if you're busy, lazy, tired, or all of the above, let the coupon bloggers do the work for you. A quick Google for 'coupon match-ups' will bring up more coupon sites than you'll ever need. You can also search for match-ups for a specific store if you'd like. Pick 2 or 3 of these sites that you find most helpful, bookmark them, and use them during your coupon sessions as you make your grocery list.

Prepare your coupons before you hit the store. You don't need to spend much time doing this, but organizing your coupons shortly before you go into the store will save you time once you're there. I like to organize mine by the sections in the store. I usually go to the produce section first, so any produce coupons I have I put first in my pile. Other sections might be dairy, frozen, canned/packaged, paper goods, and toiletries. Since I don't always shop at the same store I order my coupon sections according to the order I will be shopping in. Any more organization than that takes more time than I am willing to spend, and it works for me.

Make a list before you shop. Lists keep you on target with your coupons and keep you from making unplanned purchases. Impulse buys only thwart your couponing efforts. So that you don't have to think too much about your coupons, indicate on your list which items you have a coupon for. I put a 'Q' next to item on my list, but you can highlight it or write it in a different color or a special section on your list.

The most important thing in all of your couponing efforts is that you create an effective system that serves your needs and is easy for you to maintain no matter how busy life gets.