Couponing 101
If you are new to couponing, this is definitely the first place you should stop and look around. There are a lot of tools for you here that will make your journey into the world of serious couponing less bumpy.
Stop #1 – Price Book
It’s difficult to know if a deal is really a deal if you don’t know what the regular price is for an item in your area. I suggest you start a price book. A price book is simply a log of what you pay for items in your area. Once you have recorded your prices for a while, you will know what you are willing to pay for an item. Below are two links for FREE PDF files of price book pages.
I suggest you print several of them, hole punch them, and keep them in a binder. You can sort your price book based on the category that makes sense to you: Store Name, Item, etc…..
Stop #2 – Know the Coupon Lingo
You need to understand the common coupon/shopping abbreviations that are used by stores, on blogs, and in forums. At first, you many think you have discovered a foreign language, but you will get the hang of it pretty quickly.
Stop #3 – Get Your Sunday Newspaper
The majority of your coupons are found in the Sunday Newspaper. Get a subscription to the largest newspaper in your area. These typically have larger coupon inserts. On weeks when there are more inserts in the newspaper than usual, buy more newspapers. I suggest finding a store in your area that sells newspapers below the news stand price. In my area, Walmart and Kroger usually sell the Sunday newspaper for $0.99 (news stand price $1.75). Many Dollar General Stores sell the Sunday newspaper for $1.00.
Stop #4 – Sunday Coupon Insert Schedule
An educated shopper is a shopper that saves the most money. Know what coupons to expect in the Sunday paper and plan accordingly. You can find a list here of the coupon schedule for the entire year. The list is quite accurate but sometimes I am surprised with a change. On Thursdays I post what coupons to expect on Sunday. When you know what coupons are in the newspaper you can decide how many papers you want to buy!
Stop #5 – Organize Your Coupons
Now you have coupons you will need to organized them.
Stop #6 – Other Ways to Get Coupons
Stop #7 – Know Store Coupon Policies
Stop #8 – The Drug Store Game
Stop #9 – How To Get Rock Bottom Prices at Grocery Stores
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