Couponing, The Stress, The Work, The Exhilaration!

For the past three weeks I have been doing an experiment here in the Walker household. Desperately needing to find a way to help my family save money, I stumbled upon TLC's Extreme Couponing show. Now, obviously my first reaction was, these chicks are nuts. No one can do that. My stores don't let you have coupons like that. I don't need 800 cans of dog food. Wait... or do I? Yes... I kind of do.

I am the mom of 6 (5 actively in my house) children, 2 dogs and the wife of a man who thankfully has a love for the food I cook. Where has couponing been all of my life? They don't call them starving artists for nothing. When I am not doing a show or actively selling my art or beads online, times can get a little rough around here. My husband has a great job but these days it really does take two incomes or some really fancy footwork in regards to shuffling bills in order to make ends meet. Having a family is not cheap.

Everyday we hear about amusement parks raising prices, gas prices are skyrocketing, even dairy products are more expensive. How is a household supposed to get the things they need to just get by, let alone get to do something as a family?

Well my fellow couponing newbies, let me show you the way.. so far as I understand it.

First let me say I have not yet gone to the store and had a huge coupon haul and paid nothing or only $5.00 for $700 worth of groceries. I am still learning and hopefully will get there someday. I may faint from excitement if that day comes.

Second let me just give the disclaimer that you really will have to do a lot of work and research for this to work for you. Not everyone has that kind of time on their hands. However, if you desperately need to save money for your family I am starting you on a way to do it. It is my firm belief that the United States needs to implement a program for people in need. There should be free classes mandatory on how to coupon and save money at the store if you apply for help. I was there once. We needed help and I had no idea there were ways to save money like this.

Let's start with gathering supplies. You will need:

1. A binder. You can start with a 1 inch but if you really get rocking with couponing you will need a 3 inch binder.
2. Coupon insert pockets like the ones you can get for baseball cards. Some Walmarts actually sell ones for couponing with different sizes in the package. You can also google or Amazon for these.
3. Binder dividers. You will want to label your sections for ease of flipping right to what you need at the store.
4. a note book
5. a calculator (unless you are a math whiz)
6. scissors or a handy scrap book paper cutter. I love the cutters myself. They make life easier. 
7. Subscription to the local newspaper. 

This is my binder.. be gentle with me (it is only 3 weeks old)

Next you will need to either visit your favorite stores and ask about their coupon policies or google the coupon policies. For instance, quick go Google search "Walmart Coupon Policy". Then come right back. It will take you right to the policy. It is my humble advice for you to print out the coupon policies when applicable. Sometimes, you will get the associate who is not really sure. Having the policy in print will someday save you time and frustration. 

The secret to successful couponing is to know what is actually on sale. Use your coupons on items that are on sale, preferably at stores that will double coupons. My local Fry's grocery store does not double coupons. What they will do is if you have a manufacturer's coupon that is under $1.00 they will bump the worth up to the $1 limit. So if you have a .50 cent coupon for something like Suave shampoo your coupon will automatically bump up to $1.00. If that Suave happens to be on sale for $1.00, which is frequent for this brand, you will get that item free! 

Ad match, ad match, ad match. How many of us have gotten stuck behind the crazy coupon lady at the store? She has her fliers and her coupons and she is ad matching every thing in her cart. Makes us mad to get stuck behind her huh? Guess what? That woman is not giving a diddly squat while she is saving 70% off and we are paying full price because we are too impatient to ad match or coupon. She is laughing all the way to the bank as she should be. If you do not know if a store ad matches, ask them! Most do even if they do not advertise it. 

Don't be fooled by crappyyyyyyy coupons!!! If you have a .25 cent off coupon on something you have to buy 4 of to get that coupon, it may not be worth it. Do not be fooled. If you will never ever use that item and the only reason you thought to buy with it was because you have a coupon, that sucker better give you a great deal on something else. Do not waste time with worthless coupons. This is where your research will come in. 

Don't ignore stores you have never shopped at before. Target, Walgreens, CVS, Dollar General, and Dollar Tree all take coupons. Yes that's right. The Dollar Tree where everything is already $1.00 will take coupons. They won't double them and they have to be for the exact item but you can rack up savings here if you know what to look for. Think toothpaste. With Walgreens and CVS some of your best savings will come from their rewards programs. Take time to familiarize yourself with these programs. 

If you have a favorite brand, do not be afraid to write the company to see if they have coupons available. You can find a "contact us" button on almost every brand website. Tell them why you love their product. Tell them what you would like to see more of. Companies love customer feedback especially when it is constructive. 

Now let me show you a few of my recent receipts. These are all within the past 3 weeks. For my groceries/cleaning supplies/personal care we have spent in three weeks only $335.87 (around 112 a week).Before the last 3 weeks our average grocery bill was $4-500 per week. We spent around 2k a month for groceries trying to feed a family of 7, two dogs and any neighborhood friends that show up. 

I have not saved less than 60% for the last 3 weeks on groceries. I buy manager specials on meat and shop at the local farmers market for produce. I will do a series on how to buy your produce cheaper and how to save money on meat in a different post. I am afraid you would get bored with this one if I go on and on. 

One more picture. This was a just for fun trip to my local Ulta Cosmetics store with my 15 year old daughter. With Coupons and a free gift with purchase deal we spent a total of $49.70 and saved a total of $183.00. This was our haul. 

There are many tricks to be able to save money at the stores of your choice. You can even pay a coupon clipping service to cut your coupons for you. To find out more about these Google Coupon Clipping Service. While you are at it look up some shopping list sites. There is tons of information just waiting to be discovered. I will address some more ways to save in further blog posts. Stay tuned! You can learn with me. I am sure there are things I have never even thought about yet!