Couponing 101

The rules of couponing to get the most BANG for your BUCK-

1. DON'T be brand loyal...try new products, and be opened to purchase products you don't normally use.

2. Stockpile which basically means if your getting a product at a rock bottom price get TONS of them even if they wont be used right away. Great things to stockpile are canned goods, cleaning products, toothpaste, paper goods ext.

3. Buy a few newspapers that way when a good deal comes your way you don't have to just buy one and this will help with rule #2 as well.

4. This is by far the best advice we can give that has helped the most. Buy the smallest size possible that the coupon will allow. For example if we have a $1 Charmin coupon we'd by the 4 pack or some stores sell just one roll for .98....so with 12 coupons we could essentially get 12 rolls FREE. We did this the other day with Old spice body wash coupons. We had 4 $2 off 2 body wash purchases. The coupon didn't exclude the travel size (which some coupons do)... so we went to Walmart and bought 8 travel size old Spice body washes that would have cost us $1 a piece for FREE!!

5. Another good lesson we've learned is to always check different product boxes before throwing them away. Allot of times there are different rebates going on or other promotion where you might need the UPS. Also some products have coupons on them as well...sometimes hidden inside the box. We cut out the Ups's from our Colgate toothpaste and sent them in last month to get FREE Sponge Bob automatic toothbrushes!

6. Coupon organization is key when it comes to finding unadvertised clearance deals. That way you have them on hand and can get to them fast. You may think this is dorky, but for any couponer it is essential! Everyone chooses different options, but our favorite by far is the binder method. Basically we have a binder with dividers and baseball car inserts for coupons. We use the dividers for different categories such as dairy, snack foods, canned goods, personal care, cleaning supplies ext. The baseball card inserts are great because you can see all your coupons laid out in front of you!

7. Sometimes you have to buy products you don't need to get products you do. Now this rule might seem like a hard one to understand. Here is an example- The other day we went to Walgreen's because they had a great promotion going on. You had to buy 10 Gillette shaving products and you would receive $5 back to use in the store. So we went in got 10 of the cheapest shaving gels which were $2 a piece for a total of $20. Well Walgreen's had a store coupon for $1 off each shaving gel which brought the total down to $10 plus we had 10 $1 off manuf coupons bringing the total down to nothing but tax!!!:) So we then used the $5 in another transaction to get 4 FREE newspapers to get more coupons. So we walked out of there with 10 FREE shaving gels that we didn't need, but 4 FREE newspapers that we did!!

8. Make couponing work for you. We clip and sort through expired ones while watching TV or movies at night. We like it because it keeps our hands busy! It's also a way to get the kids involved by having them help sort the coupons into the right categories, and put them into the inserts. Now when we go to the grocery store the kids will pick a product and ask if we have a coupon for it!

9. Bring cash when you shop!!! This really helps SAVE, SAVE, SAVE!!!

10. Coupon overage is Great. It lets you get other products you want and don't have a coupon for at a better price. Example: We buy the travel size clean and clear at Target for $1, but have a $2 coupon...so the additional $1 goes to other products. This also is another reason for rule #7.

There is so much more to come!! STAY TUNED...

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