Sarah's Savings: Couponing for Beginners

(c) Microsoft Office

I share the desire that many moms and wives have to save money and stretch goods as far as possible. For the most part, I learned my methods from a friend (through her blog actually) and through just doing it myself and finding my own system. "Extreme couponing" has become a recent craze, and although I don’t have the time or the space to go “extreme,” I have enjoyed some really great deals from applying some basic couponing principles. I want to try to share how someone, with limited funds and stores can get some good deals and make those “goods” and “dollars” last.

The Coupon Pyramid

For me, what worked was visualizing the couponing method as a triangle: the more levels I moved up in the triangle, the smaller my final purchase amounts would be. So here's my couponing pyramid with an explanation of each level.

The Coupon Pyramid

The first level, Store Sales, includes what your store is putting on sale for that week. Sometimes you can access this information online, and sometimes you'll receive it in the mail if you are on their mailing list. If neither of these apply, go into the store, grab a flier and take it home to make your “game plan.” 

On the second level, the Manufacturer's Coupons are a little more widespread for saving on “goods” at any store at any time. There may be times that you have no store coupons, but you could still use a manufacturer’s coupon and save a little bit of money for an item that you must get either way. 

The top-most level, Store Coupons, may involve a little more homework, but it is well worth it! These are the coupons that are meant only for the store you have your eye on for the week. Sometimes their coupons are right inside their fliers and sometimes they are located on their website for printing. I think this level is important for some deep savings because these coupons and the manufacturers can both be used on a single item. In other words, two manufacturer’s coupons or two store coupons will not work on one item, but if you have one of each, then you have more savings!

Beware: Rules & Restrictions

In the area that I live, our stores do not allow a customer to walk out of ANY store paying only with coupons (ie. with carts full of “free goods”). So before you set out for your couponing adventure, make sure you read the rules, both from your store and from your coupons. Let me share a few examples of “rules” you may need to look for. 

• In one of my stores, a customer must purchase a minimum of $25 after coupons and before tax. So when I plan a couponing trip there, I make sure that there are other items (on sale of course) that I need. 
• Some of our stores offer “double coupon days” on certain days of the month. The idea is that they will double the amount on most your manufacturer coupons - and these are the days I plan ahead for! But again, there are rules. Some manufacturer's coupons won’t allow you to double or triple the value, so you have to make sure you read the fine print carefully. And some stores only let you double a certain number of coupons in one transaction. For example, our store says the maximum number of coupons that can be doubled in any transaction is 5. 

It may take a little bit of practice to master the rules relating to couponing, but once you have, you can enjoy the savings.

Some personal illustrations with couponing

Because some of my family members are still in diapers, I love stacking coupons for name brand diapers and getting them for the same price, if not cheaper price than, the off-brands. My family also eats a lot of cereal - 3 boxes a week actually, and that’s just with me and 3 little kids! So I stock up on name brand cereal coupons, wait for a double coupon day and start grabbing boxes off the shelf left and right, most of which end up costing me only a $1 a box. I’ve gotten bags of pretzels and boxes of crackers for $1 a piece. And a few times have gotten milk, coffee creamer and eggs for free. Not only can you find great coupons for food items, but also for health and beauty items. Sometimes the coupons for these items are actually easier to find; and because they don’t spoil, they can save you money longer! I’ve gotten makeup for $2, laundry detergent for $1.50, shampoo for $1, deoderent for 75 cents, body wash for 50 cents and antibacterial wipes for 30 cents (all name-brands as well). I hope this encourages you to look into clipping some coupons and saving some money!