So far, I’ve posted a bunch of things with our Starting Fresh in 2012 with Couponing Series. If you have missed them, you can read them below one at a time and get caught up:
- Starting Fresh in 2012 with Couponing: Organization is KEY!
- Starting Fresh in 2012 with Couponing: Time, Time and TIME! Is it Worth My Time??
- Starting Fresh in 2012 with Couponing: What Do I Do with Expired Coupons?
- Starting Fresh in 2012 with Couponing: Bring Your Arsenal to the Grocery Store
- Starting Fresh in 2012 with Couponing: How to Be Organized at Checkout.
- Starting Fresh in 2012 with Couponing: How to Get Healthy Food Deals When Couponing!
One of the biggest mistakes I see people make when trying to coupon is using coupons on everything… whether the item is on sale or not. And let’s be honest, if you aren’t ever saving a bunch of money or getting a good deal, you can feel like coupons don’t work and give up. And, I don’t want you to give up!! Couponing has been such a blessing in my life and made a huge impact in everything from paying off debt to creating a food storage for our family. It’s something to stick with. So hopefully I can help you with some tips!
Use Coupons on Sale Items
Please don’t use a coupon just because you have it. The reason I use coupons is to get the name brand products for even cheaper than the store brands… and usually by a lot. I wait for the great sales to come in the stores. That is when I pounce on the already great deals with even more savings with my coupons! Compare the name brand price with coupon savings against the store brand for the same product. If you can get the store brand product cheaper, then go with that. I don’t discriminate against brands… although there are a few I am loyal to. If you need the product right then and there, get the cheapest option. If you don’t need it right away, wait until the store’s sale hits and then go crazy with your coupons.
How Do I Know I am Getting a Good Deal
This will take a little trial and error on your part. When you first start couponing, you can use couponing blogs like Freebies2Deals to help you know what a great stock up price is. Then, as you coupon more in your area, you will get a feel for what your stores do, when their sales cycle and how low products will actually go in price. You can then create your own type of “price point” list. A Price Point is the amount of money you are willing to pay for that item. For example, my husband loves Old Spice Deodorant. And, I won’t pay more than $.49 for it. So that is my price point. Once I see that the price hits that amount after the store sale and coupon, I purchase a few to stock us up until the next sale.
Stock up and Save
The whole method behind couponing is to never, ever have to pay full price. Nothing is worse than packing your kids in the car, and driving to the drug store sick just to get a bottle of cold medicine. So, if you can stock up when the prices are ridiculously cheap, you won’t have those types of scenarios pop up. Not only will it save you money, but it will save your sanity and your time!
I get 5 copies of the Sunday Paper. That gives me 5 copies of each coupon that I can use on sales. Nyquil usually drops to $1.00 after sales and coupons in the fall. So instead of purchasing just 1 bottle that will be gone after one cold, I will purchase a few of them to stock us up. And the funny thing is that I will pay the same amount for 5 bottles as I would have if I would have paid full price for one.
How Many Should I Buy
That all depends on how many people are in your family and how often you use that particular product. But most importantly, sales cycle. The same products usually go on sale every 3-4 months. So, if you are in doubt, just stock up for 3-4 months of that particular product and then when the next sale comes, you can stock up again. That way, you aren’t ever wasting food. You don’t want to over buy and then have food go past its expiration date. That won’t help you save money.
Use Coupon Blogs, Forums and Websites to Help You
There are a lot of bloggers out there, like me, Freebies2Deals, that will help you and do most of the work for you! I do matchups for grocery stores and drug stores all over the country. You can see the Grocery Deal Matchups at any time by clicking on your store on the right-hand side of Freebies2Deals.com. It will tell you what the advertised prices are, which coupon to use, and what your total price will be. I will only post the BEST deals.. so if something is just an ok deal, you won’t see it in my deal matchup.
Keep in mind that everyone’s price points are different. But, hopefully the tips I shared above can help you get started or rejuvinated into grocery shopping again!
Ann Smith
Just wondering if you would mind sharing what your price points are, that’s one I’ve always struggled to figure out even though I’ve been doing this for years!
amy b.
I don’t know if Melea ever finished her full list but this was available back in August.
https://freebies2deals.com/2011/08/my-personal-price-points.html
Patricia
I have been having trouble printing two coupons from sites like coupons.com. People just say “press the back button” but that isn’t working for me. Do you have any tips on how to get two coupons to print?
Genwar
With coupons.com, I usually find that you have to hit back 2 or 3 times and that it sometimes helps to wait a full second between each time. If you just hit back once or hit backbackback, it doesn’t go to the right page…
Denae
I always click the back button 3 times. The coupons move to the last page, so I just go to the last page of coupons and click on them again and print them. It’s a little bit of a pain, but not too bad.
Ashley
I just click go back to coupons and find the coupon again. Sometimes it doesn’t work when I click the back button and then it says I printed it even though it didn’t so I miss out.
Jaclyn
Do any of you know when coupons come out do the stores know and have sales on some of those items?
jocelyn
Where I live in ut it appears everyone is doing couponing and I’ve never been able to get anything on sale with a coupon-mainly at wal mart. When is the best time or night to go so I can actually get my item on sale!?
Shana
My family uses food stamps to buy groceries we wouldn’t otherwise be able to afford to buy due to our very limited budget. I have been trying to learn to coupon to make that go even further (we have 4 boys) but on my first attempt found that we had to pay “tax” on some of our food coupons, which defeats the purpose. Does anyone know anything about couponing with food stamps? I dont know if the store we shop at makes any difference. I noticed that only certain coupons required payment of a tax at check-out but others did not. Is there a way to “read” a coupon to weed out the ones that cost me money? Please, please, anyone with any input or advice, help me figure this out! Thanks so much for this site, its been fantastic to find freebies especially!
Lois
You should only be paid on the amount the coupon is off. So or example, if you have a $1 off coupon you will pay tax on that $1. This is because the value of the coupon is a $1. Store coupons you should not be paying tax on. It is only the manufactures coupons that you have to paid the tax on. That is because the store will be getting money from the manufacturer and they cannot report that to the government as food stamps. This is the little knowledge that I have figured out. I hope it helps. I have heard of a few small local stores who do not think this is fair and so they just void the amount owing that the end of the transaction.