Do you know people who go on shopping trips and get everything for free or for ridiculous prices and you wonder "How on earth do they do that??? When I use coupons they are for .50 off of a $5 product and I usually forget to use them anyway."? This was me (and still is sometimes).
And don't get me wrong, even those coupons for .50 add up. I usually head to the store once a week with around $3 worth of coupons (varying from .50 to $1 off) for a grocery trip that is costing me 80 bucks. But they are coupons for things I was going to buy anyway, so that ends up saving me about 150 bucks a year, which is great!
 |
| The aforementioned P&G coupon book finally came! Woop! |
But the whole extreme money saving thing made sense for me when a seasoned veteran said something like this:
Coupon + Sale = Good Deal
Those people out there who are getting amazing deals are not just using coupons or buying things on sale. They are usually doing both.
So how do you get started?
The coupon part of the equation:
Ever heard of Coupons.com?
There are a lot of sites where you can get printable coupons, but I have found this site to be a great place to get started. They have lots and lots of coupons for lots of different things.
I usually browse coupons.com and print out any coupon for something I would normally buy, or was planning on buying in the near future. That way if a sale comes up on that item I already have a coupon for it. Or if I'm definitely going to be buying that item anyway, I get it for a little cheaper.
The sale part of the equation:
Which stores do you normally shop at? If you go to that store's website they usually have a digital version of the weekly ad, which tells you the sales. Look out for sales on anything that you have a coupon for because if your getting it anyway, you might as well get an awesome deal on it.
Now, an example from my experiences so that you can get a better understanding of what the heck I'm talking about:
My son owns a tag junior reader. It's this little thing that reads books to him so I don't have to. Ha! Anyway. I am always on the lookout for coupons/deals on these books because they are always a good gift for him. Sometime last year a coupon came out for $3 off any Tag Junior book, it didn't expire until February of this year. I printed it just in case a sale came up and I could get an awesome deal. Then in December Target had a sale: buy one Tag book get one free. Now these things are normally $10.99 each. But with the BOGO (buy one get one) sale and my $3 off coupon I got both for 7.99 or $4 each instead of $11 each. Good deal!
If you're thinking, "well good for you but I'm not in the market for Tag Jr. books right now." No worries, this was just an example, things like this happen all the time with all kinds of different products.
So, to summarize the lesson for today:
-Print coupons for things you would normally or will buy.
-Check the weekly ads for the stores you normally shop at.
-If you see a sale for something that you have a coupon for AND would normally buy/WILL definitely use, BUY IT!!!
I will get into everything a little deeper tomorrow and throughout the rest of the week. If you have any questions about what I have said - comment - I WILL answer. =)
4 comments:
THANK YOU. I really don't get the whole coupon thing. This makes a lot more sense than the way people usually explain it.
But.
I still do have one beef with the couponing thing and maybe you can address it:
It seems like you have to have an income that allows you to spend extra money on 'stocking' up. I feel like staying on a fixed budget and couponing sometimes don't go hand in hand. What say ye?
ooh and by Johann above there, it means, "Deborah" whoops. Though I'm sure Johann feels EXACTLY THE SAME. haha.
I think your right, Deborah. I think couponing makes sticking to a budget hard...at first. Keep in mind that I am not a pro at couponing at all. But I think you may have to go outside your budget for the first couple of months. But after a while it will start balancing out.
ie: I bought 2 things of deodorant this week because I had a coupon plus a deal. And I don't even need deodorant for a month at least, so it was definitely an unexpected expense out of the toiletry budget. But in the coming months not only will I not have to buy deodorant but I spent half the amount on it, so there will be extra for me in the budget to spend on some other things that I may have to stock up on to get the good deal.
But also, I am a really conservative couponer. I don't stock up for more than a couple months because I know that by the time I go through the stuff I bought there will be another coupon and deal for it. And I don't ever buy things that I wouldn't normally buy no matter how good the deal is. I think the secret is to just not get too carried away with it.
Hopefully that makes sense/helps!=)
I can add an amen to the idea of "doubling up" for savings. I think the trick, is to only start doing this when you get an extra bit of income, like a tax return, or birthday money. I usually use those times to stock up on stuff that I find on sale. It helps, and i'm definitely not spending much time or effort doing it.
Post a Comment