Use a coupon, save a little. LEARN how to coupon, save A LOT!

That is my motto!  Sure, millions of people go to the store, buy a product, use a coupon to save .25 off that product and feel good.  MANY people go to the store, buy TONS of products, use TONS of coupons and save 75% off the retail price of that item and feel GREAT.

Using coupons and couponing are two different activities to me.  Using a coupon means saving just a little bit every once in a while, but most of the time paying full price for most of the items used in the home (food and non food).  Couponing is different.  It means combining a sale, coupons (sometimes more than 1), store rewards, rebates and more to have a final cost as low as possible (with $0 being the holy grail of couponing but 65-75% being average)

I've gotten many many questions about how to start couponing, so this is the first in a series of steps I used to begin my coupon journey!

Step 1: Gather Coupons

Coupons are everywhere.  It's a rare day when I do not get atleast 1 new coupon!  So here are my favorite "gathering places"!

Newspapers

• I buy 4-6 papers a week but I have 5 people in my family and buy extras to donate to my local homeless shelter and food drives.  I purchase mine at the local Dollar Tree on Sunday morning.  You have to get there early; they go FAST!  
• I would suggest buying at least 2 papers a week.  This will allow you to buy 2 items on sale with a coupon.  My newspaper money comes out of my food budget.  But even at $20 a month I save WELL over that using coupons!

In store coupons:

• Lowes Foods puts in store coupons in their flyers occasionally.  BUT they are good for MUCH longer then the ad is!  So keep them! My store doesn't require me to turn the coupon over since it is still good, I just keep my flyer whole and tell them the code on it!
• Harris Teeter has $10 off $50 coupons on Recycle Bank.  Currently they cost 100 points.  It took me 15 minutes to gain enough points.  Over the course of last month, I earned enough to get 4 coupons!
• Food Lion occasionally mails out some $ off $$ purchase coupons!

Man. Q in stores:

• I do not really drink alcohol- but my first stop in ANY grocery store is the beer and wine area.  In my state, NC, alcohol companies cannot put out coupons that require a beer purchase BUT they can put out coupons and/or rebates on meat, produce, ice, water, etc.  I routinely find $10 rebate WYB $10+ of beef or $5 rebate WYB 2 lbs of ribs.  I've found coupons for oranges, lemons, limes, frozen dinners, etc.  They are usually tear pads or coupon booklets.
• There are always tear pads around stores and "blinkies" those black boxes that stick out of the aisle?  They are a treasure trove of coupons
• Catalinas that print out after your purchase.  Many people leave them behind but I have gotten free Shutterfly books as well as coupons for completely free items in my stores!
• Food Lion has kioks where you can scan your card and get in store coupons.  These CANNOT be stacked with man. Q but sometimes I have gotten a free can of veggies or other things like that

Printable Coupons (I suggest you bookmark these pages and visit them every other week or so to see if there is anything new!)










Other sites:

• Kraft First Taste is an AWESOME place to get coupons for NEW products from Kraft. I often get coupons for completely FREE items plus $ off coupons!

• My suggestion is to create a new, separate email JUST for all these emails, coupons, newsletters you will sign up for.  If you are Jane Doe- my suggestion would be JaneDoeCoupons@Yahoo.com

Other Places:

• CHECK the packages!  There were .55 off in the Jello Temptations that was a big sale a while ago- I didn't realize until I had already torn one open :(  I found $2 off coupons in my bags of Purina dog food, inside the wrappers of juice boxes and even a Pampers coupon on my Cheerios!
• 'LIKE" your favorite companies on Face Book to have access to their exclusive coupons!