Making Coupons Work For You

Have you considered yourself lucky if you get $5.00 off your grocery bill with coupons?  I have to confess, that has mostly been my story.  I always wondered how anyone could get substantial savings with 50 cents here and a dollar there.  It often seemed like the store brand was cheaper than the name brand coupon so why bother?

Yesterday I went shopping with my daughter.  She has been working on learning effective couponing and what a difference.  My register tape ended up showing $16.00 vendor coupons, $1.59 store coupons, $20.33 advertised special savings and $1.22 advantage buy savings.  Better than that, these were all on things that I use everyday.  Yes, I stocked up some things but why wouldn’t you when you are going to use it anyway?

The secret is to buy what the store is advertising.  Use their coupons and pair them with manufacturer coupons for additional savings.  (You can pair a store coupon with a manufacturer coupon even if it says one coupon per item.)  I know it takes a little homework but there are ways to make it easier.  If you visit the Krazy Koupon Lady site , you can learn what is on sale and where to get the coupon for it.  You can also visit the Sunday Coupon Preview site to learn what coupons will be in your Sunday paper.  That way you save time clipping what you need.

I intend to learn more about how to cut my food bills and will post my progress here.  If you are new to all of this, let me know what is the hardest part for you and I will try to find the answer.  In this economy, we have to do whatever is legal to stretch our budget and couponing is definitely an option.

Tags: Coupon, couponing, food shopping, saving on groceries