Couponing 101 | Getting Started

"Money is of no value; it cannot spend itself.  All depends on the skill of the spender."

-Ralph Waldo Emerson

I have tried every thing imaginable to upload the couponing video that I made but no dice.  So...I will just write about what we do instead.

Couponing has been such a blessing to our little family.  We stay stocked up on groceries and cut our grocery bill in half!  You all need to be doing this!!!  So I'm just going to share what Mr. Clark and I did to get started.  I'll also share some tips and tricks that we've learned along the way.  

I do want to start out by saying that we use SouthernSavers.com and the lady who runs this website does do seminars to teach you how to coupon.  She also explains on her website how to get started if you're interested in checking that out.  I'm sure she provides a lot more information than I will in my series (especially about CVS, Walgreens, etc.)  I'm just going to share with you what we do and what works best for us.

Here is what you do to get started:

• Go to Ingles every Sunday and buy the Greenville News.  Ingles sells the G'ville News for 97 cents instead of the $1.50 that you would pay at news stands or other stores.  We buy two copies but you can get more or less - it depends on what is going to work best for you.  Just remember that you will also be able to print coupons as well.  Before you purchase your papers, make sure that you check that all coupon inserts are there!  People have been stealing the coupon inserts from the papers so make sure that they're all there.

• Remove the coupon inserts from the paper and label each one (you will have several coupon inserts so make sure you label every single one of them!)  with the date that you purchased it.  Mr. Clark had the brilliant idea of looking through each coupon book to see what is the latest expiration date.  So now I write that expiration date on a sticky note and put it on the front of that coupon book.  That way, I'll know when it's time to toss that coupon book so my coupon binder won't be full of expired coupons!  Mr. Clark is so wonderfully clever.

Just click on the picture to enlarge it so you can see all of my notes.

• Don't cut any coupons from your coupon books!  Once you've labeled each coupon insert, just file them away.  I use a huge three ring binder to store my coupon inserts.  After I've labeled them with the date, I slide them into clear covers and put them in my binder.  I like the clear covers & the binder b/c it allows me to easily flip through and see the dates so I can quickly find the coupons I'm looking for.

I labeled my coupon binder "Coupon Currency".  Once you get started and you're saving tons of money you'll realize that it is just like cutting (or printing) your own money!

That's it...it's so easy to get started.  Next time I'm going to show you how to use the Southern Savers website so stay tuned!  You really need to buy about three or four weeks of papers before she starts getting to the ones that you have.