Once you get the basic concept of using coupons and stocking up on things that you find free or cheap as I explained in “Easy, New Ideas for Saving Money On Groceries,” you are ready to kick up your coupon shopping a serious notch. You can save more and fill your pantry on very little money. I encourage you to read my other money saving and coupon shopping articles since I have specified different ways in each one to save money as the grocery shopper.
I feel blessed to have gained so much knowledge about coupon shopping in such a short time. I owe this to various websites, a lot of hands-on learning and my friend Coupy. I have a friend who catches on to things much faster than me and she has taught me a lot of what I know about coupon shopping. Share your secrets, insights and tips on coupon shopping with your mom friends. We are all in this together right? We all want to save money on groceries to better the lives of our precious families. Later, you’ll find my tips on coupon shopping that takes it to a new level. If they seem complicated, start simple and start with the basics from my other articles.
The best thing about coupon shopping is that you can practice all you want and not waste your family’s money. You have to grocery shop right? As long as you are saving money on the things you need or could use while coupon shopping, you are not wasting money. The longer you do coupon shopping the higher your standards will become for saving money. You end up wanting things dirt cheap because you know that you can find them that cheap with coupon shopping.
Remember the basics as you seek to kick your coupon shopping up a notch. Remember to scan the grocery ads looking for the amazing deals first, deciding if you could use those items if they were free or very cheap and then checking your coupons. If you have manufacturer’s coupons to save more, add those items to your list. Also plan your menus around the things you already have in your pantry or things that you see in the upcoming ads. As I have described in other articles, this can be the difference between saving money coupon shopping and losing money coupon shopping. If you decide to have cheeseburger casserole on Tuesday but you do not have the ingredients for cheeseburger casserole, you have no choice but to buy those ingredients whether they are a good price or not. It is vital to use what you have gotten from coupon shopping from week’s past for your menu. If you buy great things while coupon shopping but never use them, that time and money was wasted.
Also keep in mind that many stores put out store coupons that you can stack with a manufacturer coupon. This always leads to big coupon shopping savings. You can find those coupons on the store’s websites, mailings, through coupon saving blogs or websites, and in the newspaper. Walgreens has coupons in their ad every week lowering the price of many grocery items but you need the coupon to change the price. If you have a manufacturer coupon as well, you simply stack them, always putting the store coupon on top, adding the 2 savings together.
Okay, so you remember the basics and are applying those tips so you are ready to step up your coupon shopping savings. Keep in mind that the tips below do take a few extra minutes and a little more effort but are worth the sacrifice. I am not pretending that these are your average efforts towards coupon shopping, they do take more time. If any of the extreme coupon shopping tips overwhelm or confuse you, simply don’t try that one until you feel comfortable.
EXTREME coupon shopping tips:
Find a store that sells cheaper Sunday papers (or whatever day of the week your coupons appear in your local paper) to buy for your coupon shopping.
The normal cost for our Cincinnati Enquirer is $1.50 but I have a Kroger store right by my house that sells them for a buck. I always go there to buy my papers saving .50 on each paper. That way all I have to save is a buck per paper with my coupon shopping, to earn my money back. That happens in a matter of hours usually.
Buy several Sunday papers.
If you end up getting a free box of pasta (very common) because of a coupon in your paper and you get one, you have saved money with your coupon shopping. But, if you buy 10 papers you have gotten 10 free boxes of pasta. You are already cutting those coupons, sorting those coupons and storing those coupons. Why not, get 10 papers, stack several (5 are usually safe) on top of one another and cut 5 out at a time? You can store and use them together. You have now stocked up on pasta so that next week, pasta is not even on your list and you can stock up on something else. I do not always buy 10 papers. I go into the store and check to see how many inserts of coupons are in the newspaper and go from there. Since I only pay a buck a paper, that is all I have to save. I can save upwards of 20 bucks a paper or more if I keep the coupons until they expire and check the ads every week when I coupon shop.
Do your coupon shopping early in the ad week.
There is not much worse than getting very excited over all the deals that you see in your ad and have combined with coupons, only to find none of the products on the store shelves. You must go coupon shopping early especially if you have 10 coupons instead of one. There is a much better chance of your store having 10 Kraft cheeses on the day the ad comes out, if they are on sale, rather than later in the week.
Hunt for coupons while coupon shopping.
You will be in the grocery store often if you are trying extreme coupon shopping rather than just general coupon shopping. While you are there, scour the aisles for coupon machines. Pull out several coupons and save them for another time if the savings are not that great right then. Rarely are those coupons for items on sale. Those coupons are meant to entice you to buy the product without it being on sale. Save them for when they can give you an amazing deal later while coupon shopping. Also, those particular coupons have a long expiration date so chances are, you will find a better deal later on. Also, look for tear pads at stores and by water or soda coolers. Tear a few off for future coupon shopping.
Get a sneak peek at the coupons before they come out to aid in your coupon shopping.
This one is new to me and I have to tell you that it is great for my coupon shopping. Recently, I found a site that lists the coupons that will appear in the paper a few days before they are actually released. The site I use is called http://www.taylortownpreview.com/. By clicking on the date for the upcoming Sunday, you will see a list of every coupon that will be in the paper and when it expires. The reason that this is such a coupon shopping gold mine is that we are able to plan how many papers we will buy the night before based on how many and how useful the coupons will be.
Check the store ads at midnight on Saturday before coupon shopping.
For Target and Meijer, their ads change in their system at midnight on Saturday. While you may not wish to stay up that late on Saturday, you could also plan your coupon shopping early Sunday morning before you leave to go to the store. With the knowledge of what coupons are coming out at Taylor Town and what is on sale on Meijer.com and Target.com, you can plan everything before you go coupon shopping. Kroger in our area does not start the new ad until Monday so we have to wait until then to view it and coupon shop for that week.
Cut every coupon.
This is another coupon shopping tip that is just for the extreme coupon shopper. I can’t tell you how many times early in my coupon shopping days, I chose not to cut something out knowing we would never use it. The problem with that logic is that many times, items become totally free with overage after you use your coupons. That means that you will “make” money on certain items. If something is on sale for 10 or $10 and you have a $1.50 off coupon for it, you will have a .50 overage to apply to your other groceries. After my friend Coupy benefited off coupons I had not cut out, I started cutting all of them out and have just donated the items to another family. Another reason, it benefits you to use coupons on things you don’t want when they are free is to raise the amount of your bill before coupons are taken off. This doesn’t usually matter at the grocery store but many stores like CVS and Walgreens put store coupons out for dollar amounts off a minimum purchase. The coupon might read $4 off a $20 purchase. When you use your coupons for free items, you are raising the amount of the bill so you can spend less after all the coupons are taken off.
Sign up at websites for email alerts.
There are so many websites that are centered around saving money with coupon shopping. Hotcouponworld.com is one of the sites that I use to find the latest deals and scenarios at the stores that I coupon shop at the most. They send me an email each week telling me the hot deals at CVS and possible coupon shopping scenarios. They usually help a lot.
Find money saving and coupon shopping blogs hosted by moms.
You can use Google.com to find blogs hosted by moms for moms on coupon shopping. Two great ones are thriftyfloridamama.blogspot.com and coinsinthecouch.blogspot.com. I like this method because the comments from other people help the most. They explain what worked for them and what didn’t work. On these coupon shopping blogs, the women share coupons via email for specific stores and what manufacturer’s sites are offering coupons on their websites. I find these blogs extremely helpful with my coupon shopping.
Use printable coupons.
There are a lot of websites that offer printable manufacturer coupons on their websites just by choosing which coupons that you want to print. Coupons.com and Couponsurfer.com are 2 that offer printable coupons.
Start and maintain a “collection” of coupons.
Save all the coupons that you have not used for coupon shopping until they expire. Many times, a coupon that seems like it will never be a good deal becomes a great one right before it expires. The older coupons are sometimes the best deals because most people have already used them so the items are sure to be in stock. Also the stores don’t have that coupon on their radar like the current ones so you might have a better chance for the coupon to make the item totally free.
Keep your coupons sorted and ready to go.
I have been very guilty of having my coupons a mess until recently. Coupy can always find every coupon that she needs the moment she needs it because she files them and keeps them neat. I was tired of coupon shopping with her and it taking me 2 times longer to find a coupon than her. Now, that they are neat and orderly, I find my coupons much faster. I actually want to search for a specific coupon now because I have so many categories and it is easier. I plan on writing an article about coupon storage in the future. For now, I will say to just keep them as neat and sorted as possible.
Use your overages wisely.
No matter how well we get at coupon shopping, there will always be a couple or a few items we will never find on sale. We have no choice but to buy some items regardless of the price. When you will have overages from coupons, be sure and add those pesky full price items then. I have had many times where I threw in gum or mints to make up for an overage at the last minute and regretted it. I didn’t need full price gum but I did need chap stick or whatever. Now, when I am coupon shopping, I have “fillers” ready to go that I actually need to buy.
Get rain checks!!
I saved the best extreme coupon shopping tip for last. I just learned this valuable tip and it is the best to know. If you get to the store and the items that you are trying to buy are all out, you can go to the service desk and ask for a rain check for that item securing that price another 30 days or so. This is wonderful for those of us who want to buy 10 items instead of 1 while coupon shopping. The next week or week after that, when you are coupon shopping, the shelves should be jammed packed with your item since it is no longer on sale. You will present your rain check and get it for sale price and still use your coupons. Rain checks are a must for easy coupon shopping.
I know your eyes must be bleeding from this ginormous article but I pray that these tips help your family save a lot of money on your grocery bill. It is not uncommon for me to have a starting bill of over 50 bucks and to pay less than $5 out of pocket. You will get there too with your coupon shopping with a little extra effort. Happy coupon shopping!
