Extreme couponing is a craze that is taking the country by storm. For those who are unfamiliar with couponing, this is the act of using coupons to save the maximum amount on your grocery bill. Many even expand this concept by saving, and often practically making money, on everything that they buy. In today’s economy, it can be a great way to make your budget stretch to the maximum.
For those who are just beginning, the world of coupons can be a bit intimidating. After all, you have to figure out the coupon policies for the stores in your area. You have to actually plan your shopping trips carefully, which can seem like it’s going to be too time consuming. You have to take the time each week to clip several coupons as well, and for maximum value, you will also need to check the internet. While this all seems like it will take forever, with a little bit of practice, you can cut your planning time down to 2 hours or less per week.
The best place to start extreme couponing is to know your local stores. Know the local grocery stores like Kroger and Albertson’s, the local drugstores like CVS and Walgreens, and the local discount stores such as Target and Walmart. Make sure that you know the coupon policies for each of these stores as well. This will help you to avoid any problems in using your coupons. It will also help you to know which stores double your coupons, and which stores will allow you to stack a manufacturer’s coupon with a store coupon for maximum savings.
To acquire coupons, you will need to have multiple subscriptions to a Sunday newspaper. The best rule of thumb is to have one subscription per member of the family plus an extra. This means that if you have a family of four, you should have five subscriptions to the Sunday paper. This will give you enough coupon inserts to stock up when items go on sale that you need. Also make sure that you are subscribed to the three major coupon websites, coupons.com, redplum.com and smartsource.com. It also doesn’t hurt to join a couponing website such as krazycouponlady.com, or savingmoneyplan.com. They scout the deals for you, so that you can have an easier time planning your shopping trip.
Next, you will have to organize your coupons. There are several ways to do this. You can organize them into a notebook, with collectible card holders to keep them separated. You can clip them and keep them in an expandable file. You can even put the full inserts into a folder with the date on them. How you organize them is up to you, and what works best for you.
Now it’s time for the fun part, planning the shopping trip. Take all of the store circulars, and go through and circle the best deals. When you have done that, get out your coupons and match them up with your good deals. Find any store coupons if you can as well and match them up with your manufacturer’s coupons. If you can get things for free, this is the best, but always look for at least 50% to 75% off the retail price. Even make sure to keep your eyes open for deals where you get paid to take things out of the store. While you may not be able to take the overage out of the store, you can use it to pay for things that you may not have coupons for.
That really is all there is to extreme couponing. It does take quite a bit of time in the beginning as you are learning the ropes, and you are likely to only save about 50% to 60% on your first few shopping trips. However, as you build your stockpile, you will find that you have to buy less and less that is not on sale. As that happens, you will start to be able to save more and more until you are saving over 80%, and possibly over 90% on your grocery bills.