Introduction

Couponing for Beginners

Once you start couponing, it will change your entire outlook on shopping! You will start saving 50-90% on your grocery bill and will no longer have to make huge $300 monthly trip to the store. The point of couponing is to buy products at rock-bottom prices so that you will not have to pay full price later. This guide will not teach you how to “Extreme Coupon,” such as those depicted on TLC. Instead, you will spend a few hours a week planning your trips, while learning to coupon realistically and ethically. Anyone can do it - it just takes time, planning, organization, and dedication (and basic math). It’s really simple and you will cut your grocery bill by hundreds using these coupon strategies.

For example, the receipt shown is a quick trip to Jewel-Osco when All 50oz detergent was on sale for $3.99. I used a $1.00 Manufacturer’s coupon stacked with a “Twice the Value Jewel” coupon. There was also a “Free Snuggle Fabric Softener when you buy any All Detergent” in the Jewel Ad, making my total for the 10 items (5 All Detergent & 5 Snuggle Fabric Softener) only $9.95 + tax.

This is a prime example of a “stock up price.” Normally, All 50oz detergent averages to about $6.99 each. When the price is very low you will probably want to buy extra. Over time, you may want to create a stockpile. Stockpiling means to create a 6-12 month supply of products over the course of time. My stockpile accumulated over 7 months, one sale at a time.