Crazy for Coupons! Part 1-Getting Started

In the interest of helping others spend less and get more, I thought I would do a series dedicated to getting started in couponing. A lot of people have asked me a lot of good questions. Some think they can't do it, but I know you can, at least on some level! It's not that hard, and I'm going to try to help you take some baby steps. :-)

Step 1: Save your coupons! When your Sunday paper comes, skip the comics and head for the coupon inserts. There are usually 2 or 3. Whether you cut them or file them uncut is up to you. I have decided to cut out the coupons. I like having them with me in case I come across a sale in a store for an item that I didn't know about. For example, I was at Target last week and scanned the clearance shelves. I spotted Cutter bug spray wipes on clearance for .98. I opened my coupon binder to the "Misc" section and found a coupon for $1 off any Cutter product, so I got the item for free! If my coupons were filed at home, I wouldn't have been able to pick that up.

Step 2: Print more coupons! There are a lot of legitimate coupons on the internet that you can print off at home. Usually you can hit the back button to print off 2 of each coupon, but once you do, it remembers you and you can't print any more. So my advice is don't print off EVERY internet coupon you can find just yet, because then they may expire before you find a sale to go with them. I recommend subscribing to Money Saving Mom and Deal Seeking Mom for the coupon match-ups each week at Walgreens, CVS, and Walmart, and then print off the coupons you will use that week, or the ones you know you might use eventually.

Do you want to join us on this coupon adventure? Leave a comment below to let us all know we are not alone on this journey or leave a question you would like me to answer. Then get busy clipping some coupons, and stay tuned for what to do next!