Stacy’s Savings is mainly a portal for me to show the World Wide Web the savings that I achieve by using coupons, being a smart shopper & DIY. Yesterday, I shared with you my post for new couponers with my Top 5 Tips for Getting Started. I promised more couponing tips soon, and now it’s time!
Hopefully, you’ve been following these couponing tips, and you’re ready for a few more! We’ll start with #6.
6. Have a Coupon-Only E-mail Address
This will save your sanity! For almost all Internet printable coupons and deals, you have to provide an email address. There are many places to get a free email account (gmail, hotmail, yahoo) that you can use just for these coupons and freebies. This way, all of those emails and confirmation emails (and follow up emails and newsletters) will not clog up your primary email account. You might want to create a coupon-only Facebook Profile with that email address as well (and like Stacy’s Savings!). That way, you don’t clog up your personal news feed with Wall Posts from Tampax or tell all of your friends from High School and your In Laws that you “Like” KY. Talk about embarrassing!
7. Make a List
Always plan your transactions before you go. Write down everything you plan to buy (I like to do it in the flow of the store), pull the corresponding coupons, jot down how many coupons you have/# of one item you need to buy, and STICK TO IT! Sticking to the list is really important. If you have some budget for stockpiling, and you run across a FREEBIE or something that’s super cheap with your coupons, that’s OK, but try not to stray too far from the list. This goes along with don’t go to the Grocery on an empty stomach. For drug store transactions, it’s pretty easy to write down the entire transaction so that you have some sort of idea of how much you should be paying at the end. That way, when it’s $5 more than that amount, you’ll know there’s something wrong before you leave the register.
8. Pick Your Shopping Time Wisely
Don’t go to Kroger with 50 coupons right after work. It’s too busy, people are tired, and things get screwed up. Always set aside a time each week to go to the store at a time when it’s not so busy. We go to the Grocery Store on Saturday Mornings. We go to Target and CVS on Sunday Mornings. It’s really nice when there’s not many people at the store and you can take your time and make sure that everything is scanned correctly, including the coupons.
9. Watch Sizes on Coupons
This is probably a change in the way you are used to shopping. Most people think that it’s better to buy in bulk by buying the biggest size available. This is wrong when you’re using coupons. You get the most bang for your buck by purchasing the SMALLEST item that the coupon allows, and buying as many as you have coupons for when that item is on sale.
Here’s an example:
Say you’re at Kroger, and they have the ALL Free & Clear 96 Load Detergent on sale for $10.99. You have a $1 off coupon, so you’ll get it for $9.99. That’s $.104 per load. Not bad, right? A dime a load for that bottle!
Now, let’s say that Kroger has the 32 load bottle on sale for $2.99 and you have a $1 off coupon. You’ll get the 32 load bottle for $1.99. You get less soap, but you’re paying WAY less per load. At $1.99 for the 32 load, you’re paying $.06 per load. So, if you have 3 $1 off coupons, you can get 3 bottles (96 loads total) for $5.97. The same amount for $4.02 less or 40% less than buying the big bottle with a coupon. That’s a 40% savings!
Sometimes, a coupon will say, “$1 off ANY X brand/item”. That means, it’s good on any size, so you could get a Travel sized if you want! Most Tide coupons are $1 off ANY Tide, and some Targets have the Travel Sized 2 load pouches for $.97, so you get it for free!
10. Buy A Lot of a Few Items, Not A Few of A Bunch of Items
This one is also probably different from the way you shop. Most people buy one or two of a whole bunch of items. When you’re couponing, you are stocking up on the few items that are at their rock-bottom prices AND you have coupons for them. Most items aren’t going to be at their lowest price, so you’ll buy the fresh items, produce, and milk; the things that you normally buy each week, and then the rest of the trip should be buying several of only a handful of different items. Getting multiple coupons, whether you print 2 per computer in your house, or buy multiple copies of the Sunday paper, is key when you are stockpiling. I get 2 papers a week. If it’s a really good coupon week, I’ll go to the store and get an additional Double Edition to get 2 more copies of each coupon. That’s 4 coupons, so 4 of the same item I can buy. That’s how you get started on your stockpile!
There are a ton of blogs out there that will tell you the ins and outs of coupons & couponing tips. Being a full-time working mother and wife, I don’t have the time to get into every detail about how this works, although I do love answering your questions – keep them coming!
Hopefully, these tips help you on the next step for you on your couponing journey! Remember, you can always leave me questions in the comments or on the Blog’s Facebook. If you wish not to be published, you can also contact me at stacy@stacyssavings.com.
Happy Couponing!
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