I get a little carried away with my ideas

I have a problem, my kids say I'm addicted to couponing.

There have been a couples times that school work has been abandoned for the sake of the deals.

However, there are lessons in couponing!

Alexis asks every time, "How much would that have been before coupons? And how much after?" She's shocked if I pay full-price for things, it does happen.

I don't have a formal location dedicated to my ideas, photos, tips and advice. I'm working on it though!

So today I got a little carried away with some tips to a friend, I decided to post it here to get everyone at one time.

Ask me if you have questions, it's fun for me so I don't mind it all!!

Enjoy!

I do most of my bigger deals at RiteAid/Walgreens/Safeway.

Albertsons & Safeway will usually do Double The Value Coupons or Double Coupons in their weekly in-store ads.

THE EXPERTS

Here are the sites that I frequent daily.

I would say that I defer to The Krazy Coupon Lady (KCL) on almost everything.

They have all the coupon policies & step-by-steps for each store along with weekly deals for each store.

KCL
Frugal Living NW
Hip 2 Save
are all great sites.

'Like' them on FB to put them all in one place, although they don't post every single thing on FB.
They have coupon databases on their website & always link to the printable if there is one.

I don't do 'extreme' shopping trips, too intimidating for me right now.
Probably to do that you'd need to 'buy' coupons from ebay or another clipping service. Which I just did to get a years supply of dishwasher detergent.

MY BOX

I use a shoe box type thing that I got at Fred Meyer for about $5.
I put all my coupons in small envelopes that are labeled: Cosmetics, Toilet Paper, Coffee/Tea, Meat, Cereal etc.
Big categories like Dental that have to be broken up into sub-categories like Dental-toothbrushes, Dental-floss e>Keep all your inserts even if you don't cut all the coupons. I just tossed out last weeks & now there's a deal for toilet paper at Fred Meyer, but I don't have the coupons. If it's a product you think you MIGHT use, cut it out!

If you never will use the product, leave it in the insert & file it.

You never know when a money-making deal will come along.

Keep your unused inserts together, i.e. Red Plum, Smart Source etc. Put same Red Plums together & put them in order of date (listed on the spine of the ad). When a website lists a deal & references a coupon from that particular insert they'll say: use $1/2 ($1 off 2) Cover Girl Cosmetics, RP 1/9 (Red Plum January 9th).

Make sense?

Keep all your coupons until they expire.

Always check out the clearance section at Target/Safeway/Albertson's, I've found great deals there too & then had the doubles to match up to it.

Don't get upset if a deal doesn't work out, you can always tell the cashier, "please put those back".

COUPON POLICIES

Print out & CARRY with you each store's coupon policy.....read it first..... that way if there is a problem you can lovingly show them what their policy is.

Walgreens' Coupon Policy

Rite Aid's Coupon Policy

Safeway's Coupon Policy

Target's Coupon Policy

TIP
When you print a coupon from FB or something else that doesn't let you chose your quantity (most databases):
Click on the back button twice - quickly- it will ask you to refresh the page, say 'yes' and it will print again. A glitch that benefits us couponers nicely.

Also, if you have more than 1 computer, make sure & print coupons from that one too.
Most databases only let 1 computer print a certain #.

TIP
Sign up for Rite Aid's Video Values on their website.
You watch short ads & at the end you enter a code and then they have extra coupons to print. Those can also be used with other MQ (manuf coupons) in their store.

WHEN DO I WORK ON THIS?

I spend 1 day cutting/organizing/making my store lists.

FINALLY

When your coupons have expired DON'T THROW them away! Send them to overseas Military families, they can use them for 6 months after their expiration date.

Go here to read more & how/where to send.