This is a blog that I put together to represent all the couponing stockpiles that I have acquired in 10 months. I bought most of it for under $1.00 and everything else was free. I will teach you the latest deals, how to get started and how to keep going when you lose confidence/motivation in yourself. Hope you enjoy, and if you have any comments or questions, feel free to post.
Here's my story: I was on unemployment in 2011 after moving in with my in-laws and being laid off of the law firm. I was home a lot and was trying to figure out how to make ends meet while still being able to buy the essentials that we needed (diapers, shampoo, body wash, etc). I know my mom had done some couponing while I was an adult, so I called her and asked her how to start. I had done some couponing in IA in 2008, but didn't keep up with it. I went out one day and bought a binder, and I started keeping the coupon inserts from the Sunday paper. I also went to an office supply store (Office Max, Staples, etc) and bought a pack or 2 of Baseball Trading Card holders, which I used to put my coupons in. Then I was forced with how to categorize my binder. Should I do it by month of expiration so nothing expires, or should I divide it by sections/aisles of the store that I visit most (Wal-Mart)? I still have some coupons that will expire on me, depending on whether I have time to grab the items while they're on sale and use my coupons. Some weeks I don't have money to shop deals, so if that item isn't on sale again, I let the coupon expire or I lay it on the shelf next to the product and let someone else use it.
Here are some simple tips to getting started without overwhelming yourself and burning out early. I will attach some pictures of what my binder looks like, but you're free to separate it however you would like.
Binder: You can find these at Wal-Mart, Target, Michael's, Staples, Office Max, etc for normally under $20. The more your binder holds and the fancier the accessories, the more you'll pay. My first binder was very simple, I just made sure it had a zipper and not a velcro strap, because if your binder doesn't have a zipper to enclose it, you will find yourself dropping coupons as you walk around the store carrying it. My second binder I bought when coupons came out for it (normally in the summer, close to when school will be starting). They had a coupon for $2.00 off a Five Star binder, and I was able to find one at Walgreens with a zipper, extra pockets on the inside, a bigger size, PLUS an accordion folder (to hold inserts not yet cut out) for $10.99 before my coupon (this binder retailed for $20.00).
Baseball Card Inserts: Like I mentioned earlier, you can find these at Office Max, Michael's, Staples, or any other office supply store. I was not able to find any of these at Target, Wal-Mart or Toys R Us (they carry baseball cards, but not the right kind of inserts). You can typically buy a pack of them (20 sheets, 9 pockets on each sheet) for $2.50 or $5.00 at the highest. Having these inserts will help you to better organize your coupons, and not have to hunt and peck for ones stacked behind each other to save room. I was able to spread out more of the brands of each product (1 coupon for Buddig lunch meat, 1 coupon for Oscar Mayer lunch meat, etc) rather than tucking each coupon behind each other for the same product. Make sense? I hope so, cuz I don't know how else to explain it, but I was losing coupons and missing the savings because I didn't have them spread out into each pocket.
Subscribe: I have never had to do this until we moved to UT, but some people subscribe to multiple copies of the Sunday paper to increase the copies of their inserts. When I started in April, I was receiving 1 copy at my front door on Sundays, but then I would ask people at church (people I knew well and felt comfortable asking) for their extra inserts. I found that 3 people were receiving the paper, but not using the coupons. They were more than happy to bring their inserts to me on Sunday, and that gave me 4 copies of each insert. Let me explain the different kinds of "inserts" you can receive in a typical week: Red Plum (RP), Smart Source (SS), Proctor and Gamble (P&G, ALWAYS on the first Sunday of each month), Pepsico (Pepsi brand products, these coupons are rare as they come out twice in a year, once is always in the summer; it gives you the opportunity to collect multiple inserts/copies and stock up on enough soda, chips, etc to last you until the next insert), Target (these are Target store coupons, which can only be used at Target and can also be matched with a manufacturer coupon to add up the savings on 1 product; again, these are rare and don't come very often), and General Mills (these are coupons for products that are sold by General Mills (Pillsbury, Chex Mix, cereal, etc)). Anyways, here in UT I am having to either buy the paper on Saturday (they release a special edition which has the coupons for Sunday and contains 2 papers, so 2 copies of each insert), or subscribe to the Deseret News or Salt Lake Tribune on Sunday for multiple copies. Some newspaper companies will offer a discount for multiple deliveries of each paper on Sunday. You can ask them about that when you call.
Stockpile: There are different types of couponers. I would say I am less extreme, only because I will cut coupons out for things we haven't used before, I find a good deal on it, and I'm able to stock up. If it's something we don't like after we've tried it (a certain food item, a different brand of soap, body wash, razor, etc), then we donate the rest of the supply I picked up to a shelter or give it out to family/friends that could use it.
Extreme: they cut out each and every coupon that comes out in the Sunday paper. They find a good sale, they buy it (and mass quantities of it) and they add it to their stockpile. These are the ones on tv where they don't have kids but are buying diapers and formula, cuz it was free. Or they are males buying pads and tampons, cuz they're free.
Less Extreme: they cut out coupons for things they use on a regular basis, but also cut out some coupons for products that interest them, but won't buy it if they can't find a good deal on it.
Moderate: they only cut coupons for the things they need, make their grocery list around what's on sale and what coupons they have, and don't cut coupons for things they won't use (even if they can get it for free).
Casual couponers: these are the ones that casually cut out coupons as they need them, but don't prepare a grocery list around them. They don't keep a binder, accordion folder, etc and don't mind it if they pay full price, as long as they're couponing on some things.
Storage: You need to decide how you will store all of your stockpile that you accumulate. Do you have the garage space to build shelves, or are you having to use closet space and put your stockpile in totes. Everything I collected sat in a closet in totes and re-usable shopping bags until this past weekend. Even when we moved to UT, we had the space in the garage (after never having a garage), but we didn't have the money for the shelving. Then when we had the money, we had to decide whether we wanted to buy the wood and cinder blocks and put it together that way, or buy metal shelves in a box and assemble them ourselves. So frustrating but so worth it in the end. We went to Lowe's on a Saturday afternoon, when the employees aren't as busy, told them my vision, and asked how to go about building it. They showed us the wood and cinder block option, and they showed us the medal shelves option, then it was up to us to decide what would work best.
Once you've got your binder, your inserts, and your storage space, then you have to decide how to shop the sales. Do you stick to 1 store, or do you visit each store depending on their sale? I tend to hop between Wal-Mart (price matching items that I have an ad for but don't feel like driving to the store for 2 items), Target, and Walgreens. I don't have a CVS or a Rite-Aid and none of our grocery stores double, so I'm out of luck there. My household stockpile has come from Walgreens and Wal-Mart, with part of it from Target as well. I was able to become close with a cashier at Walgreens, became familiar with their policy, became friendly with the managers, and always made sure to thank them for holding things as they came off the truck for me. Anything they did to go out of their way, I was thankful, because they didn't have to help me out. There are so many snobby couponers out there that think they are royalty and should get what they want. You have to remember that there are regular customers out there too, so you need to be thankful for what you are able to pick up on the shelf.
