Couponing tips for a newbie?

[Iloveeliot]

I'm looking for couponing tips. We usually clip coupons from the paper but that is it. I want to take it up a notch because I'm feeling badly about the cost of our Disney trip we will be taking next fall. I'm especially interested in figuring out how to get the best deals on healthy foods. I'm not too interested in coupons for lots of junk food. We aren't willing to just buy whatever has the best sales if it isn't tasty and healthy. I'm not sure you can share websites on here but any pointers would be great. also, feel free to pm me! Thanks a million!

 

[pocomom]

I'm looking for couponing tips. We usually clip coupons from the paper but that is it. I want to take it up a notch because I'm feeling badly about the cost of our Disney trip we will be taking next fall. I'm especially interested in figuring out how to get the best deals on healthy foods. I'm not too interested in coupons for lots of junk food. We aren't willing to just buy whatever has the best sales if it isn't tasty and healthy. I'm not sure you can share websites on here but any pointers would be great. also, feel free to pm me! Thanks a million!

1. Get familiar with the the pricing at your local stores- what is the normal price, regular sales price and a really good sales price for all of you regulars.
2. Where you can match up sales flyers with manufacturer and/or store
coupons.
3. Items you can regularly get for free or very little cost are tolietries and cleaning supplies, also make your own natural cleaners- very cheap.
4. Buy meat, if you eat it, in bulk when it is the "loss leader" (item store doesn't make much money on to draw people in) at your store. Use beans and other healthy filler to stretch your meat dollars.
5. Stick to seasonal fruits and veggies.
6. Make as much as you can from scratch. Think about doing bigger batches and freezing to make it easier on you.
7. Meal Plan! Before you go to the store have a snack (so you are not hungry) , look in your fridge and pantry, determine what needs to be used up, and look at what is at a good sale price and make a plan for the week outlining each meal. make sure to plan a leftover night or too. Then allocate a small amount of your budget to buy deeply discounted items worth stocking up on.
8. Make a list of a few cheap healthy meals your family loves- for us black bean quesadillas, homemade veggie burger, soup and baked potato, breakfast for dinner are some of our favorites. Include two or more each week.

 

[Marionnette]

I'm looking for couponing tips. We usually clip coupons from the paper but that is it. I want to take it up a notch because I'm feeling badly about the cost of our Disney trip we will be taking next fall. I'm especially interested in figuring out how to get the best deals on healthy foods. I'm not too interested in coupons for lots of junk food. We aren't willing to just buy whatever has the best sales if it isn't tasty and healthy. I'm not sure you can share websites on here but any pointers would be great. also, feel free to pm me! Thanks a million!

I see that you live in PA. There's a big difference between the Philly stores and the Pittsburgh area stores and then there are markets in central PA, NEPA and the Erie area. All of them have their own online communities for couponing. Using one that takes the Philly market into consideration isn't going to help you if you're shopping at stores near Butler.

Here's my advice.

• Start slow. Concentrate on one store and get to know their coupon policy. Add one store at a time, making sure that you know how you can use your coupons at each one. CVS, Target, Walmart or Walgreens are good ones to start with because their coupon policies are consistent across the country, so you can look for deals on any blog and they should work for you, too.
• Get multiple copies of the coupon inserts. Sometimes there are "$X off your next order when you buy #s" but if you only have one coupon for 1 item, the deal is not as sweet. Those "$X off your next order" coupons are golden! You can use them on almost anything, including your produce and meat!
• Match your coupons with the sales for the best savings.
• Sometimes a "50-cents off 1" coupon is better than "$1 off 2". This would be true if your store doubles coupons. You can use 2 $0.50/1 coupons to purchase two items (getting $2 off after doubling).
• Some stores will allow you to "stack" store coupons with manufacturer's coupons to get bigger savings. For instance, I have an Acme coupon for $3 off a $10 produce purchase. I also have some coupons for 75-cents off any Earth Bound Organics, which Acme will "fully double" to $1.50. If I purchase two EB products for a total of $10 (or more), I will save $3 from the EB coupons and another $3 for the produce coupon. That's $6 off $10's worth of produce.
• Start printing coupons from your computer. There can be some very valuable internet coupons that you cannot get in the inserts.
• Sign up for the newsletters for your favorite stores and brands. I've gotten quite a few exclusive coupons in my email and snail mail by doing that.

Check out some couponing forums like afullcup.com and hotcouponworld.com. They can be very helpful to newbies.

 

[Plumeria9]

I'm looking for couponing tips. We usually clip coupons from the paper but that is it. I want to take it up a notch because I'm feeling badly about the cost of our Disney trip we will be taking next fall. I'm especially interested in figuring out how to get the best deals on healthy foods. I'm not too interested in coupons for lots of junk food. We aren't willing to just buy whatever has the best sales if it isn't tasty and healthy. I'm not sure you can share websites on here but any pointers would be great. also, feel free to pm me! Thanks a million!

I have two blogs that you should check out. The first is a no-brainer, her site/blog is called "Couponing to Disney"! I love that one because there is a lot of info on coupons, deals on Disney stuff, and a lot of other good stuff. The other one is organicdeals.com, which is obvious, is only or mainly organic stuff. I also follow: Totallytarget.com, and Deal Seeking Mom (sorry some of these are website addresses and some are just names, just put into Google and they will all pop up). It seems that all of these bloggers help each other to some extent, there are tons of shared bits of info that I see on all of these blogs.
If there are products that you are loyal to, look on the mfg. website, often times there are coupons on their site. Coupons.com, Smartsource.com, and RedPlum.com all have printable and some have coupons you can put onto a loyalty card.
One problem w/ all of the deals you will be privy to now, you won't be able to go into a store without your coupons! Just sign up and get emails from the blogs that interest you and read them and you will get the hang of it. If you sign up for a blog and down the road you decide you are getting too many and this one isn't that great, just unsubscribe. I've done it w/ a few other blog emails. I try and keep track of all of the deals and coupons, and stacked coupon deals I have taken advantage of but I haven't done a very good job of it. It does add up. Good luck!

 

[moobar25]

My favorite site to help with couponing is THEKRAZYCOUPONLADY . com
The great thing they do is match the coupons with the weekly deals at majority of the national stores. They also provide links to printable coupons. They have saved me hundreds of dollars in a few short months!