Super-Couponing

Since moving in with Joel's parents, my mother-in-law has been teaching me how to grocery shop with coupons. I've always known about using coupons from my mother, but this is like super-couponing! It seems like it's a craze right now...not sure if it's just here in the South or also going on in Oregon too!

It's been fun though and so rewarding at times! Last night I got a bottle of Robitussin cough medicine for 69 cents after using a "store" coupon for $3 and a "manufacturer" coupon for $2 that I picked up at a Doctor appt. The bottle cost $5.69 and after coupons, I only paid 69 cents! I've actually gotten a bottle of Tylenol Cold for FREE before by using coupons!

The grocery store that we shop at takes all competitor's coupons...Target, Rite-Aid, Walgreens, other grocery stores, etc. so it's easy to double up or "stack" coupons as the coupon lingo goes, using a "store" coupon and a "manufacturer" one.

Another thing that I didn't realize until arriving here is that if a sale item is "buy 1 get 1 free", that I don't actually have to buy both to get the sale price. Buying one just means that I only pay half price. Maybe not every store works that way though. Another thing I've learned is that if I do actually buy both, I can use two coupons. One for each item.

The language on the coupon can be confusing, "one coupon per item per customer" and I've thought that the two items are identical, so it's only "one" item, but I'm buying two identical items, so if I have two coupons I can use both! Last week Joel's Mom and I got Yoplait FiberOne Yogurt for 25 cents because they were Buy 1 Get 1 Free leaving them $1.25 each and we had coupons for $1 off, so we paid 25 cents for 4 amazingly-yummy and healthy yogurts!

I print coupons from online and I also clip the coupons found in the Sunday paper, so I had to figure out a system for keeping track of all these potential savings treasures!

So here is my "handy-dandy notebook!"Joel's Mom already had one going so I got the idea from her. I just personalized mine with all the different categories. I bought baseball card holders and business card holders (but prefer the baseball card ones) to store all the coupons. I'm visual, so I prefer to see them all instead of having to flip through them at the store. It's a bit big to take through the store, especially with a child or car seat in the cart as well, but I'm really liking it.I try to go through my coupons first and pull out the ones I plan on using. I have a 4x6 photo page insert in the front of the notebook for holding the coupons I plan on using. I also have a pencil pouch for a pen and small pair of scissors!

My coupon notebook cost about $20 to create, but last night I spent $29 on groceries and saved $43, so I think the cost was worth it!

Some websites that I found helpful in getting me started are:
super-couponing.com
jillcataldo.com and
southernsavers.com (a helpful website for stores in the south, but helpful for ideas even if you're not!)

Some websites I use for printing coupons are:
coupons.com (maybe you've seen their funny commercials!)
redplum.com
smartsource.com

There are also websites for loading coupons onto your store club card (Safeway):
cellfire.com
shortcuts.com
pgesaver.com

So one other thing that I like about it...besides the incredible savings we're having each week is that I'm buying the national brand products and still saving all the money and reaping the reward of the better taste and quality. I used to think that I had to buy store brand things because the national brand is more expensive, but I've found that by using coupons combined with buying things when they're on sale that it's actually cheaper than buying the store brand.

So! All that to say...that I'm really enjoying grocery shopping (especially because I go when the kids are asleep or Joel is able to watch them for me!) and the fun game of seeing how much I can save!

Hope you are too!!