Couponing

A great way to say money is by using coupons. Couponing is becoming very popular as more people are trying to find ways to save money. Here’s some simple steps to get you started.

1. Go about it as a game or a challenge. Try to beat your record on how much you can save at a grocery visit.
2. Combine coupons with sales if possible.
3. Only use the coupon on items you would buy anyways.
4. If the generic is cheaper than name brand w/ coupon and your family will eat the generic, then buy they generic.
5. Get your coupons organized. I am working mine into a binder, which I hope to show in a future post after it is done.
6. Take a calculator with you to the store so you can figure price per weight and can get the best deal.
7. The Sunday newspaper is one of the best places to get coupons.
8. Ask friends, family and neighbors to save their extra coupons that they don’t use for you.
9. If you belong to a homeschool group or Bible study, see if the other women would like to bring their extra coupons and do a coupon exchange.
10. There are several places on the web that you can print your own coupons.

http://www.coupons.com

http://coupons.smartsource.com/

http://www.upons.com/

11. You can order coupons on line for a very small price. A lot of times there is a small minimum to buy. Example: You may be able to order a $1.00 coupon for Huggies diapers at $.05 a piece, minimum to buy 5. So if you buy Huggies all the time, you spend the $.25 for the coupons and save $4.75. Some of the places may have a separate processing fee for the total order so make sure you read the terms and decide if its worth it.

http://www.thecouponclippers.com/

http://www.cnfcentral.com/coupons.asp

http://www.thecouponmaster.com/

12. Watch the cash register total. The sale price does not always come up, coupons don’t always ring up right, they swipe too many times, ect.

13. Do not go shopping hungry!! Everything will look good to you.
14. Stick to your list but be flexible. Sometimes stores have unadvertised sales that you may want to take advantage of especially if you have a coupon for that item.
15. Last but not least, leave your children at home if you can. It will save you money. If you husband is not happy with the idea about being left with the kids, explain to him it is an effort to save more money. It’s really hard to calculate prices, search for coupons, watch the cash register total and such when the kids are begging for things, whining about being tired, trying to grab things, trying to climb out of the shopping cart, ect.

Frugal Friday!

This is my first post on this blog. I am striving to be more frugal and this is my accountability blog. My goal is to be more frugal with our resources so we can pay off our huge medical bills. My husband and I are both wanting a new house because the one that we have does not fit us or our lifestyle well. We are wanting to be able to put our children in activities like piano lessons and we are still considering having another child but until we get these medical bills paid off, there is no extra money for these things. So my first frugal goal is to get myself organized so I know what I have and no longer rebuying things or letting food expire because I lost track of it.