I have had many people say to me that they don’t coupon because they don’t have the time. I am also an extremely busy person and I make sure that couponing takes as little time away from the rest of my life as possible. There is no denying that couponing will never be as fast as jumping in your car, heading to the grocery store and buying whatever you want regardless of price. Therefore, I am going to share my tips and tricks for couponing quickly and in such a small amount of time that it is very worthwhile to my grocery budget.
Learning to Coupon– This is probably where the greatest amount of time is spent. Couponing is a skill. Like any skill it has to be learned , practiced, and perfected. I recommend starting small. Try doing a few small deals a week at the store you will already be shopping at. You will learn as you go. It’s addicting and it will encourage you to try more.
Use the Whole Insert Method of Organizing Your Coupons– I organize my coupons in a filing cabinet by date with a folder for each week. When I need a coupon, I grab the right folder, get the right insert and cut it out. I do not have time to cut out ever coupon I ever receive individually nor do I think this is a productive use of time. You will not use the majority of coupons you ever receive so unless a great deal comes along for a particular coupon I don’t want to spend time on it.
Save Only 12 Weeks Worth of Coupon Inserts– After that you will rarely find any coupons that have not expired. Add a new week and get rid of an old week at the same time. This creates less clutter and is less to keep track of. Thanks, SouthernSavers.com for a great article about this HERE. They also show you how to check if any coupons are left unexpired so you don’t throw them out. In favor of saving time, I generally do not do this extra step.
Get Your Sunday Newspapers Delivered– Instead of having to go to the store every Sunday and buy newspapers to get coupons, have them delivered right to your house. You are able to do a Sunday only subscription. A newspaper subscription is cheaper than buying them in the store every week and it helps to ensure that you will never forget to buy them. Most coupons line up better with sales a few weeks down the road from when they are issued, so you never want to miss a week. This also saves a lot of hassle if you want to use a coupon the same day it comes out because you won’t be trying to cut it out at the store.
Use a Coupon Wallet– I use a pendaflex style coupon wallet that has a tab for each store I shop at and then a few generic tabs for extra cut coupons ex. Personal care, household, and grocery. Once I have picked the deals I want to do for a week I file them by store so they are easy to access. Sometimes I will even just use an envelope for a quick stop at one store.
Pick a Couple of Stores You Actually Shop At– Driving all over your state to every store possible to get ever deal available is not an effective use of your time, money or energy. Pick a few stores close to home that you actually shop at and focus your effort on those. There are exceptions to this, if you do find a really amazing deal that makes it worth a trip out of your way, but you have to determine when it’s worth it.
Pick a Couple of Coupon Websites that Give You the Best Results– If you are combing hundreds of coupon blogs every week you are not spending your time effectively. There are many couponing blogs that I enjoy reading, but if I don’t have much time I stick to two or three that I find have most of the best deals for my local stores so that I see the deals quickly. I use www.moneysavingmom.com, www.couponaholic.net, and www.southernsavers.com but find the ones that work the best for you.
Quickly Review the New Drug Store Coupon Deals of the Week Sat Night/Sun Morning– I spend less than half an hour looking at new deals for the next sale week. Target, CVS, and Walgreens have sale cycles that run Sunday through Saturday. I like using www.southernsavers.com I go straight to the section for the store I want, look at the Ads and Coupon Match Ups for that week, pick the deals I want to do, and it even creates a shopping list for me. I then take that list and copy it into a word document with the lists from all of the stores I want to shop at that week to make one single list. I find that this one site has 99% of the best couponing deals already listed out so I don’t have to search a ton of sites to find the best deals quickly. And no, unfortunately, I don’t get anything for promoting their site but this is really what I do.
Quickly Review New Grocery Store Deals Before you go Grocery Shopping- Unlike Drug or Big Box Store sales that run until Sunday grocery store sale cycles change every wed or thurs depending on where you live but they are less likely to run out of items. I usually only check grocery store sale deals when I am going grocery shopping. If you want to make sure you are first to get their deals look over them the night before the sale starts. The reason I usually wait until I am about to go shopping is because if I see a great deal I want to run out to the store even if I have a kitchen full of food and I usually don’t stop at just one item.
Quick Pick Your Deals– I don’t do every deal, ever time. I’m selective to save time. What I mean by this is know what you need to buy that week and then keep your eyes open for those deals. Other than something that I need to buy immediately, and will have to spend full price for if I don’t find a deal on it, I look for stock up deals. These are deals on items I know that I need for my household and I will stock up on them when they are FREE, I get paid to buy them, or a really great price (as time goes on you will learn what a really great price is for a coupon deal in your area). I have a small cabinet (not a whole room) I fill with my “coupon stash” of household items and food goes in the pantry. You won’t always be able to find a great deal on an item that you need at exactly the time you need it so stocking up helps you to buy items only when they are cheapest.
Shop the Day Your Stores Sale Starts– This is Sunday mornings for drug stores and big box stores, Wed or Thurs Morning for most Grocery Stores or On Your Store’s Restocking Day. Because Couponing’s largest time investment comes from getting ready before hand, you are wasting time every time you cut coupons for deals that the store is out of. With couponing’s recent surge of popularity it can be harder to find the best deal items in stock. You increase your chances of find an item in stock by shopping during one of the times I listed.
Rainchecks are Your Friends– If you have already invested the time and energy to collect coupons for items that are sold out, take a minute at the store to get a raincheck and then file it with the coupons so that you can get the deal at a later time. If your coupons are expiring soon, ask that the clerk include the terms to accept your soon to be expired coupons on the raincheck. CVS rainchecks never expire so it makes it easy to fit a deal into another week of shopping.
If the Deals Aren’t That Great, Stay Home– If you look at the deals currently going on and don’t see anything that great- stay home! You will ALWAYS spend less money staying at home and away from temptation.
Look at Couponing as Your Hobby– I have so much fun couponing it really is one of my favorite hobbies. No it is not fun all the time, especially if something goes wrong, but if you can’t find a way to have fun couponing it will be much harder to justify spending your time in it.
Don’t Disregard Other Methods of Saving Money at the Grocery Store– Couponing works best when it is used in conjunction with other methods of saving money at the grocery store. I do use coupons but I also- shop sales, keep track of prices, shop at discount grocery stores for items I don’t usually get coupons for, etc.
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