Friday, February 3, 2012

How I Coupon - Following Living Rich With Coupons




A few people have asked how I save so much money and I always say that I just follow the matchups from www.livingrichwithcoupons.com because that's what I do.
I am not getting paid to advertise this page although the amount I talk and post about it, you would think I was. I don't know if I'd still be couponing if I didn't have this resource.

I'm sure going on the website can be overwhelming so I'll write out how I personally got started and then I'll write out my past shopping trip and where I got those coupons.

Besides being inspired by a friend and having her personally take me out to teach me how to shop at CVS (shout out to Brenda Zizolfo), I've learned the majority of what I know by reading the Beginners Section on Living Rich With Coupons and that's where I read up and learned pretty much everything I know now. I did watch some youtube videos and read different blogs but this lays it all out.

Here is my personal starting of Couponing:

1) Where I get my coupons:

Sunday Paper Coupons - I used to order one paper per week for about 6 months, so I started slowly. As I did more shopping, and reading what other people on the website were bringing home I knew that if I got at least 4 papers it would maximize my savings without being overwhelming. (Part of the 4 paper reasoning is because most grocery stores and pharmacies only allow 4 of the same coupon per order) I'm currently getting 5 papers delivered a week because I got a really good deal on it - I use my 4 coupons for a certain product in my first order and if I want to get one more of that same item I just do second separate order so I can use my 5th coupon.

On-line - Coupons.com, Target... and actually Facebook are great places to start getting printable coupons. The website I follow has a coupon data base where you can type in the item you're looking to buy and she'll show you which paper it's in or what website you can print it from. Here's the link to that: http://www.livingrichwithcoupons.com/lrwc-coupon-database

I follow a couple of facebook coupon pages and they usually post where the good printable coupons are.

Usually the 1st of every month new printable coupons come out.



2) Clipping & Storing...well actually Storing & Clipping- I started clipping ALL my coupons the first week I started and it was overwhelming, I tried it again recently and again, overwhelming. Although I notice that if I have them on hand I can get certain things on clearance or an unadvertised sale for even cheaper than they are but I'm not planning on doing it again. What I HAVE been doing and still am doing, is dating each of my 5 papers (This coming week I'll write 2/5 on the front of all my papers) Then I put them in a binder with sheet protectors to keep them all in one spot. When I decide that it's time to organize my shopping list I go to the website and search for the store I plan on going to (which is usually Shoprite - so here's the shoprite weekly matchups: http://www.livingrichwithcoupons.com/category/stores/shoprite-weekly-match-ups) and I find the matchups for the week and click 'view full list of deals'. All I have to do now is check all the things that I want to buy and it makes a printable list for me.
She (Cindy the writer of the website) even added this [Look for the to find the best stockpile prices] so sometimes I'll skim through real quick and only look for the green checks and see if we'd use it and then click it.

Now the matchups begin. I print out my list. And take out my binder with the dated coupon inserts. Next to the items on my list there will be a thing that looks like this: (RP 01/29/12)
All that means is that I have to look for my coupon inserts dated 1/2, Jan 29th and it's in the RP or Red Plum coupon book. There are 2 other codes SS: which is Smart Source and P&G which is Proctor and Gamble.
Then I clip away and store them either in an envelope or I throw them right into my other coupon binder that I had started making (with good intentions on having a real coupon binder)
What I have in there are the stores coupon policies, my groupons etc.

As I clip them out I write the # of items next to the product on my printed matchup list so I know to throw 8 salad dressings into my cart without having to count my coupons in the store.
There is room on the paper to add things not in the matchup list but you want to get.

And now that I've rambled I'm going to just end this blog and start a new one just for my recent Pathmark deals. I'm surprised most of you are still reading this. Hope this is easy to understand. I'm more of a visual learner so I'm thinking I'll take pictures of the steps and update this when I get a chance.