Beginners Tips
How I got started
I have always been very frugal. Growing up very poor I was taught at an early age to value the worth of every dollar. Even as a child I only ever shopped thrift stores, garage sales and the clearance aisles. As I grew older I learned very quickly how to only buy food if it was on sale…and if a coupon was near or on the product I was sure to use it. But it wasn’t until November of 2009 that I started to truly “coupon”. I was out doing my Black Friday shopping…it was around 2 am and I was standing outside in the 20 degree freezing weather waiting for Old Navy to open its doors….my girlfriend who was there with me mentioned she was going to get a Starbucks and stop by Walgreens. I decided I wasn’t that worried about getting the door prize for being the first person in line (which I was) and went with her to warm up. It was that very night that I experienced “couponing” at its greatest! She got over $100 in products (all which I used regularly) for FREE and even made a little money! I knew from that moment on I NEEDED to figure this thing out!
Best couponing tip
Don’t try to do this on your own. Couponing can be difficult…but there are bloggers out there that do all the dirty work…they search out all the deals, coupons and match ups…and break it down for you! All you need to do is follow what they say to do…gather up those coupons and do the shopping! With that in mind, be cautious of the blogger you are following…you want to make sure that they are knowledgeable of the current coupon policies and are not advising you to commit coupon fraud.
Best advice for getting started
The best advice I can give anyone is to be patient. Be patient with cashiers who many times don’t know the rules to coupons or their own stores policies…and be patient with the learning process as it does take time to learn and mistakes will happen (don’t let a few mistakes get you down)
Where to find coupons
I personal rely probably 90% on printable coupons! I do buy a couple of newspapers each week…however I feel like printable coupons, savings card coupons and smart phone apps are the best value coupons out there. Plus with all these new phone apps (Ibotta) and savings card club coupons (like Cellfire and SavingStar) you can double and triple stack your coupons to score the best deals possible!
PS… don’t forget about shopping online…Amazon rocks for great deals on paper and baby products! And ShopAtHome and Ebates offer rewards for shopping online on top of store promo codes and promotions!!!
My biggest coupon score
My biggest score was definitely the Extreme Couponing trip I did on Season One at Fred Meyer. I purchased $2500+ for a grand total of $0 and I left with $58.14 in FREE gift cards and over $200 in catalina coupons good for gift card purchases (which I used to buy several different types of gift cards for our family) and then I also got back $50 in rebates! For a grand total of FREE plus $308.14 profit!!! And yes everything I did was totally legit…legal and I did not break or bend any rules within the coupons wording or the store policies! I just worked hard and scored big!!!!
More Educational Topics:
How, where, when and what…finding, using and organizing coupons!
Sale Cycles: How to be an Extreme Couponer!!!
What do I do if my Catalina/Reward doesn’t print?
How to save on produce and meats?
Couponing 101: The 10 Most Important Facts A Beginner Should Know
How to be a working mom (dad) and an Extreme Couponer!
5 Tips and Tricks to stress-free couponing!
7 Comments
judy
What happens when your at a store and you know that your suppose to receive a register coupon but the clerk doesn’t give it to you, do you ask for the “cat” ?
thebudgetbandit
Most of the time I ask the cashier if they know of the Catalina that was supposed to print. If they know of it, they will normally “force print ” it for you with no problems…most stores also have a list of “force print codes” which is a code for making a Catalina print that errored and didnt print. But remember some Catalinas are “unadvertised” and such do NOT have force print codes. At that point you just have to hope you have a nice cashier that will force it to print or refund you the money. I have had pretty good luck and have never NOT gotten refunded or my Catalina that didnt print. I think it is all about your attitude and how you ask your cashier! Good Luck!!!
judy
Thanks, I hopefully won’t have “THAT” experience again (it was on a sizable order, and I was nervous ).
Selena
How do you organize your coupon binder? I have dividers; but I’m getting stuck with how far do I break down the categories? Just “bathroom stuff” or shampoo, tampons, soap, asprin etc. I was also thinking maybe just to organize it by the way my grocery store was organized? Thanks =)
The Budget Bandit
To be honest you really have to do what works best for you! I have mine in a two sided zip up binder…on the left side is all non-grocery items…subdivided by stores, home fragrances, pet food, laundry, cleaners, storage, baby items (I use a thicker divider to do this next part) Oral Care, Medicine/Vitamins, Makeup, Woman’s Care (shampoo, conditioner, deotorant, styling products, feminine care, and hair dye (these are all in once section but the pages are all in somewhat of an order with like products) …on the right side of my binder I have grocery …snacks, Dairy, Beverages, Meat, Frozen, Pizza, Canned Goods, Pasta, Cereal, Desserts, and Candy.
This is what works for me..but everyone has their own methods..you kind of have to test it out and see what you like. 🙂 Good Luck!!!
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