Saving Money and Having Fun Couponing!

I am linking up to Kelly's Korner!

Couponing has saved our family a lot of money. Since we had Levi last year, I have had the awesome opportunity to stay home with him. Losing my income has impacted our family, but couponing has helped ease a bit of the burden when it comes to groceries and toiletries. Couponing has also become a hobby for me. I love looking at the blogs for upcoming deals, planning my shopping trips and best of all, saving money! My very favorite blogs for couponing are:

The Krazy Coupon Lady , Fabulessly Frugal , Money Saving Mom

The best piece of advice I have would be this:

DON'T CLIP COUPONS! There is an easier way! Here is what I do...

1) I ordered 4 copies of the Sunday newspaper. I get 3 LA times and 1 local paper. I went online and found an awesome coupon code for the LA times subscription. I paid $28 for 3 copies a week for the entire year

2) As the coupons come in, I write the date on the front of the insert with a sharpie.

3) I file the coupon insert according to date. I collate all the inserts (Smart Source, Red Plum, etc.) together so they are easy to find
4) I DO NOT CUT OUT ALL OF THE COUPONS
5) I label the file with the date

6) I check the blogs (mentioned above) for deals at my local stores. They do ALL the work for me. Seriously. It's awesome!

7) I decide what products I am going to get. The blogs will link up sales to coupons. They tell you which coupon to get out of which insert from a particular date. For example, I might want to buy toothpaste from Target that is on sale for $1.50. The blog might tell me to use the $1/1 ($1 off of 1) SS (Smart Source) coupon from 10/23. I will go to the 10/23 file and find the toothpaste coupon.

8)THEN I will cut out that one particular coupon since I know I will be be actually buying that item. I only cut coupons for items I know I will be buying for sure.

9) I go to the store, buy the item, save money and have fun!

10) I often give away items. For example, I got 36 boxes of FREE Hamburger Helper so I gave it to my mom for a food drive at her work.

I love couponing, but I don't think I would enjoy it as much if I were not doing it as simply as possible. I would hate to spend tedious hours cutting all the coupons and organizing them. Now I know a lot of people do that so they can catch a sale that might be unadvertised, but for our family, I am happy with just getting the items I know are on sale.

My favorite stores to use coupons at are CVS and Albertsons. Check out the blogs and they will teach you how to coupon using Extra Bucks from CVS and double coupons that come out occasionally from Albertsons.

Myth: All you can buy with coupons is junk.

I don't just buy junk. I get free or cheap cereal, peanut butter, pasta, pasta sauce, salad dressing, toothpaste, shampoo, conditioner, deodorant, floss, mouthwash, cleaning supplies, cheese, yogurt, salad, razors and more!

I would love to help you with any questions you might have. Happy Couponing!