Couponing: Make it Fit Your Lifestyle

As I have stated in earlier posts I have been officially been couponing for 9 1/2 months now. I started out rocky, as I had no idea what I was doing. A friend introduced me to TheGroceryGame.com, and from there it started. I didn't believe I could ever cut my grocery bill from $700/mth to $300/mth (I think I'm closer to $250 now, but I need to do some checking), but I am living proof it is absolutely possibly.

What I wanted to share today is that in the beginning you spend more time couponing then you do once you get a good handle on the whole thing. Remember you can make Couponing fit into your time and budget, don't let it take your life over, because it can if you let it. The more time you put into learning and understanding how to properly use coupons the more greater your savings will be. After 9 months I am in a good place, both financially and time wise. I am spending way less time on my coupons now then I did at first.

Now that I have a really good stockpile of items, I am VERY picky about what I buy and when. I am also picky about the kinds of coupons I use. I don't have the need to run out and buy things, of course there are the weekly things such as produce & milk. But even now, with the knowledge and experience I have gained I am able to fold these type of need items into my grocery bill to bring the cost down even further, such as using overage items, or Register Rewards, or Extra Care Bucks.

I know it can seem frustrating in the beginning but just take a deep breathe and know that if you are saving money each week you are doing GREAT! This really isn't a contest about who saves the most, it's just about making it work for you and your budget and your family. Some weeks you will save more than others. Make it fit into your lifestyle!

Purchase Items You DON'T Need to Get Items You DO Need

Sorry, I have not blogged in quite some time regarding saving during Month Two.

Today I wanted to talk to you about Money Makers (MM) &/or Overages. MM are items combined with the right coupons &/or sales will give you overage, meaning you get money back in your pocket. Most stores won't give you money back if your final sales is negative (meaning when the store owes you money for buying rather than you owing them money).  I like to try and take advantage of such situations by then purchasing items that may be more expensive or items that tend to have coupons (such as produce & meat). MM will actually pay or at least help pay for items that you are in need of purchasing.

Here's a great recent example of this. Publix had a Store Coupon (SQ) for -$5/2 for either Phazyme or Sominex (and some other meds). Then you could print of Q for -$2/1 for Phazyme and one for Sominex. Here's how this looked:

2-Phazymes ($3.49ea) = $6.98
   -use one SQ -$5/1
   -use two MFQ -$2/1
   -Total: -$2.02 (overage/MM)

The above example now leaves you room to purchase some items such as produce. Let's throw in some corn, that is on sale at Publix:

9- Ears of Corn (8/$2 or $.25ea)
    -Total: $2.25
With 2 Phazymes and 9 ears of corn pay only $.23 for everything, that's a savings of 97%!


Having used the above example, let's put this in prospective. You may NOT have needed the Phazymes but because they provided overage they are also paying for your produce that you DO need.

Here's my recommendation. Be on the lookout for overage/MM items, these are key to assisting you with purchasing items you do need. The more overage items you have the more Need Items you will be able to purchase with little to no money out of pocket.

Month Two

I want to know how your first month of couponing went? Please leave a comment and let me know how things went. What did you learn, what are areas you improved, what are areas you would like to continue to improve in? 

Welcome to Month Two of learning to coupons. I hope you have started to build a small stockpile. If you are still struggling to get a stockpile built and having some difficulty please feel free to email me at CouponQueenHolly at Gmail dot com, and I will be happy to help you on a personal basis. 

This month, we aren't going to do a ton different I have a couple small challenges for you to help you get that stockpile built up, but otherwise your main goal this second month is to stick with your original budget, and keep your Needs List to only 50% of your grocery list, and your Stockpile list the other 50%. 

Remember your Need Items should be on sale for at least 40% off (with the exclusion of meat and produce, those items are a bit harder to get around that price, but still continue to get them on sale. I will continue to post produce & meat sales to help you out in that area of shopping).  

You Stockpile Items should be at least on sale 51% off the original price (that would include the use of coupons with sales). 

My challenge to you this month is to try and increase your stockpile even more so. Here's what I suggest you do:

1. Get as many items that are FREE or Money Makers, stock up on these type of items. I try and post links to these items as often as possible so be sure to grab these when they are available. 
2. Increase your Stockpile Items from 51% off to at least 60% off, and increase your Need Items from 40% to 45%. 

Again, this is only the second month so don't overwhelm yourself if this isn't possible. My goal this month is to begin adding percentages next to all the items that I deem great items to buy. Also if you want I still recommend The Grocery Game to help you with your weekly shopping lists. If you haven't signed up yet, please be sure to let them know I sent you the email address I use for that site is yonfamily5 at gmail dot com.

Again please leave a comment to let me know how your first month went. If you have any additional questions you can alway email me at CouponQueenHolly at Gmail dot com, and I will be more than happy to help you out with your couponing experience.