Couponing 101: Part 1

In the beginning couponing can seem very overwhelming and very difficult. In reality it can be fun and easy. The fun part is to see how much you can really save per shopping trip! I will post a few tips every week to help you make a small change and save big.

1. You don't need to subscribe to a newspaper to coupon. There are a lot of printable coupons out there. The most common site is coupons.com but there are also sites like Red Plum, Smart Source, and you can also find coupons on the manufacturer's websites.
2. If you do want the coupon inserts in the paper, find ways to get them for free. You can always ask one of your neighbors or family member to see if they can give you the coupon inserts. You can also see if you could find inserts in a recycle dumpster close to your home. You can also wait for your local newspaper to run a special on subscriptions. You can also ask to see if your newspaper has subscriptions to the Wednesday and Sunday paper only which are cheaper than the traditional subscriptions.
3.Setup a budget for stock piling. I setup a small budget for things that are on sale but I don't need right away. If you don't setup a budget you will spend A LOT of money.
4. Start small. Don't get overwhelmed by Extreme Couponing. Trust me, this is nothing like that. The goal is to save money on things that you already use and to try new products only when they are free or almost free.
I usually only stockpile paper goods and personal care items. I don't have a lot of storage space in the house and aside from that I don't like to keep a lot of food in the house because I'll forget to use it. ;)  
5. Look for freebies. I will notify you when there are free samples that you can request. Free samples usually come with coupons, usually high value coupons. Remember to use those free samples around the home. Everything helps :).


Next: I will show you how you can organize your coupons.