Jumping Into The World of Couponing

Let’s be honest for a moment, the cost of food and household necessities are overpriced and most families can’t afford to buy what they need without setting an extreme budget and using different ways to save. For over 18 years, I have tried to get myself into couponing but it never stuck. Time and time again, I would get myself all psyched up to get into the world of couponing. I wanted to become like all the amazing stories I would read about or hear about on tv. Even before the Extreme Couponing tv shows, I wanted to find ways to use these coupons to save my family and I as much money as I could so we can use that extra money to enjoy the fun things in life.

I am not going to lie, the thought of jumping into this couponing world does overwhelm me. I joined a local couponing group to get the heads up on deals in the area. I watch these women purchase $100s of dollars worth of products for just a few dollars. I am in complete awe when they display the pictures of all the products they just brought home and the receipt of how much they paid and saved. Now to get to be like those women and save, save, save!

When I began couponing, the only coupons I knew about were the ones in the Sunday papers but now you can print them off at home as well. One thing I do need to be vigilant about is purchasing the weekly papers for the coupons. In my area, one paper comes out on Saturday and one on Sunday that covers the best coupon inserts. There has been multiple times, I completely forgot what day it was and never purchased my papers only to watch these other women show the great sales they just got from the coupons I missed out on. Now, I set an alert on my phone to remind myself to buy my weekly papers.

In addition to the weekend paper coupons, you can print coupons from various websites including the manufacturer sites which just amazes me because in less than 20 years things have changed so much in the couponing world. Anyway I can get a coupon to save money, I will use those ways and my ink/paper to spend less money at the grocery store.

With a new baby in the house, we will be needing to purchase diapers and other baby items so finding those coupons are going to be a must. Plus, the little shopping trips to Walmart or my grocery store for those items we run out of faster like milk, bread and fresh produce the coupons can come in handy. I love when I find coupons for the halo oranges because Danyella could eat a bag all by herself!

The world of couponing, not even extreme couponing, can be intense and overwhelming to start which is why I am going to do a couple of in-depth posts about couponing to fit around your schedule and some key tips on how to save the most money on those products you need to buy over and over again. Stayed tuned to next week’s post about what essential things you need to get started with couponing.