If you missed the first part in my series, go my How to Start Couponing series to start from the beginning.
I have a bunch of coupons. Now what? You are so excited you want to rush out to the store and buy everything you now have a coupon for. However, that will not save you very much money and you will be extremely frustrated. In order to save using coupons you need to have a lot of coupons and you also need to create a stockpile. You cannot do this over night. This will take some time to learn how to use coupons effectively.
Pick the Store Where You Want to Shop
Decide which store you would like to shop by looking at the weekly flyers sent in the mail. I receive mine on Tuesdays for sales starting on Wednesday. Stores like WalMart might have the best everyday pricing available; however, stores like Kroger and Tom Thumb, in the Dallas area, will have several items at a DEEP discount sale, a better than WalMart price. The real secret is to buy at the below WalMart price and to purchase a lot of an item to last you until the next sale to save the most.
Now look through the flyer you have received from the store. Is there anything in there you have coupons for? Is that a really good price for the item? If not keep looking try to find at least three to four items you have coupons for, on sale and you want to eat. This is the first step in learning how to use coupons.
Find a Match Up Site
Check out coupon Match-Up websites to help in your search. I usually use Southern Savers. Southern Savers indicates which is a great stock up price by a little acorn. This is great for beginners. These have the items listed with the matching coupons and where to find the coupons. You can make your list of three to four items and print it from the website with the corresponding coupons.
How to Use Coupons
How to use coupons in simple steps:
1. Find the store you would like to shop.
2. Go to a Matchup Site check prices and coupons.
3. Print your list and gather your coupons
4. Go shopping and start saving
The best way to learn how to use coupons is to start small to see how much you can save on your shopping order with the sale and coupons. If you go while you are doing your normal shopping trips you won’t see the big savings and may get more discouraged. I know when I saw my first 60% savings receipt I was really excited.
You will need to buy at the lowest price and purchase enough to last you until the next sale. This is known as stockpiling. You may also need to make trips to several different stores in order to get the best deals possible. Another option is to price match at WalMart, but many stores have deals that are unadvertised where you can still get great deals by shopping around the store. I will talk about price matching WalMart in a later post.
I would say it was a comfortable three months before I was able to create a stockpile and have enough food in order to create any meal I wanted from my stockpile. This is something that will take time to create and mold into your family’s eating habits. If you are concerned about stockpiling and how to store your food I will be posting more on that in the next couple of weeks.
You can continue on in the coupon series by reading:
3. Step Three to saving BIG on your Grocery Bill
4. Step Four Drug Store Shopping – CVS
5. Step Five How to Create a Stockpile
Let me know if you have any questions. Have fun shopping and let me know how you do!
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