Coupons 101

Couponing is somewhat of a game. You start slow, but as you move on, you become knowledgeable of all the ins and outs, and before you know it, you're saving a ton of money! Follow these tips, and you will save at least $100 a month on your grocery bills!

The first key is getting your local Sunday paper, checking out the coupon printable web sites, and knowing what magazines are best for coupons.

If you are a sassy couponer, then you will be purchasing more than one of your paper. You can actually preview what coupons will be in the paper by clicking here. Also check out this year's Coupon Insert Schedule so you know when there will be multiple inserts. These 2 resources will help you decide whether you want to buy more Sunday papers, depending on what coupons are available and which coupons you plan on using.

If you are ready for printable coupons my favorite sites are Coupons.com, RedPlum.com, and UPromise.
 
All You is the best magazine for coupons. You can get a one year subscription for a discounted price here.

You can have coupons loaded onto your cell phone or store loyalty card at Cellfire.

If you want more coupons from the newspaper but don't have the time to find them and clip them, I recommend using the Coupon Clippers.

Be on the watch for peelies on products, hangtags under the product, and blinkies machines that blink throughout the store for more coupons.

Be organized with your coupons, keep a list of what you want to purchase, and be sure to keep to the list.

My method for organizing coupons is keeping a file folder for the weekly inserts by date, also known as the Coupon Mom system. . When the advertisements are posted, I then pull out the date of the specific insert and clip the matching coupons (the date can be found along the binding of the 1st page of the insert). You can use our Coupon Database to see where coupons for certain products can be found. I use the Couponizer to keep my coupons separated and organized.

Now that you have a stockpile of coupons it's time to match them up to the sales ads. This way, you can make the most out of your coupons since the items will be on sale. Each week, I will post the weekly ad coupon match-ups to make it easier for you.

These Coupon Abbreviations will help you read the weekly ad coupon match-ups:


General Couponing

• BOGOF or B1G1 - buy one get one free
• Peelie - coupon that peels off package
• WYB - when you buy
• OOP - Out of Pocket
• MIR - Mail-in Rebate
• $1/2 - $1 off of 2 items
• 2/$1 - 2 items for $1
• SC - Store coupon
• MFC - Manufacter's coupon
• GC - Gift Card
• MM - Money Maker

Specific Store Coupons

• ECB - CVS Extra Care Bucks
• Wags - Walgreens
• RR - Walgreens Register Rewards

Newspaper Inserts

• PG - Proctor & Gamble
• SS - Smartsource
• RP - Red Plum
• GM - General Mills
• KG - Kelloggs
• UN - Unilever

How to read coupon postings:
6/17 SS $0.75 off
(June 17th Smart Source Insert coupon is $.75 off)

Last but not least is creating a stockpile of items so you don't have to purchase out of necessity. You can do this with non-perishables, toiletries, etc. Pick them up when they are on sale and purchase as many as you have coupons for. If you get more than one Sunday paper each week, then you can get more than one item, since you'll have more than one coupon.

If you are really into this you can trade coupons by joining My Chicago Mommy's Coupon Swap or at Hot Coupon World, or purchase on Ebay and The Coupon Clippers.