Couponing: Simplified

I had quite the adventure in the coupon-clipping world on Monday after work. I picked up the Sunday Coupons from my grandpa's house and I took them home and I set up shop on my living room floor (Hence the rug as the background for all my photos).  I've been reading this book that my mom got me for Easter called Savvy Saving by Melissa Jennings and Shelley King. They are the creators of the website Stockpiling Moms.  From this website, I've been learning the basics of how to coupon. Pretty much, I'm just cutting randomly and hoping I'm going to use what I clipped...You would be surprised how long it took to clip all those things.

From the book and from the experience I now have this is what I know about couponing:

1.  Using coupons is the smartest when the prices are already low. You want to get everything you buy at what the Moms (That's how I'm going to reference that book from now on!) call "rockbottom prices".

2. Even if it might be the more expensive brand, if it's the brand you always use, you might as well clip it to save some money on it. (That's something I decided on my own!)

3.  If you don't need the product and you buy it because you have a coupon, you're not actually saving any money.  Okay, that's kind of a "duh" sort of thing, but I want to cover everything essential to couponing that I know so far.

4.  Use regular sized scissors. It is not fun using the ones that were in your pencil box in the fourth grade.

5.  Categorize your coupons so that when you need one for something, you know where to find it. Along with this, use something to oraganize like a book or a binder or something like that.

6.  Plan for a lot of time. It's not a quick thing. Not to mention the fact that you have to clean up the mess you make. (I made a big big mess...But that just kinda comes with me. I make messes when I do pretty much anything involving paper and scissors)

7.  There is a lot more to couponing than you think. the Moms reccomend creating a price book that shows the trends in prices of the products you typically buy. That way you know for certain when a product is at it's "rockbottom price"

8.  Use paper clips. I came up with this on my own too. It keeps the things that are alike together and makes it a lot less messy. Especially when your crazy little dog bust in and decides to roll all over your freshley cut coupon pile.

9. Don't get distracted with other things. This is something you need to do in one whack...or else it'll just sit on the livingroom floor and your mom (or husband or boyfriend or wife or whoever you live with) will probably get mad.

10.  And last but not least take your coupons with you when you go places. You can't get savings if you don't have the coupons. Then, you won't have a million expired coupons and all your hand cramps and your dog rolling around in your pile won't go to waste!

Overall, I had a really good time clipping all these coupons and I'm so excited to start saving from them! It may seems silly, but I think that I'm just practicing for when I have my own home and I really need the savings that coupons are going to give me. But I think it's a good thing. There is no time like the present!  And this way, when I get to living all on my own and I'm expected to figure out how to get food into our bellies the best way possible, I'll already know what works best, what doesn't work at all, and to use bigger scissors so that your fingers don't cramp.