joyful frugality

When needing to save money we might shop are for car insurance or hit the sales rack at our favorite store. It just makes sense to find the best deal, right?

I think the same should apply for everything we spend money on, especially food, hygiene and household items. It seems like there is always something we need whether it be diapers, trash bags or razors and all those little things sure add up. So to cut down on my out of pocket (oop) I do one of two things when I’m shopping:

Buy store brand or get the name brand cheaper with a coupon.

Sometimes I can actually get a better deal on a name brand, with a coupon, then if I just bought the store brand right out.

I know coupons can be really overwhelming and seem hardly worth the time or energy just to save a few dollars. So I thought over the next few days I’ll share some easy ways to getting started with coupons.

The first step is to build a stash.

1.) Buy at least 2 Sunday papers each week. Often times you can sign up through the paper for delivery and they’ll give you a discount on the extra papers. Sort through each one and pull out the coupon inserts (usually there are anywhere from 2-5 per paper). I grab each set of matching ones and collate them-don’t clip them yet! Then write the date up in the right hand corner with a fat black marker for easy reference (the dates can be found on the binding of the insert). I also pull out all the store adds and set aside, sometimes there are some great coupons in them!


2.) Take advantage of Internet Coupons. Websites such as Smart Source, Boodle and Coupon Surfer let you print coupons for free. All it takes is just a few minutes to register*. Company’s sites, such as Pillsbury and Colgate, are also a great place to find coupons.
*Before you register on any site be sure to set up an additional e-mail account to use specifically for coupon stuff. It’ll keep your personal account free of “junk e-mail”. One more thing: They usually expire 4-6 weeks after they are printed, so I usually wait until I am right about to use them before I print.

3.) Sign up for coupons in the mail. Right now if you go here you can also sign up to receive a FREE Betty Crocker booklet with $10 in coupons. You can sign up on sites such as Huggies, Gerber, Proctor & Gamble and Kroger(aka Fry’s) they’ll send you free coupons right to your mail box!

4.) Miscellaneous coupons are everywhere. In magazines, at the checkout in the grocery store, or even inside boxes or packages like cereal, diapers, crackers, ect.

Next time I’ll show you how I organize my coupons {so I can actually find them and use them!}

Thanks for reading!