Have you been watching the new season of Extreme Couponing? It is interesting to watch how much the people featured are saving and how they are hauling bags and bags of groceries for only a few dollars. Is this realistic? Is it really possible to save that much on groceries?
While it is possible (as filmed with high suspense on the show), there is a lot that happens behind-the-scenes that we do not get to see. In order to prepare for the shopping trips you see on the show, the people featured spend many, many hours planning and organizing their coupons and deals to get the results you see.
Personally, I do not want to spend that much time cutting coupons. Instead, I have come up with a system that works for me to still save money, but in a shorter amount of time. I spend about 1-2 hours per week planning and preparing for my shopping trips, and although I don’t save 95% off my bill, I have cut our spending significantly since following these steps I provide at The Spirit of Saving. Decide for yourself what works for you and your family, and go with it!
Key steps:
- Each week, I flip through the inserts and cut out only the coupons I know I will use, are of high value, or are for products that I might be interested in buying – usually about 10% of all the coupons.
- I date and file the remaining inserts and organize the coupons I did cut out in a little coupon organizer.
- Each week, I look through the ads for the best prices on the items I need and price match at my favorite store.
- Many awesome blogs post coupon matchups for stores, helping you match the sale prices with available coupons (At the Spirit of Saving, you can find highlights of the coupon matchups for CVS, Walgreens, Target, and HyVee.)
Related Posts: New to Using Coupons? Helpful Tips for Beginners
For further information, be sure to visit other helpful resources:
- Start Saving
- Couponing – The not-so-extreme way
- Couponing – How to use coupons
- Coupon Lingo
- Printable Coupons
- Helpful Tools
- Coupon policies, price matching policies, and helpful hints for shopping at CVS, Hy-Vee, No Frills, Target, Walgreens, and Walmart
What tips would you share with others who are starting to use coupons?
