STEP #2: Gathering Your Coupons

Ok, for those of you skeptical about coupons and the time it takes to use them, allow me to put the visual in your head of you LEGALLY printing money! You would do it right?! Coupons are much the same. Manufacturers print coupons because they want you to use their product. You take them to the store. Buy their product. The store sends in the coupons. The store in reimbursed.

Many people feel that the stores don't want you to use coupons because they are losing money. This is not true. They ABSOLUTELY want you to use them! SO USE THEM!

I will give time saving techniques in the future steps. Still, if you are not keen on the idea of coupons, don't be afraid that I will leave you high and dry. One of the experiments that I have done over the last few months included a shopping trip that consisted of TWO FULL CARTS of groceries at Albertsons. This has been  known to make a wallet cringe in horror. Not this time. Shopping JUST the sale, using not one single coupon, I spent $220 and saved over $170. Not to shabby! Savings are quite possible. Much MUCH greater with coupons, but still the process of just simply changing the way you shop will save you big bucks!

Now *THIS IS IMPORTANT* you are going to want to call your local newspaper and get your Sunday papers coming. In each paper there is generally a Smart Source and Red Plum coupon book. Sometimes there are more than that. Proctor and Gamble, General Mills, etc. will occasionally throw in an extra coupon book for their products. Albertson's, in some areas, puts their doubler coupons in their flyer.

Here is the secret: you want to be receiving at least 4 - 6 Sunday papers. The more coupons you have per item, the better! You have to do it! BE BRAVE!

A lot of papers will offer just Sunday papers. Some want to send you Thurs & Sun. Some will limit you to 5 Sunday papers. Honestly CALL THEM! There are deals for us crazy coupon people!

A great source for finding and subscribing to your local newspaper is HERE.

Don't be afraid to call your local paper. Tell them that you want 4-6 Sunday papers and ask what the cheapest deal is to get that done. I know Daily Herald in Utah will give you 5 Sunday papers and 1 Thursday paper each week for $16.40 per month. Just an example. Don't be afraid to tell them what you need and have them work out a price for you! Then pass that price along here in our forum!


Another great source for Coupons is right here on the internet!

Here are some links to  GREAT coupon printable sites:

COUPONS.COM

RED PLUM

SMART SOURCE

GROCERY SMARTS