Introducing... Couponing 101!

Welcome to the Bringing Up Benjamin's crash course, Couponing 101.

This is a really intimidating post for me to begin to even think of writing, mainly because I know so very little about couponing and really haven't been doing it for too long at all. Actually I was first introduced back in November but when the New Year rolled around I was so busy with Benjamin's first birthday and other things going on, that I just didn't have the energy to coupon. Because believe me, it takes energy! I recently got back into it and I have really been enjoying it so far. I've been sharing my savings on Facebook and I also mentioned couponing in my last Far Above Rubies post. I have had quite a few requests to expand on this so that is what I'm going to attempt to do tonight!

There are a few things you need to know before you get into couponing.

1. Couponing takes time and energy. I have spent entire afternoons printing and clipping and sorting and planning. I have spent hours scouring websites for the best possible deals that I can get. It takes a lot of time. It even takes a lot of time in the stores because you have to go through and compare prices and make sure that using your coupons at that particular moment is really worth it - are you really saving as much as you can?

2. You may end up with a lot of bulk items. So you're going to need shelving. :)

3. Organization is essential for ease and to cut down on the time it takes in the store. A lot of people use binders and those plastic baseball card protector sheets. Here's my binder:





I have 5 dividers in my binder, where I organize into 5 different categories:
Groceries - all manufacturer food coupons go here
Household - Stuff like cleaners, air fresheners, heft bags, and that sort of thing go here
Personal - hygiene and medicines and clothing coupons go here
Baby - all baby coupons, like diapers and wipes and toys, go here
Store - all store coupons are organized in here by store. I have a couple pages of Kroger and a couple pages of Target, etc.

This is where I got my method, so if you want to learn more, go look at that.


Okay, now. Let me just say this: Couponing is not just using coupons to get a few cents off when you're out getting groceries. It's become a sort of game for us in a way. We spend a lot of time clipping coupons {this usually happens on Sunday} and sorting them. Then we get online to check out a few good couponing blogs {which I'll list shortly} to see what sort of deals we can get out of our coupons. A lot of the times you can get things for free or even a few cents. There are often deals that you can only get if you go print off internet coupons, and so we spend a lot of time doing that as well.

Once I have all my coupons sorted, I like to go through and write out all of my deals that I intend to get {this is just something that helps me understand what I need to buy, and so we're not spending too much time standing around trying to remember}. I also set aside the coupons we are going to use just so we don't have to go searching at the check out.

Keep in mind that you can use more than one coupon on an item - as long as one is a manufacturer's coupon and one is a store coupon! Usually the coupon will have whichever one it is up at the top. So here's what we do: We look at what's already on sale, we match up either a manu. q or a store q {or, ideally, both!}, and that way we can get it for even less than the sale price! I also really like to look at the clearance places because not only are they usually marked down pretty well, but sometimes these deals aren't even found on the couponing sites since clearance can vary from store to store. I absolutely love finding that I have a coupon for something that is already on clearance!

Another thing we do is we go into the trial/travel size aisle and look for items that we have coupons for in there. Sometimes coupons will say "excludes trial size" but if the coupon doesn't say that, then that means you can use it for any size! You can often end up with a bunch of free stuff this way!

So here are a few shopping trips from the past couple of weeks:


2 Schick Hydro Shaving Creams, 1 carefree, 2 airwick imotions, 1 right guard total defense 5 deodorant, 1 nexcare bandaids, 2 hefty travel bags, 2 french's mustard, 2 french's honey mustard, 1 jimmy dean breakfast bowl, 1 suddenly salad, 1 betty crocker muffin mix (which was on clearance as well), 1 kleenex hand towels, 2 velveeta shell cups (which benjamin wanted to open in the store, ha!), 1 windex outdoor starter kit, and not pictured: 2 mountain dews which did not use coupons.

$68.13 without coupons (keep in mind that nearly all of these were on sale, too! so it would have been higher had I not gone after sales)
Final price = $31.90


paid $28.61, saved $53.53

3 oscar mayer beef franks, 3 oscar mayer lunchmeats, 2 hefty travel bags, 1 hersheys bliss, 1 dove body mist, 2 gillette deodorants, 2 schick hydro 3, 3 nabisco 100 cal snacks

and from the same trip:

all of this was FREE.

1 pantene shampoo, 1 pantene conditioner (both trial size), 2 hefty travel bags, 2 herbal essences styling gels, 2 gillette body washes, 2 jergens lotions (travel size), 1 nabisco 100 cal snack, 1 oscar mayer beef franks, 1 oscar mayer lunchmeat


$14 worth for $3.99

We should have only paid $0.50... but I had sent Hubby on his own and he said that he felt pity on the lady and wasn't very assertive. Lesson from that? Be assertive!!



It's easy once you get a hang of it, and it is like a game to us now! Even Hubby gets into it and I dare say that he enjoys it!

Here are a few links for you:

Couponing Websites that we frequent:




Coupon Clipping Websites:
Coupons.com
Couponmom.com
Redplum.com
Smartsource.com


That's all I have for you now, friends! It's getting pretty late here. However, this is not the end of the couponing posts! I am going to possibly have some guests come do some posts about couponing! People who are waaay more qualified to be teaching others, ha! I'll keep posting my adventures as they come.

So how many of y'all already coupon? Do you have any more sites to share?