Coupon Clipping for Dummies - Be A Savvy Clipper With These Tips

I am a coupon-clipping maniac. Some of my friends think this is funny, and some envy my dedication - not to mention my much lower grocery bill - but none of them realize how much time and effort I put into this practice.

Being a coupon-clipper is not a pastime for the timid. This particular pursuit is filled with hazards. Paper cuts, eye strain, blisters from over-use of scissors ... not just any one can handle the stress.

All kidding aside, I do not know why everyone does not take advantage of the savings afforded by coupons. Why would anyone spend $6.99 on a package of toilet paper when they could get the same roll of toilet paper for $5.99 by simply cutting out a little piece of paper and presenting it to the cashier when they check out? It is the same toilet paper - the only difference is that you are keeping that dollar in your own pocket, rather than giving it to the grocery store. I'm sure that whoever owns the store is a fine person, but I am also a fine person, and I would prefer to keep as much of my own money as I can, thank you very much.

There are, of course, some rules to making coupon-clipping as profitable as possible. One good rule is to combine your coupon with a sale on the item. If the store is running a sale that is a dollar off on the item, and you have a dollar off coupon, you have just saved two dollars on something that you need.

Need - a simple little word, but one that also affects the profitability of coupon-clipping. Just because a coupon exists does not mean that you have to use it. A two-dollar-off coupon on smoked oysters is no savings if you do not like smoked oysters. If the smoked oysters cost $4.99, and you save $2.00, you have still spent $2.99 on something that is going to do nothing more than take up space in your pantry.

Take serious notice of stores that allow coupon doubling. Oh, I love these stores! We even have one in our area that occasionally triples the value of my coupons. Sigh. But beware! This particular store is rather high-priced on a day-to-day basis. The key here is to combine their sales with the double - or triple - coupon days. Done correctly, some items can be gotten for free - or close to it. One of my more recent triumphs concerned brownie mix. The normal cost of this brownie mix was $1.49. The store had a sale on the mix for .99. It was triple coupon day, and I had a coupon for .75 off of three boxes. $2.97 for three boxes, minus $2.25 for the triple coupon, and I got $4.97 worth of brownie mix for seventy-two cents! Score! Why would I spend $4.25 more on brownie mix than I had to?

The best source for coupons is the Sunday paper. That $1.75 per paper will more than pay for itself if you clip those coupons. An added benefit is that they contain the sales flyers that tell you where the best place to combine sales and coupons are located. The internet coupons are a little sketchy, at least in my area. Many places will not accept coupons from the computer - darn them, anyway. And find friends that also clip. Exchange those coupons that you aren't using. You can use five coupons for the same item - or more - and if you use a lot of that item, why not?

So clip, folks! Clip like the wind! Your pocket book will thank you.