Frugal Coupon Mom, Helping Us Save a Dollar at a Time

Many know Ashley Nuzzo as Frugal Coupon Mom, a former teacher turned stay-at-home mom who launched a blog in Dec. 2008 offering money-saving tips on using grocery store coupons. Since that time, Ashley Nuzzo has gained national recognition for the way she's helped friends, family and blog readers save hundreds of dollars on their grocery bills by using coupons. She's in the news again appearing on the Dr. Phil Show.

Frugal Coupon Mom has reported that she has saved as much as $1,500 a month by using coupons. One example is when she spent $711 at the grocery store, but saved $1,500. Nuzzo even gets some items for free and donates a lot of food to charity.

Here are five money-saving tips you can use for using coupons at the grocery store:

1. Spending a little time prepping and clipping coupons can go a long way. Some people think that clipping coupons takes too much time, that it's a waste. With some organization you can streamline the process and make it worthwhile for you. If you check out blogs such as Frugal Coupon Mom, Ashley Nuzzo helps get you started by pointing out some really good shopping deals. Set aside a time each week to clip grocery coupons and to look online for printable coupons. Work within that time frame, budgeting your time just as you budget your money. Frugal Coupon Mom recommends to break away from brand loyalty when clipping grocery coupons.

2. Check out store sales in advance. There are numerous forums that share store circulars for the upcoming week such as Wal-Mart, Meijer and CVS. One such site is Hot Coupon World at hotcouponworld.com. On the site you can scope of the upcoming circulars and plan your grocery list for the next week. Frugal Coupon Mom offers a list on her Web site the acronynms for couponing to help you navigate her site and the forums. Looking at upcoming sales will also give you a chance to organize your grocery coupons and even purchase coupons online to match up with the sales. One Web site to purchase coupons is The Coupon Clippers at thecouponclippers.com. I've used the coupon clippers site several times and highly recommend them. Orders usually arrive within three days of payment.

3. Use both store and manufacturer coupons. The fact that people can combine both a store and manufacturer coupon is something many people don't know, Frugal Coupon Mom said in a recent interview with U.S. News and World Report. This is something I've been doing for awhile so I'll share what I know: Store coupons can only be used at a specific store, but you can save even more money if you pair it with manufacturer coupons. For instance, if you have a 50 cent off store coupon off of Colgate toothpaste and also a manufacturer coupon for $1.50 off that same tube of toothpaste, you could end up getting a $3.49 tube of toothpaste for $1.50. If the toothpaste is on sale, you save even more and could possibly get the toothpaste for free. Frugal Coupon Mom outlines some of these deals in her blog postings.

4. Look for stores that double and triple coupons. You can save even more money by using your grocery store coupons at stores that will double and triple coupons. There are some stores that automatically double and triple coupons, while others have certain days of the week they'll offer the special deal. Pinpoint the best days to shop at certain stores and plan your grocery shopping around that.

5. Use your savings to help charity. Frugal Coupon Mom saves so much money with coupons she is able to help others. After you start saving money on your own grocery bill you may find that you have a lot of extra groceries and toiletry items you won't use. On the Frugal Coupon Mom Web site Nuzzo says that she is able to give back to her family, church and charity organizations. I have done this myself and know it feels good being about to save money using coupons and also give to others at the same time.

Sources:
Frugal Coupon Mom
U.S. News and World Report