How to Get the Coupons from Your Sunday Paper to the Cashier

Who doesn't want to save money? Maybe you're trying to sock more money away for retirement or save for a new car. Maybe you just want to reduce your spending overall. Coupons can help supplement other avenues of saving.

When I talk with friends about shopping and saving money, one of the most frequent comments I hear is that they wish they could get better at using coupons. I also had a difficult time saving money with coupons before I got organized. Then, I came up with my own process for incorporating coupons into my shopping habits, and it's second nature to me now.

What I'm sharing with you is a real process used by a real person who has a real life outside of shopping for groceries and household items. This process is not a strategy for squeezing every penny out of coupons. It's an example of a routine for how to clip coupons, organize them, and have them with you at the time you need them. Because in with the current economy, every little bit does help.

Below I've outlined my process, including helpful tips and food for thought along the way.

Gathering the Tools

Each Sunday morning, I gather up my coupon clipping tools: newspaper, shopping list, coupon organizers (one for grocery items, one for household items), scissors, pen, and paper. I keep these all together in a drawer in the kitchen. Then, I find a place where I can work comfortably.

A word about the Shopping List

Any financial expert will tell you that the best way to save money at the grocery store is to make a list of what you need. This list is also a helpful tool in your coupon clipping process, because it helps you focus on clipping only the coupons for the products you need.

Clipping your coupons

After I've gathered my tools, I pull out the coupon inserts from the newspaper and start clipping based on my list. I don't sort them at this time, I'm just clipping. For those of you who use printable coupons, this is the time you would hop online and print coupons from your favorite sites.

Sorting your coupons

After I have clipped all of the coupons I need, I sort the coupons by the categories I have created in my coupon organizers. Sorting them now gives me a chance to become more familiar with the coupons I just clipped.

A word on coupon organizers. You don't need a special "coupon" organizer. All you need is some sort of container, be it an envelope or a small index card box, that allows you to create different sections. I use two plastic envelopes with different sections.

A word on organizing the sections of your organizer. Chances are, your organizer will have a limited number of sections. So, you'll need to determine how you will combine different coupon categories as it makes sense for you. Below is a list of my categories, and you can see which ones I combined. You may wish to name and group the categories differently. Remember, this is about finding what works best for you.

Grocery Item Categories

Veggies & Fruit

Cereal & Bread

Baking

Sauces

Chips & Snacks

Dairy

Meat

Drinks

Ice Cream

Frozen Dinners

Household Item Categories

Face

Hair

Body Wash & Lotion

Meds

Feminine Products

Deodorant & Shaving

Dental

Paper & Plastic

Cleaners

Household

Laundry & Dish Soap

Maintaining your coupon organizer

After sorting, I perform "maintenance" on my coupon organizer. I go through each section and get rid of coupons that have already expired or will expire before I have a chance to use them. If I've been diligent in my process to only clip what I need, this takes no time at all. After I purge each section, I put in the new coupons. Make purging a part of your process to keep things neat and organized.

At this point, the coupon clipping is done and your coupons are organized.

Getting the coupons to the store

Now, how do you remember to take the coupons with you to the store? My process is to make a shopping list on a separate piece of paper for each store I need to visit. If I have a coupon for an item on my list, I write ( c ) next to the item on the list. That gives me an extra reminder that I have a coupon for that item. After gathering all the coupons I'll use at a store, I paperclip the coupons to the shopping list.

I place the list(s), with the coupons attached, in my purse, so if I make an impulse decision to go to the store, I already have my coupons with me.

This means that I do all my work in the comfort of my home, and I'm not shuffling through a coupon organizer as I shop.

At the store

At the store, take out your list and mark off the items as you place them in your basket. This will keep the list, with the coupons attached, in your hand and within your line of sight. This reduces the chance you'll forget the coupons later.

When you get to the checkout, unclip the coupons from your list. If you are behind someone in line, unloading your cart can be hazardous to remembering your coupons! Unload a couple of items and place your coupons on top of one of the products. Then continue unloading your cart. If you are first in line, you can hand your coupons to the cashier or place them on the check-writing stand. You may also wish to say to the cashier, "I have coupons," so maybe they will help you remember, too.

While the cashier is scanning in the coupons, watch the screen to make sure the coupons were subtracted from your total. Many grocery stores have screens that allow the customer to see the price of each item as it's scanned in, which makes this easier. Plus, you get the added benefit of watching the total go down instead of up!

After the savings

What you do with your coupon savings is up to you. If your goal is to reserve that money for something else, make sure you create a way to earmark it. You can keep a spreadsheet or "pay" yourself in cash. Whatever works best for you.

Other saving strategies

A word of advice. There are many strategies for maximizing the savings you get with coupons, such as stockpiling and coupon clipping services. I encourage you to get your basic coupon clipping process down first and "live it" for a while before you try to add a level of complexity to your shopping. Those strategies are based on coupon use, so they are useless to you if you aren't clipping and organizing your coupons on a regular basis.

I hope that by seeing how I approach coupon clipping you picked up some ideas for how you can create a process that works for you. If you limit your coupon clipping to only the coupons you truly need, you'll save time, and it will be easier to organize and use your coupons. And that will increase the chances that you'll actually use them.