My Coupon Family 12 Step Coupon Shopping Plan

You have decided to make the choice to start coupon shopping. You need to change your mind set on a lot of things you have been taught or heard over the years. In the past we were told to make a meal plan for the week and then go shopping for what is on your list. This is wrong and from now on you will make no meal plan before shopping. You will start first by following a few steps.

Step 1 - Getting the Coupon Book
Buy a notebook to be used for couponing. We suggest a canvas notebook that has some extra pockets for scissors and your store cards. Also the ones you can zip up are good to protect your coupons inside.

Step 2 - Get the Coupon Holders
Buy several packs of plastic sports cards holders. Buy a few packs of plastic full sheet holders. Also buy some tabs to put on the plastic full sheet holders to help you keep the categories separate.

Step 3 - Print out the Categories
Print out the categories found on MyCouponFamily.com just search for "Coupon Book Categories" and you will find them. Put the categories in full sheet holders and into the book. Put at least three of the sports cards holders between each category page.

Step 4 - Get Newspaper for the the Coupons
Buy at least one Sunday newspaper for each member of your family. If you live alone you can get two to three newspapers to start. We started with one extra so with my family of five we get six Sunday newspapers every Sunday.

Step 5 - Seperate Ads and Weekly Coupon Inserts
Separate at least one copy of all sales ads from the newspaper. Keep all of them if they have store coupons inside of them. Search through the first paper so verify there are not extra coupons anywhere else in the newspaper. Sometimes we find restaurant coupons or hardware coupons inside the newspaper.

Step 6 - Seperate and Stack Weekly Coupon Insert Sheets
Separate the coupons by ripping each page from each newspaper and stacking the same pages on top of each other. As you rip them you need to be careful because sometimes the coupons might cover two pages and you don't want to rip them in half. When we get the first stack of 6 of the same page We staple them together. My wife and I did this as a team to make it go more quickly. If you have only one or two newspapers you might not need to staple them. We staple them so they will not slide when we cut them.

Step 7 - Cut out the Coupons and Insert into your Coupon Book
After we have finished then one of us cuts them out and the other places them in the book. It is not wise to cut them all out and then go back and put them in the book as you might have company or you might get tired and feel like it is not worth it. Cut out all coupons and put all coupons in your book. If it is stuff you will NEVER use you still might want to have it in your book in case you need to coupon to make a deal become free. You can always give away the items you do not want to a food back or a church pantry or even just a friend.

Step 8 - Check for Deals know as Weekly Match-ups
Look through the sales papers to get the deals that sound good. Search the web for weekly match-ups for each store. Don't use a coupon unless you are saving 70% or more. If you need the item and you can save 50% then you can get it but only if you are running out. Your goal at first is to get at least 3-6 months of items you find on sale for 50% or more so you can have a stockpile of items. After you have your 3-6 months you never buy that item again unless it is 80% or more.

Step 9 - Print Internet Coupons
While looking through the websites you will see links to Internet printable coupons. The first time you go to print one it will ask you to install the coupon printer software. This is okay to do and it is not a virus. You can usually print only 2 of each Internet printable coupon per computer. You can find more of these on the company's websites and on FaceBook.

Step 10 - Visit Popular Coupon Printable Sites
Check out the 3 well know websites to print more Internet printable coupons and they are
Coupons.com
SmartSource.com
RedPlum.com

Step 11 - Print the Catalina Information
Search the web for the Catalina's. Catalina's are coupons that print out from the register after you buy a certain number of items of a product. Sometimes you buy 3 you get $2.00 back but if you add 1 more you get $3.00 and add 2 and get $4.00 back. So it is good to try and have a list of these to help you decide if you are going to get a good deal.

Step 12 - Print the Coupon Policy for each store.
Print out the coupon policy from each stores websites that you will be shopping at and put it in your coupon book. This is to help you make sure you are following the store policy and can be used to refresh the memory of a store manager what the policy is for his store. Always be nice and courteous to the checker and manager as you will become very good friends.

Now go coupon shopping and watch the smiles and the mouths drop to the floor when other customers and checkers marvel at how much you save. You can always make a price book to know when the sale price is a good deal. Watch the sales ads carefully and you can get Paid to Shop.