Using Coupons to Save Serious Money

Using coupons can save you lots of money on your grocery bills. You can find coupons in newspapers and magazines. The Indianapolis Star Sunday edition has insert pages full of coupons. The only time they might not have any coupons is on a Holiday weekend. I try to buy 2 or 3 Sunday papers every week, and I buy more if they have a really good coupon that I'm sure I will use. The coupons will more than pay for the price of the newspapers. You can also find coupons in your grocery store aisles. They are attached to shelves in little red holders and are called blinkies. These are usually placed by the product that they are for. Even if you aren't going to use the coupon that day, or if the product is something you can use, get a couple of the coupons for when the product is on sale. Check packages when you buy something, sometimes there are coupons on or inside the box.

To get the most out of your coupons watch for sale items and use the stock up system. To stock up, you will need to buy several of one item when it is on sale. For example Kleenex was on sale at my local Kroger for 88 cents a box. I had 50 cents off 2 packages coupons. My Kroger doubles coupons up to 50 cents. I was able to pay only 38 cents for a package of Kleenex that is normally 1.19. Since I had 5 coupons I was able to get 10 boxes. This is an example of "stocking up". You try to have enough until the store has another sale and you have more coupons. Sometimes stores will have a limit on the amount of items you can buy at one time. You will need to check the limits at the stores available to you. If you to buy more than the limit, then go back later that day or the next day until you have used all of your coupons for that item.

The benefit of coupon shopping, beyond the obvious money savings, is that you always have a supply of products and you have not paid full price for any of them! After you get started you will be getting all your paper products, laundry detergent, shampoos, toothpaste, etc for free or for pennies. CVS and Walgreens have very good deals with which you can use their own in store flyer coupons plus the manufacturer coupons (the ones in newspapers and blinkies) on one item and it will often be free this way. Walgreens has a monthly rebate book you can send in or do online to receive rebates on specials for that month. Walgreens and CVS have money-off your next purchase slips that come out with your register receipt. I've heard that Rite-Aid has very good sales and offers, though I don't have a Rite-Aid close by. Check your weekly fliers to see what is on sale and what you have coupons for. Check what items you can get a rebate on. Then buy as many as you can. Keep doing this week after week and soon it will be a habit and easy for you to do as you do your weekly shopping. You will have a stockpile and will be saving money.