Okay, I need some accountability here so I don’t start slacking off before I even begin.
So, couponing.
Ah, yes. I used to do that, didn’t I?
I really haven’t done it with any intensity at all since we moved to Iowa, so that’s been almost TWO YEARS. I just couldn’t figure out how to make it work well in Iowa with all unfamiliar stores and the loss of double coupons (most TN grocery stores double all coupons up to $0.50, which is so important to what I was used to), and I just lost my motivation with all the other transitions. Then we moved BACK to TN, and life has just been a little chaotic. I just didn’t do it. That, however, is just a dumb move on my part, because I saved my family SO MUCH MONEY, and it only cost me time to do it, really. It’s just time. We live in a more expensive house and area now, I’m only working part-time (3 INSANE days a week, but it’s 3 and not 5), and I know it’s just my own laziness in the way. 
First of all, there is no WAY I could have even figured how to do this without all the people out there who have couponing blogs and publish the sales/coupon matchups each week! I scoured them forever and learned so much! What I do is basically just copy what they do. I started out reading dozens of blogs from all over, but I’ve narrowed it down now to about 4-5 local or regional bloggers that I just have sorted into a folder in my Google Reader.
I’ve tried a couple different “systems,” and I pretty much just cobbled together what works for me. As I start this again, I may find that what worked for me before, even in Murfreesboro, may not work for me here in this area. We’ll just have to see.
So, here’s what I’m doing…the last time around, I was heavily using internet printables in addition to the traditional newspaper/flyer/booklet coupons. That used up a lot of ink and paper, obviously, and I don’t have that cheap printer anymore. Frankly, I got a little obsessive about it–great for my pantry, not so great for my life. It didn’t help that I was living in an area with 2-3 of all my stores within just a few miles. This time, I’m first going to see what I can do with newspapers and other paper coupons, coupled with all the electronic coupons I can load onto my Kroger Plus card, CVS card, etc.
I used to sit down every Sunday and clip out ALL the coupons and sort them into my holder by category. For neatness’ sake and for always having what you need to grab something you happen to find on clearance somewhere, that’s probably the best way to go. However, it takes SO MUCH TIME to do that every week. I had moved to more of a “clip as needed” system, just keeping the coupon inserts bound together and clipping out the ones I needed as I made my list each week. It’s really not that hard once you get into the habit of it.
There are endless couponing possibilities at just about every store and drugstore, but I’m going to ONLY do Kroger, Publix, and CVS. That’s where I naturally shop based on where I am and where I go during the week, and I know their systems well enough to just jump back in. Walgreens has a great program, too, but I never got into it before and I’m not up for learning right this very moment.
I plan to buy 2 or 4 newspapers each Sunday. I’m lucky that my family members will randomly save their coupon inserts for me as well, if I can remember to go pick them up. I started a few weeks ago, so I should be ready for this week’s shopping. It’s a good idea to have a few weeks of coupons stocked up, or you’ll be frustrated when you don’t have all the needed coupons for a given week’s deals. If Publix is in your rotation, you need even numbers of every coupon so you can pair the coupons with the BOGO deals each week. The entire “secret” to couponing at Publix is that you match coupons to the BOGO specials, buy 2 items (1 full price, 1 for free) and use 2 coupons. If you can also use one of the $5 off $25 coupons they regularly mail out, even better! That’s it, I promise! The hard part is getting out of there without buying special olives from the fancy olive bar or some other such delicious nonsense (I may have had a problem with this in the past).
So, here are the challenges for me:
- Getting back in the habit of shopping at multiple stores much more frequently than I do now to catch the deals every week. My preference is to shop once a month and only shop weekly for fresh produce. That doesn’t work in the coupon world!
- Making time to organize myself for each sale cycle and making a list for myself to shop from
- Balancing getting things for a deal and still feeding my family healthy food. I much prefer to not use prepackaged foods other than staples and to cook with whole, fresh food whenever I can. The way I look at couponing is that, if I can be strategic in stocking my pantry with the basics for much less money, I then have more money to put toward what is important to me (fresh fruits and veggies that don’t have coupons, even more money to spend on the few organics I prioritize). Yes, you won’t typically find coupons for fresh food or for organic foods, but you can have a significant impact on your overall grocery budget, which frees up funds for whatever it is you really want to buy that doesn’t fit into only buying items with matching coupons.
- We don’t eat a lot of meat at my house, in general. When we do, I would much rather have a good quality steak once a week than have ground beef several times. Somehow, I’m married to a man who genuinely LOVES Hamburger Helper and begs me to make it. Ugh. I’m definitely not a vegetarian, but I do cook a lot of (good, tasty!) vegetarian meals. I want to continue to eat more fish and find ways to make those kinds of meals budget-friendly as well. I really want to start buying organic chicken, but I can’t yet get over the cost. Mental block.
- Figuring out consistently good deals on overnight pullups for Baby Girl. She was potty-trained for day by 2, and we continued to use cloth diapers until she got to the 3 year old flood-the-bed stage of overnight, and the overnight Huggies are expensive! I cringe every time I buy a pack, but I don’t see that expense going away any time soon.
- And remembering to not buy things I don’t need just because they are dirt cheap or even free. I’m usually pretty good at this, but it can be a temptation for me at times.
Just as an aside, I have not actively couponed in almost two whole years. I have moved three times since then. Tonight, I just looked in my bathroom closets to see what I still had from the couponing era. Obviously, all the food/pantry staples are long gone, but toiletries are a major part of this (and a major part of your household budget). After all that time, I STILL have at least a year’s worth (probably two) of shampoo, conditioner, lotion, hand soap, toothpaste, razors for both of us, body wash, feminine products (sorry, boy readers), bar soap, and deodorant. I was formerly a generic-only buyer, and these are all brand-names. I still have all that, donated most of a closet full of items to a women’s shelter before we left for Iowa, and had gotten to the point where I would only get those things if they were free or less than $0.25. I know those are just toiletries and you can’t feed your family on those things, but think about what you spend on those things over time. The hard work can pay off much, much later!
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