I’ve never been one to clip coupons on a regular basis because I just didn’t think it was worth my time. I figured, “How much can you really save with 40 cents here and 50 cents there, and is it worth it to run from one store to the next?”  Sure, I’d heard about these mythical women who only pay $15 for $110 worth of groceries, but I thought they were, well, mythical.

But times are “a changing” and the economy has me seeking more and more ways to trim our expenses and stretch our dollars. I began following a few mom bloggers who are coupon-clipping/sale-finding fiends such as Money Saving Mom, and decided to give this a try as one of my “New Year’s Resolutions.”

I started reading up on the whole couponing thing about a month ago and discovered that I had a LOT TO LEARN. It’s like a mini-college course in a subject that is all but foreign to me. But my research very quickly began to convince me that it is WORTH LEARNING AND IT CAN BE DONE IN EASY, SMALL STEPS.

As I began researching, reading and learning, it occurred to me that it might be helpful to share with you my early steps in case any of you would like to follow along, or in case any of you have some great tips. Let’s do this together – it could be fun. In fact, the coupon queens out there say it’s a blast! And if my first experience (detailed below) is any evidence, it is a bit of a high!

So, here’s what I’ve done so far:

• Decided on which method I would use for organizing my coupons. I picked the binder method because I’ve always liked using binders. Money Saving Mom uses a box/envelope method. I stole an old 3-ring zippered binder from under my teen’s bed (middle-school doodling and all), bought about $10 worth of pocket pages and dividers and spent about three hours last Saturday night organizing my first stash of coupons into the binder. (I remember the days when Saturday nights were a tad more exciting than this, and I don’t really miss them. Am I old?)

• Collected my first stash of coupons. I cut coupons from all the inserts from my weekend paper. While it seems like a massive amount of coupons, I’m beginning to see that it’s really not, and that there are lots of other places to get coupons, too. I’ve already signed up for coupon.com, have requested the January coupon book at Walgreens and am making a list of neighbors to ask for their weekend paper inserts. From what I’m reading, you can never have enough coupons; should never throw coupons away; and some people even BUY coupons on eBay! 

• Made my first Walgreens trip to practice couponing by combining a few coupons from my weekend inserts,  a few Walgreens coupons and a few Walgreens sales to save some money AND earn Register Rewards to use during my next trip. It worked!!!  Here’s what I got:

• 4.4 lb bag of Purina Dog Chow Denta Crunch, on sale for $5.99
• Four frozen Lean Pocket meals, on sale two for $5.
• Two Coffee Mate Hazelnut 16 oz. liquid creamer, on sale two for $3.
• Two 18 oz. boxes Kellogg’s Frosted Mini Wheat, on sale two for $5
• 1 Tuf Towel paper towels, $.99
• 1 box Nature Value Oats and Honey granola bars, $3.99
• 1 8.75 oz bag of Chex Mix, on sale for $1.99
• Two boxes Playtex Sport Tampons, on sale two for $8.
• Two boxes Stayfree Long Maxi’s, 32 count, $6.29 each

My total was $55 and some change. Then I handed over my coupons:

• .50 MFG off the granola bars
• .40 off the Chex mix
• 1 buy one/get one free Stayfree product worth $6.29
• 2 Walgreens coupons for $3 off tampons, worth $6 total

My final total was $41.20 — a savings of $13 and some change! And I got $4 in register rewards (which is why I bought the Kellogg’s products and the dog food — both items I need and use, but also items that would result in the Register Rewards). So, to my way of thinking, I got $55 worth of name brand products that my family uses for $37.20!

Plus, I made a mistake and was $1 short of the required “eligible” products, or I would have received another $5 in Register Rewards. But, I’m not beating myself up because this was my first outing.

So, if you’d like to learn the ropes of couponing right alongside me, then be sure to subscribe to my feed and follow these posts. As I learn new things and take bigger steps into this pond, I’ll share my successes, failures, frustrations and triumphs with you. Be sure to leave a comment and let me know you’re following along, and if you’ve got any tips to share, leave those, too!

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