Got to catch em all!

Wait? You don’t coupon? Like at all? Ok avert your eyes, turn away now because I am about to dive deep into the world of couponing. I know you’ve couponed once or twice probably not even realizing what you were doing. Sale at Old Navy, Target, or like this past week Amazon Prime day( I got some good stuff y’all) I mean it happens to all of us at one point or time especially if it is something we really want. If not you, you’ve seen someone in the store before in the midst of a coupon run, calculating in their head, flipping through a coupon book, or scrolling ads on their phone. It is really fun once you get into it and can save you tons of money over time. Funny enough I didn’t get introduced to this by a mom friend but by just a regular old girlfriend. She was couponing for herself and her family finding awesome deals and sharing the wealth. I asked her how she was doing it and here we are a few years later.
If you’ve never couponed before I would say the first step is to buy a sunday paper. This is where you will find the coupon inserts for the week(s) ahead. I suggest finding out when the P&G insert is coming out and start that week. This insert has all the really good coupons for stuff like laundry detergent, toothpaste, paper towels, you know everyday items. This insert is a great booster to start off your month while some of the coupons have a short shelf life most of the time it is stuff you will probably need in the upcoming weeks. Now like I said I suggest just starting off buying one sunday paper to help you not feel so overwhelmed. You will want to flip through the paper and pull out all the coupon inserts. These include P&G, Retailmenot, and Smartsource as the most common ones. You may find some for your local stores like for my area it is Publix( They have their own coupon inserts as well call the green and purple dot) who also have digit coupons you can add and use at checkout by entering your phone number, email, or swiping a loyalty card. Once you have pulled out the inserts flip through them, find coupons for stuff you need and will use and clip those. If you don’t use something or don’t see yourself using something even if it is a good coupon don’t clip it, don’t waste your money.
Once you have clipped all the coupons you will be using also locate in the same newspaper the sale papers. This gives you an idea if any of the items you have coupons for are on sale or have other deals going. Make a list!!!! Seriously this is important without a list you can easily forget a deal you had your eye on or even forget the coupons you need. Now go ahead and make your first coupon run with list, coupons, and sale papers in hand. Once you’ve made your first run assess the damage. If you shop somewhere like CVS, Walgreens, or my favorite Publix it will tell you right on the recipe how much you spent versus how much you saved which I love especially if I can save over 50%. Now if you do this and it doesn’t seem to be saving you any money… you are doing it wrong! No seriously stop if the items you mostly buy are never on sale and never have a coupon this is not for you but if you are able to save money and get that little rush Move on to the next part.
Ok part two! If you are still with me here is where the real fun begins. Now you have the option to continue buying the sunday paper outright and at this point I suggest buying at least 2 papers because at most stores if it is BOGO of any kind you can use a coupon for each item thus doubling your stockpile and your discount or money saved. The other option is to find a local supplier, if you ask around you can find someone who is contracted to sell the inserts/ paper at a discounted price compared to buying the regular sunday paper and a lot of the time the inserts are already pulled for you which also takes the guesswork out of hoping the paper you just picked up has the coupons inside. If you are local here in Jax I have a person, let me know and I can hook you up :). The next thing you want to do is download this app called Favado this app is pretty good in helping you find the best deals if you miss a sales paper for any reason. It allows you to select the local stores near you and add them to your favorites. Once there when you open the app it will show you the top 10 best deals at that location and all the coupon deals that go along with them. No all of the coupons it list you may not have because some are printable coupons. No I don’t do the printable coupons because I mean come on I have two kids that’s taking it a little too far don’t you think? Just kidding I’m just lazy and keep forgetting to buy ink for my printer( A type personality with a slacker mentality) Anyway aside from the Favado app I also downloaded the CVS app and Target of coarse because I am obsessed(seriously still working on that shirt idea) They have in app coupons and deals not always advertised in the store and I love racking up discounts ok! Another thing you may want to invest in would be a binder and baseball card sleeves. Yes go search in the back of your closet for that old binder with those pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh cards in it dump them out and insert your freshly clipped coupons. This makes it easier when going to the store, now they are organized and easy to find for check out time.
Now this is fun when you first start out and exciting but if you ever get overwhelmed or tired take a break, the coupons will be there when you decided to start back up again. Don’t burn yourself out thinking you have to keep going and clip more and more and store more and more. Buy what you need, buy a little extra but if it means eating for a week or adding to your stockpile eat please!!!! That stockpile can grow later unless you are couponing for food items in which case carry on and Do You Boo!!! I myself have a small stockpile it has gone down over the years as I go in and out of my wanting to coupon phase but I never buy more than what I can afford and a lot of the time at the end of the year end up donating items to help the homeless or groups and fundraisers we have at work. Couponing has many benefits and purposes the main one being saving money and getting more for less. If you ever need some tricks or tips DM or email my anytime. And if you are local and want to start hey I’m right around the corner let’s go couponing together.😘😊🤷🏿‍♀️