Getting Started

One thing that was difficult for me when we decided to go to one income was how we'd afford everything we needed for ourselves and our new baby. It's a big change adding a new life to the family as well as the family budget. One way we are able to make it happen is by using coupons. I did this before, but have turned up the savings a bit.

Here are my suggestions for getting started.
1. Don't be so picky about brands.

I used to be a Huggies girl just because CVS had been running such good deals. When Walgreens had their jumbo pack of diapers on sale for $5.99 with coupon savings of $4.50 per pack AND a $5 coupon off your next order when you bought three packages, I gave them a try. I used to spend about $0.15 per diaper. I now have 100 packages of diapers in a range of sizes that cost me an average of...Drum Roll, Please...$0.03 per package or $0.000625 per diaper.

The same philosophy goes for food. Don't get me wrong, I'm still a DelMonte girl for my green beans, but there are some places it just doesn't matter.

2. Don't wait until you run out to buy more.
Have you ever run out of something essential like toilet paper and had to run to the store in a hurry? At that very moment, stockboys within a 15 mile radius of your house are marking up the toilet paper in anticipation of your arrival. That's not exactly how it happens, but it sure feels like it. I hate to pay full price for anything I know I could get cheaper. When I find something on sale that we use regularly, I stock up. We could probably eat out of our pantry for months. We'd miss the meat (because there is something oh so wrong about canned meat), but it could be done.

The experts call this stockpiling and it comes in handy. During hurricane season everyone else was flocking to the grocery stores for toilet paper, water and canned goods while we were putting up plywood and preparing in other ways.

3. Don't buy something just to use a coupon.
I think this one is self explanatory. :)

4. Plan your shopping trips around store sales.

There are plenty of websites that will help you combine the sales ads with the current coupons if you don't want to put in the time.

The Krazy Coupon Lady - I love this website.  There are matchups for most every grocery store and an entire database of printable coupons.  Her whole site is free to use as well. 

Refund Cents - I have used this site in the past but found I was wasting too much time reading the message boards (that's where I found the bulk of the info on savings).  She has grocery and drug store match ups as well.  It's $12 for a 1 year subscription and you will make that up in savings the first week. 

Grocery Game - I have not personally used this site, but have heard good things.  The only negative I can see is that you pay a fee per store you select.  All that information is available elsewhere (KCL or RC sites mentioned above) but I believe you can select your deals and have it print a list for you.  For some, that may be valuable information.