THE RELUCTANT HOUSEWIFE’S GUIDE TO COUPONING By Kimberley Springer Copyright 2012 Kimberley Springer Smashwords Edition Smashwords Edition, License Notes This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author. ##### TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION STEP 1 – GET ORGANIZED STEP 2 – DON’T BUY ANYTHING THAT YOU DON’T NORMALLY BUY STEP 3 – THE PRICE IS RIGHT STEP 4 – PAY ATTENTION STEP 5 – STUFF TAKES UP SPACE STEP 6 – MULTIPLE COUPONS STEP 7 – LOYALTY CARDS STEP 8 – PRINTABLE COUPONS STEP 9 – KNOW THE RULES STEP 10 – START SMALL APPENDIX – PRICES OF ITEMS I BUY REGULARLY ABOUT THE AUTHOR ##### INTRODUCTION About 9 months ago, I quit working. I had been going to school in addition to working full time and I was at the point where I needed to quit and spend the next school year at the local school each day completing my internship part of the program. Normally, transitioning from a working mom to a stay at home mom might not be so difficult but since I was the sole income for our family of 4 and we had next to nothing in the bank, it was quite a leap of faith on our part. How we were able to survive? Coupons. I know it sounds crazy but it’s true. I had used coupons twenty years before when I was a starving college student just starting out. Back then it was easy to coupon. All the grocery stores doubled coupons up to $2 and it didn’t take much time or attention to save $20-30 every time I went to the store. But my early couponing days didn’t last long. As soon as I got my student loan money deposited, my couponing days were over. This time around was a little trickier since very few places double coupons anymore but it’s still very easy and very possible for all of us to save hundreds of dollars every month using these tiny pieces of paper! Because we live in a world where there is a reality show about coupons, things are a little more difficult to navigate than in the past. But trust me, keep reading and I promise you I will share the tips and tricks that I wish I had known back in September when we started this adventure. You too can save at least 50% every time you go to the grocery store! STEP 1 – GET ORGANIZED Get a 3 ring binder and some baseball card holders that fit into it. Nothing fancy and DO NOT pay money for a coupon organizer! If you use an accordion type file, you can’t see everything easily and you will waste time looking for the coupon you know is hiding in there somewhere. Don’t do it. Trust me, a 1- inch binder so you can carry what you need easily will work just fine. Now I know the TV show has women carrying binders that weigh more than their children, but again, if this isn’t something you can easily implement and keep up with, you will give up. We as consumers are constantly throwing money away by not paying a bit of attention to what we buy. Get a small binder and a few baseball card holders and that is enough to get you started. (You can usually find these at dollar stores although the plastic might not be as thick as those at Target, you can get 5 packs for the price of 1.) Also, put in only the number of card holders you need. Put the empty ones away where you won’t look at them and be reminded by how few coupons you are starting out with. Trust me, it only takes about 2 months to have more coupons that you could ever want and the more you keep in your binder, the more you have to sort through them later for expired coupons. Try to keep it small. Sort your coupons into food and non-food items and try to group condiments, dairy, etc. on the same page. That’s enough to get you started. I also like to get rid of expired coupons and make sure the coupons are grouped properly about twice a month but that’s up to you. I usually do that while waiting for someone in my car or when it’s a holiday and there are no Sunday coupons to go through. Now that you’re all set up, you need coupons to organize. Get a Sunday paper subscription. Now, most papers have regional coupons, meaning not all papers get the same coupons. We live in Southern California and I originally signed up for three different papers to see which I liked the best. Turns out the San Diego Tribune does not include Red Plum inserts (which are usually weekly) and because of that it was a waste of my money. The Press Enterprise (local) is pretty good but doesn’t have the same coupons as the Los Angeles Times. Currently, I get 3 PE and 2 LA papers delivered each Sunday. Again, I wouldn’t recommend that unless you are trying to stockpile everything now so that when you to return to work you don’t have to make time to go shopping (like me). Call your local paper and ask if they have a Sunday only subscription deal. I was able to get one paper for half-off the cover price and the other for one-third the price. All 5 papers each week cost me $3.50. If you live somewhere where multiple papers will deliver, call around. I got one subscription as low as $.25 per week but the delivery guy was horrible! I only got my paper about once a month and it wasn’t worth the bargain since each Sunday I had to email or call to report a missing paper. Most newspapers are hurting for subscribers so see what kind of deal you can get. Also, home delivery gets the coupon insert priority. So, since they don’t print enough inserts for all the papers, they put them in the home delivery newspapers first, then the leftover inserts they put in the papers at the store. So if you go buy them at the store on Sunday, there might not be any coupons in them. (It’s also fun to wake up in the morning and find the paper on your driveway. No need to get ready for the day before you can see what bargains are in store. Just put on your robe, grab your paper and coffee and start saving.) STEP 2 – DON’T BUY ANYTHING THAT YOU DON’T NORMALLY BUY This is the hardest rule to live by! It really is the most important rule and would have been number 1 except that if you can’t find your coupons, you won’t be using them regularly, defeating the purpose of reading this. Do not get sucked into buying things you wouldn’t normally buy! Trust me! We’ve all done this. Learn from my mistakes! Do not do it! The only exception I have to this rule is if it is free or you are being paid to take the item from the store. Now, only certain stores will allow overages so you need to find out if stores allow that before you buy something you wouldn’t normally get. Food for free is always good and a nice thing to donate to charity but be warned, non-food items are taxable and even if it’s free, it may cost you money in the long run. Also, whatever you buy will take up space so make sure you can accommodate all those free popsicles in your freezer before you agree to take them home. STEP 3 – THE PRICE IS RIGHT Saving money with coupons can be addicting! It’s not only the retail high I used to get by shopping at the mall in high school but it’s compounded by feeling like you cheated the system when you get things for free, or better yet, paid to take them! Do not fall into the world of buying things just because you have a coupon! Coupons can expire without having to be used. It’s ok! Actually, if you are willing to donate your old coupons to the military it’s great because they can use expired coupons (for up to 6 months after the expiration date) when shopping overseas. Trust me, if you can get it on sale cheaper than you can regular price with your coupon, let it go! STEP 4 – PAY ATTENTION Now, I know this sounds simple but do you know what cooking spray costs you? I didn’t. I had no idea that the spray my daughter uses liberally when she makes pancakes is almost $5 at full price. Grocery store advertisements get delivered to your mailbox weekly. Open them, do not throw them out. Inside is the key to smart shopping. The cooking spray last week was $3.49 at one grocery store, $3.99 at another, $2.99 at another, and $1.99 at another (when you bought 10 sale items). I went to the final store and bought 2 cans with another 8 sale times. Then, later in the week a printable coupon came out for $1 off the spray. I printed 4 (we have two computers that I use to print coupons) and ran back to the store to buy 4 more cans with 6 more sale items. These last 4 cans were only .99 each! That means I got all 4 for less than the regular price of 1! Going through grocery ads can be overwhelming. Try to find a way to make it work for you. I make a list of what I think I would buy from each store with the price of the item next to it. Then, as I open more ads and find better deals for the cooking spray, I scratch that item off my list of other stores. So in the end, I am left with the four stores I regularly shop at and a list of which of them have the best deals on the items I regularly buy. What if you don’t live near 4 grocery stores like me? Don’t open the ads! This is risky because you might lose out on a great deal (but I’ll tell you later how you won’t really). However, I get annoyed when I have too many stores to shop at in order to save money. So, the stores I don’t shop at, the ads go straight in the recycle bin without being opened. Besides, driving to different stores costs money in gas and your time which is extremely valuable, so only do it if the list is worth the trip. If at the end of my creating my list, a certain store has less than 4 items on it, I usually skip that store that week. It’s just not worth my time. Grocery stores are not the only ones that take coupons. Drug stores are a great source for free or cheap personal items, such as deodorant, toothpaste, razors, etc. These ads come in your Sunday paper subscription. Read them, make a list of the deals you think are too good to pass up. Then, check to make sure you are right. When I first started out, I didn’t know what things cost. I hadn’t paid much attention before. I just knew that every time I went to Target I spent well over $100 if not $200. I had no idea what were good prices for items and what weren’t. This is where coupon internet sites help tremendously! I like thekrazycouponlady.com to determine what is a good deal. You go to the site and they have little yellow icons that indicate if the price is so good you should stock up for 3 months or if it’s great and you should get a 6 month supply. The unwritten rule is that all items will either go on sale or offer coupons at least twice a year. I’m not sure if that’s always true, but in the 9 months I have been paying attention to the prices of items I have learned that if the site doesn’t feel it’s a good deal (meaning there is no little yellow icon) I might buy one or two of the item if I currently need it but I don’t get sucked into buying 10 bags of Chex Mix thinking it’s a bargain just to find it half the price a week later. This sort of thing happened to me all the time back when I was first starting out. Don’t fall for a sale just because it’s on sale and in the ad; it might not be a good price at all! Start paying attention to what things normally cost and to what is on sale each week and you’ll be amazed at the money you will save! (At the end I have included a price index as a starter guide to help you evaluate a good deal.) STEP 5 – STUFF TAKES UP SPACE Now, many of the deals I get require buying multiples of an item. Especially drug store deals where you get $5 back when you spend $10. Not only will you need multiple coupons (which we will discuss later) but you will need space to put your newly acquired things. You are creating a stockpile. This is the place where you will put the 4 deodorants that you don’t need right now but it is often cheaper to buy 4 than 1 with the right sale and coupons. Be aware of where you will put your things and what you already have. Once you have enough of an item, only buy more if it is free or they pay you to take it! Just because you can get it for only $.50 doesn’t mean you need your 11th stick of deodorant! Personally, I am very happy to donate overflow items to charity. We have given friends who have been struggling financially bags of food and household goods as well as to various charitable organizations. It’s a nice feeling to be able to help others and it’s a great feeling to know that without coupons you wouldn’t be able to have that option. But again, beware. Do not pay money for things you are going to donate unless you set a strict budget and stick to it. For example, toothpaste is an item that is often free or less than $.50 per tube with a coupon and sale. If you feel that at $.50 you need to buy 4 for charity, then put it in a place separate from your stockpile that is strictly for donations [...]... in for an item at a store they never go to and they pay full price because they don’t want to sign up for a store card If you went in there once, get the card It takes a minute but you may end up back there again Most cards are on keychains or linked to your phone number and they allow you to get the sale price you cannot get without them and often extra money back so sign up for the card Also, make... the coupon before you print (Again thekrazycouponlady.com has a list of whether they are store coupons or manufacturer coupons.) You can use store coupons together with manufacture coupons (usually) to increase your savings STEP 9 – KNOW THE RULES As with any game (and this is a game of saving money which we must win) you have to know the rules you are playing by if you want to succeed Different stores... to the aisle and spent another $6 to get my $10 should have gotten in the first place No reason to get upset (at least not for long) I’ll use that sunscreen eventually Let’s face it, if I am not going to use it (or donate it) I shouldn’t have bought it anyway! CVS is the only store I know of that can force print Extrabucks so if they don’t print the deal you were sure you were supposed to get and they... others to clean and prefer to go out for dinner as often as the budget will allow Those lovely ladies taught me how to order the most expensive thing on the menu (when someone else is paying, of course) and how to enjoy life to the fullest and handicap the horses but they certainly never taught me how to make a casserole or scrub a toilet I blame genetics After all, if my grandmother didn’t enjoy cleaning... Don’t worry if the store is out of something Get a raincheck for any deals that are just a great price and your coupon isn’t about to expire That will allow you to get the same deal up to 90 days later You can try another store if one is close by and worth the trip If not, don’t worry Most deals can be had again in a week or two and sometimes for less! In a way, coupons are like the stock market Prices... CONTACT THE AUTHOR Email kspringerthereluctanthousewife@hotmail.com Facebook http://www.facebook.com/TheReluctantHousewife Twitter https://twitter.com/#!/kimspringerTRH ABOUT THE AUTHOR Now don’t let the name fool you I love my husband, our kids, and our marriage That I have no issues with It’s the housework that I could do without I come from a family of women who don’t cook, hire others to clean... and continue the habit of using coupons long term, 1-2 papers each week is plenty If there is a great coupon, like $5 off dog food, you can always go to the store and buy another paper or two Just be sure to peek in it first to ensure the coupon insert you need is inside Some items go on sale seasonally (like sunscreen or weed killer) and you should stock up while you can, but others (like toothpaste... things in the hall closet before and warned my kids not to open it for fear they get severely injured I hate household chores and responsibilities I could pick up and little each day and organize our things, but frankly, I don’t want to I’d rather go out to dinner or run to Vegas for the weekend I do what needs to be done so that our family has food in the house and the electricity stays on but there... empty soda cans by the desk, snacks on the coffee table and dirty socks in the corner of the living room where the dog drops them after he plays with them Not everything has a proper place, so trying to put things away is a never-ending battle If I actually get motivated to clean up—usually when family is coming over—I will pick up something up off one random spot and put it down in another I have shoved... have ads at the bottom of the page which also print and use way more ink that you had planned on Be ready to spend more at office supply stores or drugstores on ink and paper if you print a lot of coupons Target is one store in particular that has a number of coupons you can print Some of those are store coupons and others are manufacture coupons You will only know which is which by printing them or researching . THE RELUCTANT HOUSEWIFE’S GUIDE TO COUPONING By Kimberley Springer Copyright 2012 Kimberley Springer Smashwords Edition Smashwords Edition, License. gets the coupon insert priority. So, since they don’t print enough inserts for all the papers, they put them in the home delivery newspapers first, then the leftover inserts they put in the. at the store. So if you go buy them at the store on Sunday, there might not be any coupons in them. (It’s also fun to wake up in the morning and find the paper on your driveway. No need to