How do I coupon?

I've received some emails and often get questions in the store on how I find all of my coupons and how I save so much money.

Step #1 - Buy all of your local papers that get coupon inserts in the Sunday paper. The Washington Post is the only paper by me that does so I have Sunday delivery only. On Sunday, my daughter and I walk to the paper box, I take the coupons and sale ads out and get rid of the rest of the paper.

Step #2 - I clip ALL of the coupons from the coupon insert.

Step #3 - I have a 3 ring note book set up for storing my coupons. I have 27 page protectors that I've labeled A-Z. I put each coupon in the corresponding slot. For example; a Crest toothpaste coupon goes under C for Crest. Every 2 weeks I go through my notebook and pull out all of the expired coupons.

When I need to go shopping:

1. I make a list of everything we NEED (milk, bread, chicken, etc.). On the back of the list I write down the extra things that we WANT (chocolate milk, apple pie, etc.).
2. Next, I look at the sale ad for the store I will be visiting (typically Food Lion). I note the sale price of anything on my list. For example, if we needed toothpaste, I will write toothpaste on the list. Let's say Food Lion has Crest on sale for $2/4, I will write down the sale price on my list.
3. I go through my book of coupons and pull out all of the ones I will use at my shopping trip.
4. If I have a coupon for something that is on sale, I will mark a "C" on the list by the item. Let's go back to the Crest example. Food Lion has it on sale for $2/4 and I have one $0.75 off/1 Crest toothpaste coupon, my list will look like this: Toothpaste - Crest $2/4 - C - buy 1.
5. When I am done looking through my coupons I go to my computer and visit www. google.com and look for printable coupons. Back to the Crest example, if I did not have a coupon from my coupon stash, I would search "Crest printable coupon" on Google and see what I could find.

Yes, it seems like a long process but it doesn't really take that long at all. I spend about 30 minutes every 2-3 weeks making my grocery list. My husband thinks I'm insane but he never complains when I should him how much money I could have spent versus what I actually spent.

Why it's frugal to donate

Do you have clothes that you want to get rid of but don't want to deal with selling them, yardsaling, or storing them somewhere?

Do you have books that you don't know what to do with but you are tired of looking at them?

How about food you bought but don't like and won't ever use?

Then donate them!

Take them to places that will give you a receipt so you can deduct the value off of your taxes at the end of the year. Call places like Purple Heart that will come pick your items up. If you've got a vehicle to get rid of, call Vehicles for Change. Take the items to thrift stores and churches.

Why is this frugal?

1. You are giving other people the opportunity to purchase items at a lower cost to them. Many of your items end up at thrift stores or are donated to less fortunate people.
2. You aren't wasting your precious time sitting at a yardsale waiting for people to come buy your stuff. Only to have most of your items go unpurchased and back into your house.
3. You get the cash in your hand after you do your taxes and didn't really have to work for it.

Just remember to keep all of your donation receipts in the event that you get audited!

Coupon Lingo

Here's a key for coupon lingo.

Abbreviations for "coupon"
C
Coup
CPN/cpn
Q
qpon

Shorthand

$1/2 = $1 off of 2 items (interchangeable numbers such as $2/5)

2/$4 = 2 items for $4 (interchangeable numbers such as 10/$10)

AC = After coupon

B1G1 = Buy One Get One Free

B2G1 = Buy Two Get One Free (interchangeable numbers)

BC = Before coupon

BOGO/BOGOF = Buy One Get One Free

DND = Do Not Double

Exp/EXP = Expiration/expires

FAR = Free After Rebate

IP = Internet Printable

IPQ = Internet Printable Coupon

NED = No Expiration Date

OOP = Out Of Pocket

OYNO = On Your Next Order

WUB = When You Buy

WYB = When You Buy

Store Saving Plans/Store Names

ECB = Extra Care Bucks [CVS]

FL = Food Lion

RA = Rite Aid

RR = Register Rewards [Walgreens]

Wags = Walgreens

Coupon Insert Names
P&G = Proctor & Gamble
PG = Proctor & Gamble
SS = Smart Source
RP = Red Plum
V = Valassis

Shelley's Money Saving Tips

Here are some ways I save money.

First and foremost - clip and print coupons. It only takes a little while to do. Get your local Sunday paper and get the grocery coupons from it. Go to Google.com and type in printable coupons... you will find tons. Look to the side here for some links to various places you can print coupons. Check your mail! I get Red Plum coupons in my mail on Tuesday's.

Only buy what you really need. Do you really need 4 different shades of purple eye shadow? No. So don't buy it. UNLESS... it's on a super sale and/or you have a coupon. For example if you use Maybelline eye shadow and CVS has it for buy one, get one free and you have a coupon to go on top of that, by all means buy it and stockpile [see below].

Eat before you grocery shop. If you go to the store hungry, you WILL buy more.

Stockpile when the sale is good. If you can get something you use constantly for a cheap price after sales and coupons, then buy a lot and store it. For example, if Kraft dressing is on sale for $1.67 and you have $1.50 Kraft coupons, then buy A LOT and store them in your pantry.

Buy in bulk. I love BJ's Wholesale. I love the savings. I love the fact that they taken manufacturers coupons and send our their own coupons that you can use together. For example, I recently bought a box of Luvs diapers. They are priced at $29.99. I had a $5 BJ's coupon for Luvs diapers and a $1 manufacturers coupon. So I only paid $23.99 for a giant box of diapers. There are 180 diapers in the box so I paid $0.13 per diaper.

Buy the store brand when the national brand isn't on sale. On average I notice that the store brand is at least $0.20 cheaper and usually tastes just as good or better than the national brand. For example, my family prefers the taste of the Food Lion brand premium mac n cheese over the Velveeta brand.

Buy frozen veggies instead of fresh. Did you also know that frozen veggies can be more nutritious than fresh veggies (unless you pick them from your own garden)? The longer a fresh veggie sits out, the more vitamins it loses. And typically, pound for pound, frozen veggies are cheaper. And don't get me started on canned veggies. They are probably the cheapest out there but they are loaded with extra salts and sugars. The only canned veggie I buy is green beans and that's because my husband is picky.

Sign up with manufacturers. Often times if you sign up on manufacturers websites they will mail and email coupons to you.

Sign up with your favorite chain restaurants. Just like manufacturers, they will often send you coupons. Arby's is famous for emailing coupons.

Sign up with your grocery stores. Same concept at manufactures, they will send you coupons!

I'll keep adding to this so keep checking back!