Busy Moms Guide to Couponing, the Not-So-Extreme way

I get a lot of people who say they just don't have time to coupon, and I say to that, "Everyone has time to coupon".  So I decided to make this series, on how Busy Moms can coupon and save lots of money, and only spend around 2 hours per week doing it.  Now everyone can spare 2 hours in a weeks time can't they?  Getting started is the hardest part, so I will try to help make it easier on you all.  But first I will tell you my story.



I am a BUSY mother of an almost 1 year old little boy and I run one wrecker service and own another, so I think I fit into the category of a "Busy Mom".  I spend more time than the average person doing my couponing and freebie hunting, but I can do that because I work from home and only have to go to the office a few times a week.  But I used to work a corporate job, and back then I did not coupon, I know it is hard to imagine!!! But when I had my little boy, my husband decided he didn't want me going back to an 8-5 kind of job, which was fine with me, I love being home with my son.  But not getting that paycheck was an issue, so I looked for ways to make our money stretch, and here I am today, trying to teach others how to save money.

This first post of the series is more of an informational post, I will give you some general information and starting tomorrow we will get into the "how to's" of how I save so much money, and others save even more than me.  So if you are ready, here we go on the information highway!

Okay most people make the mistake of thinking you must spend hours upon hours to coupon, and that is simply not the case.  You can spend 10-30 minutes a day, and still save tons of money.  Another mistake people make is thinking you are not a success unless you get tons of stuff for little to no money, that again is not the case.  The goal in couponing is to save 50%, if you are doing that you are a Coupon Diva, if you save 75% or more, well then you are a Coupon Queen!!! And it also depends on the area you live in as to how much you can save.  For example, here in Tallahassee, we only have 1 store that doubles coupons, and they only double up to 50 cents, another store doubles up to 70 cents but only on Saturdays and is limited to one double coupon per item.  So if I can save 50-75% on average, anyone can do it!!!

Know your stores coupon and sale policies.  For example do they double coupons, offer gas or other perks, and do they have BoGo (Buy 1 Get 1 Free) sales.  In my area my 2 favorite stores are Publix and Winn Dixie, and here is why, every week they have tons of BoGo sales, so without any coupons you are already saving 50%, there you go already you are a Coupon Diva and all you did is look at the ad and go shopping.  Now to become a Coupon Queen, you use a coupon on each of the items, for example: Ragu is on sale BoGo and one jar costs 1.85 and you have 2 coupons for 50 cents off one can, so you use both coupons and the cost goes to .85 for 2 cans or .43 per can!!!! This is how you get items for cheap or free.  Also Winn Dixie offers fuel perks, if you buy 2 jars of Ragu you get 5 cents a gallon fuel perks and if you go to participating gas stations you get 5 cents a gallon off your fuel (right now I am up to $1.30 per gallon off my fuel).  They are good for 1 month and up to 20 gallons, but only a one time use, so I make it count!!! So now I have not only saved on my groceries, but I saved on my gas too!!!! Extra Bonus!!!

Request free samples, when you get free samples,  a lot of the time they will send you high dollar coupons along with those samples, plus you can try it before you buy it.  Also write or email your favorite product companies, a lot of times they will send out samples or high dollar (sometimes even free product) coupons to you. Again we will cover that in a later post in the series.

And the last tip is a great one, follow couponing blogs, websites and facebook pages.  Takes the guess work out of it for you, a lot of them have coupon matchups (I will explain in more detail in an upcoming post in the series) that make couponing a breeze.

So sit back and get ready to save!!!! Preview of Day #1 we will cover how to get started, what to do and where to get your coupons.

Please feel free to leave comments if there is something in particular you would like for me to cover in the series and I will try to accommodate everyone's request.

So get ready for some Happy Couponing!!!!