This tip might not work for you, but it did wonders for me. When I quit my job, I thought I’d be out of an income for a while so I started to look into couponing. Thankfully, soon after I got a fellowship for graduate school so I was able to get an income again, but the couponing stuck. I started saving about $400 a month just by using coupons! For an entire year, I invested that money into my writing career. I used it to publish print copies of my books, pay for cover art and editing, hold giveaways, buy advertising. That way my writing career wasn’t a strain on my family’s budget.
To help with my couponing, I buy two Sunday papers a week. Each week instead of spending hours cutting out coupons, I simply take out the coupon inserts, write the date on them and then file them away. For example, SS 2/05 means Smart Source from the February 5th paper. This is important because next you can go to a coupon matching website such as www.southersavers.com and each week they will have a list of the sale items for each store along with the coupons for each item. Make your list, cut out your coupons, then go shopping. I’ve been doing this for over a year now so it only takes me about 30 minutes of prep time before each trip.
A couple of things to remember when you are a couponer:
No brand loyalty. My husband used to love Mentadent toothpaste. But I can get Crest and Colgate for free at CVS after coupons. So, guess what? He now uses Crest or Colgate and his teeth are just as clean.
Sales usually run in six week cycles. If there is a family favorite item, I stock up on that item when it is at its lowest price so that it will last until the next time it is on sale.
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