Couponing Step-By-Step

ADD PICS: cutting individual pages, inserts including P&G week, stack of newspapers, binder with pages showing, binder zipped up
ADD AFFILIATE LINK: Jim Bob Howard's Class
So many people ask me how to coupon, and I can think of no better way than to tell you what I do every week. It isn't hard and usually takes me an average of about 5 hours a week from start to finish. There are some rules to know which I will post later that you will need to know, but for now here are the steps I go through every week to save big on my grocery bill.

1. Buying Your Coupons

In Louisville our Sunday papers cost anywhere from $1.00-$1.75. I just discovered this week that you can purchase them for $1 at the Dollar General where everything is a dollar. Go figure. There are also plenty of ways to find coupons without buying the Sunday paper. There are dozens of websites where you can print out coupons, or you can load e-coupons to your store loyalty card for paper-free couponing. In my experience the Sunday paper offers the biggest, and most consistent savings.

Extreme Couponing: Insane Yet Motivating

I have heard mixed reviews of the new show on TLC called Extreme Couponing. My mother and I called our coupon adventures extreme couponing long before the show came out, but we are nowhere as insane as the ladies on this show. They devote entire rooms in their home to their stockpiles, including any other spare room anywhere else in their homes. They talk about spending sixty hours a week couponing and some even watch houses in their neighborhood to be foreclosed on so they can take their newspapers for their coupon inserts. One comment the latest show I watched said made me a little frustrated. The woman featured said that she spends over sixty hours a week doing this and that anyone who said they are spending less than ten hours a week is lying.

This is exactly the type of thing that scares away people who are nervous about trying couponing! I spend less than ten hours a week almost weeks on my couponing from start to finish. There are weeks that I spend more time on it because there are an unusually large quantity of deals, or if I feel like spending more time trolling the aisles for other deals such as clearance and closeout deals that aren't advertised.

So if you have watched Extreme Couponing and feel like using coupons will turn you into a fanatic, don't be afraid. Couponing can be simple and easy, and it often is. If you want to spend an few hours a week saving money, you can. You don't have to fill six grocery carts and house a stockpile big enough to feed the US Army in your garage to save money.

Stay tuned for my next post for the quickest way to implement coupon savings into your regular shopping trips.

Organizing Pays!

I have a confession to make: I have a problem, a serious addiction. I am addicted to organizing. Some people smoke, others drink, I go through my kitchen cabinets to figure out how to keep my pots and pans organized. I was going on an organizing binge when I came across some old gift cards that were misplaced in the shuffle of moving. I decided to keep them organized by putting a hole punch through one side and putting them on an extra key ring I had. Then after putting all the gift cards onto the ring, I decided not to stop there. I also pulled all of the membership cards I had cluttering my wallet and purse and put them on the ring also.

Next, I decided to check the balances on all the gift cards and write them on the back with a permanent marker so that when I went to use them I would know how much was available to spend. This revealed to me that I had a few Best Buy gift cards that I had a large balance on. I have been looking to get an in expensive camera to throw in my purse and bring to parties and events. Several years ago my family surprised me with a Canon EOS 30D which is a great camera, but I wanted something that was a little more portable and I would not have to worry about as much as my Canon. I found a Insignia NS-DSC10B that was free with my gift cards, I only had to pay for shipping.
So, yes, I do have a problem with organizing, however it just earned me a digital camera! Without organizing I would not have found these gift cards for a long time, so it is a problem that I'm happy to keep for a while at least.

Late Night Couponing Adventure

It was not my intention to go couponing tonight, but I found myself dreading going to bed alone and was missing my husband, so I thought it would be nice to have a little distraction. There is a Mega Sale this week at Kroger, so since I am less than 5 minutes away from a Kroger I thought tonight would be a perfect night to find some good deals.
My budget was $50, I hoped to find some low calorie snacks, yogurt, possibly some Mountain Dew for my husband when he gets home, and I wanted to check the prices on things I usually stock up on like hot sauce and maybe some hair products. I have been waiting for a long time to find cheap or free toothbrushes, so I hoped to find some of those too. Here is what I ended up taking home.

Great Deal on Chicken

My mother has a membership to a store called Restaurant Depot which is very similar to GFS but is for business owners. We were able to get a great price on chicken, $1.25 a pound, when we bought a whole case. So, I got forty pounds of boneless skinless chicken breast but realized when I got home that I had no plan for all of this chicken. So, here are the quick and easy marinades I made all from things I already had in my pantry. After all, I had already bought forty pounds of chicken, I really did not want to spend money on anything else extra.
Here are the ways I prepared my chicken. All of these recipes are for 2 chicken breasts. After combining all ingredients in a freezer bag I put them in the freezer. It's great to know that I have a lot of different meals in the freezer that were easy to make and will be easy to cook. Any of these recipes can be put in the crock pot for 4 hours on high, baked at 350 degrees for an hour, or grilled. I love cooking but I don't always have the time or energy to come up with something different.

Italian Chicken:

• McCormick Italian Seasonings
• Oil
• Salt & Pepper

Groupon Deal for a 5 Cheap Dates!

I told you a little while ago about Groupon.com and that I found one great deal, and I am very excited to say I found another one!
My husband still isn't home, we are still waiting on paperwork to process, but I still am looking for ways that we can have fun and go out once he gets home without spending over our budget. The Comedy Caravan is a local comedy club that my husband loves visiting. He loves comedy in general, so I am really excited because I got a great deal on the tickets. I paid $10 for a set of two tickets to see comedy shows. I could have paid $15 for a pair of tickets to a weekend show, but we don't mind going to a show on a week night, so I opted for the cheaper tickets.
I ended up spending $50 on five sets of tickets, which was a little painful, but I have to realize I'm saving a lot of money. We could have a nice dinner at home then go out and have a date night for only $10! I have already paid for them, so it won't use any money from our budget when he gets home.
I can't wait to find my next Groupon deal!

Groupon.com First Deal!

I wrote last week about Groupon.com, and I've been checking the site every day for a great deal to share. I found a wonderful deal for here in Louisville, KY for an optometrist. I paid $49 (normally $73) for a visit and $150 off a pair of glasses. Now, I would not consider the visit alone for $49 a good deal because there are always places like Dr. Bizer's Vision World having specials for around that, but the discount on glasses will be great. I'd say I am certainly sold on using Groupon!

You can find deals like this for your city too here. They also have a iPhone app, so you can find the deals on your phone. I love using my phone, so this is my favorite way to find the Groupon deals.

Louisville Half Off - More Amazing Deals

My husband loves eating out. If it were more economical, we would probably eat out at least four or five times a week. I know that when he gets home he'll want to go out with friends to celebrate being home and able to eat non-Army food.

So, since he'll probably be home in about a month, I have started looking at Louisville Half Off to see if they have any gift certificates for places he likes to eat. See, just as the title says, all the gift certificates are half off. So we could have a $50 dinner for the two of us for only $25! I'm not sure about you, but I think that's pretty awesome. And maybe I'll even be able to find a coupon for our dinners - wouldn't that be insane?

So If you live in Louisville - visit Louisville Half Off and get saving!

Louisville Half Off

Groupon.com

I have seen ads on Facebook over and over again for Groupon.com, and I was not sure about it. It seemed gimmicky to me, and so I did not sign up. It was not until a friend told me about a great deal she got on a gym membership for more than half off with no strings attached that I joined.

The website was very simple to sign up for, you can use Facebook to login or just put your full name and email, and you're ready to go.
I only joined yesterday, but I'm already excited to see what great deals I can find. I'll let you know as soon as I find something I can't live without! Have you ever used Groupon? What deals have you taken advantage of.