It's no news we've hit a rough patch in our economy these last few years. Money is tight for mostly everyone. How much does your family typically spend on groceries a week? For a family of four the average grocery bill makes up roughly 7.5% of the household expenses. That being said, this will be the first of many articles to teach a family how to save money by couponing and several other money saving secrets!
Couponing 101:
Sign up for a subscription with your local newspaper. There is a wonderful website that offers discounted prices for many areas, check them out here. I assure you the money you save from purchasing a newspaper is going to outweigh the cost just by following a few simple steps.
Visit your local dollar store and purchase an accordian file, hanging file folder box or 3 ring binder and baseball card inserts. Or purchase all 3! This is a must to staying organized!
Okay, now you are ready to get started! You have two options for keeping your coupons organized either by keeping the inserts (Red Plum, P&G, Smart Source & General Mills) in tact and organize them by month in your hanging file folder. Or by clipping your coupons and organizing them in your 3 ring binder with baseball card inserts or an accordian file.
Unsure which way works for you? My method is keeping them in tact and organizing them in the hanging file folder. Here's why:
Most inserts have coupons that expire on or around the same time. When you clip coupons, you'll organize them by category and possibly allow coupons to expire before using them.
There are many, many couponing blogs that actually "do the work for you" in compiling the sales ads for stores and cross referencing them with the local newspaper ad that you can locate that coupon in. If you clip your coupons, you will not know which coupon came from with ad.
The benefit of clipping coupons versus keeping them in tact would be that you will be less likely to purchase something "just because it's on sale". Typically people who clip their coupons stick with the brands they know and dispose or donate the coupons their family does not need.
So you decide which organizing method will benefit your family the most. The beginning process will be the most timely as you are starting out and taking time to get organized. I assure you once you begin couponing, it will be a lot less timely and the benefits of saving your family money will all be worth it. Our familyof 4 used to spend on average $120 per week on groceries and now that I coupon our grocery bill has dramatically dropped to roughly $35-$50 per week! Can you benefit from an extra $50 or more in your bank account? Well then stick with me and I'll teach you the ropes!
I'll wait patiently while you invest in a newspaper subscription and purchase your coupon organizers. :) Next week I'll teach you how to save time by visiting a few sites that "do the work for you" and get you on your path to saving money.
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