College Couponing

I don’t think I understood how popular couponing was until I saw Extreme Couponing on TLC. That is when I finally came to grips with the fact that people use coupons to save money all the time. If you are new to the coupon clipping world, you may be surprised to find out just how powerful couponing is in the modern world. I recently read some statistics on ILoveCouponMonth.com that I felt like sharing because they show the sheer magnitude of this art form. If you can master it as well as some of the extreme couponers on TV, you could save thousands of dollars a year in personal expenses. Here are some interesting stats from 2010:

• $485 billion worth of coupons were distributed in 2010
• 25% of coupon users spend between 30 minutes and 60 minutes searching for coupons per week
• 25% spend up to an hour shopping for the best online discount deals
• 332 billion coupons were distributed in 2010, the most ever recorded in the U.S.
• 47% of respondents use more local deals and coupons than in 2010
• 52% of coupon users spend more than 15 minutes per week searching for coupons
• 74% of consumers search multiple coupon sources each week
• 74% of coupons in 2010 required the purchase of one item and 26% the purchase of two or more items
• 78.3% of consumers reported using coupons regularly in 2010, up 14.7% from pre-recession levels
• 87.7% of paper coupons were distributed in 2010 via newspaper inserts, for an increase of 19 billion coupons
• 88.2 million consumers (47% of Internet users) plan on using online coupons in 2011
• 92.5 million adult Internet users will use online coupons in 2012
• 96.8 million adult Internet users will use online coupons in 2013
• Consumer coupon use in 2010 added up to $3.7 billion in savings, an increase of $200 million over 2009
• Consumers saved $3.7 billion using coupons in 2010
• Digital offers increased by 37% in 2010
• Distribution in 2010 exceeded 2009 by 6.8%, or 21 billion coupons
• Every hour spent couponing in 2011 is worth an estimated $100
• Moms are roughly twice as likely to search for coupons online as other categories of women
• Overall coupon redemption grew 3.1%, to 3.3 billion, in 2010
• The average coupon expired in 10.1 weeks in 2010, 10 days shorter than in 2009
• The average savings per coupon used was $1.44 in 2010
• The face value of coupons in 2010 increased 6.6%, to an average of $1.46 per coupon

As you can see, coupons are incredibly powerful nowadays. With the economy in the crapper and unemployment rates skyrocketing, it is no wonder that people are now turning to coupons to make the most of their money. If you’re scraping by with the salary from your teaching career, you may want to find a way to incorporate coupons into your shopping. The stats show that this could lead to huge savings over time, so it can’t hurt to at least test out the process. We have tons of couponing tips right here on the site, so feel free to look around and learn how to coupon like the pros. If everything works out well, you should be saving money in no time.

There are so many different kinds of coupons in the world nowadays that it is hard to find just one type to use. Smart couponers know that the only way to really save money is to explore all of the coupons out there and use as many of them as they possibly can. If you have been trying to find good coupons to use in your own life, you may be pleased to see just how many of them are currently in existence. Chances are that at least one of them will help you conserve your administrative assistant salary. Here is a look at some of the many coupons in the world so you can pick the perfect ones for you.

Grocery Coupons

Most often, coupons are used to make purchases at a grocery store. Families have to find a way to feed their children, and sometimes the only way to do that is through grocery coupons. If you want to save money at the grocery store, you should see if your grocer has a store membership card. This should be free to get, and it will allow you to save money on your purchases. For instance, at Kroger, you can usually save 10% if you have a Kroger card. You don’t have to pay anything for it, so you might as well use the opportunity in front of you.

You could also look into downloadable coupons, coupon inserts, and printable coupons to increase your chances of saving money at the store. With the right coupons in place, you may be able to cut your bills in half.

Online Coupons

If you like to shop online, you may be able to save money with the use of promo codes. I use coupon codes every time I rent textbooks online, and I usually save 15% or more, on top of the money I save by renting. There are tons of sites you can go to for coupon codes, but I usually just Google “X coupon codes.” Then I click on whatever the search engine provides me with and hope for the best. If you like the fact that you can save money online, you will love the fact that you can save even more with coupon codes.

Free Shipping Coupons

Whenever you order an item online or over the phone, you will most likely have to pay for shipping. With the use of a shipping coupon though, you might not have to. Sometimes you have to sign up for a service in order to receive free shipping, so you just need to make sure to cancel that service before you get charged for it.

Restaurant Coupons

Most couponers don’t like to eat out because it can be really expensive. However, some simple coupons can reduce the money you have to pay for your meals, which can make going out a lot more enjoyable. You can find restaurant coupons just about everywhere, from newspapers to phone books and anywhere in between. If you have a college campus around you, you might be able to get some great coupon books there. Restaurants love promoting themselves on college campuses because college students eat out so much. Look for a free coupon book there, and you’ll be eating like a king in no time.

There are so many other ways to use coupons, so you really just need to look into the options available to you. With the right coupons at the right times, you’ll have no problem getting what you want for a price you can afford.

The process of couponing has changed a lot over the years, more so than most people realize. Now couponers are logging onto the internet to print off coupons from their computers, rather than relying solely on the Sunday paper to help them save. Printing coupons online is not difficult to do, regardless of the couponing site you like to use. You don’t have to take software development courses just to print coupons on the computer. You can go to a website, click on a button or two, and watch the savings poor out of your printer. Here is a guide to show you just how easy it is to save money with printable coupons online.

Finding Printable Coupons Online

Before you can print coupons from your computer, you obviously need to have a set of coupons to print off. You can find these through a variety of websites, so you really just need to take a look around. CouponDivas.com has links to some great databases online, so you could go to that site for inspiration in starting your journey. Then you can search through the site until you find coupons that you like or could use. That is when the printing process begins.

Clipping Printable Coupons Online

Once you find some coupons that you like, you will need to “clip” them, just like you would standard coupons in your store ads. This works a little differently for every site you may use, so it is important to learn the process for the specific site you are working on. With CouponSuzy.com and a lot of other sites, you can just click on a box to clip your coupons and then print them off all at the end. If you can’t do that, you should be able to find some sort of clip, save, or print button to use.

Downloading the Software for Printing Coupons Online

Just about every printable coupon website is going to have a software program that you have to download in order to use its coupons. This software tracks the number of prints you have made on each coupon so you do not exceed the standard two coupon minimum. This minimum is in place to ensure that everyone gets a chance to enjoy the savings they can get from the coupons. The software is free to download, and it usually sets itself up pretty quickly. If not, the website will walk you through the setup process without a problem. You may be able to use the same program for multiple websites, depending on what it is. You won’t know that until you test the waters though.

Printing Coupons from the Internet

Once you have all of the software you need to print coupons from the internet, all you have to do is click print and go. Most websites will remember your printing information after that, so all you have to do is click on a button to print what you want. You can print as many coupons as you want from as many sites as you want, as long as you abide by the rules of the site. Think about all of the savings that could come from there.

Printing coupons online is far from rocket science, but it is something that may take a little bit to get used to. If you play around on a few different sites, you should get the hang of it pretty easily. Hopefully this guide showed you everything you need to know about printable coupons online. Now all you have to do is put these lessons to good use.

Most people only think about binders when they’re trying to buy school supplies. True couponers will take that thought one step further though. Coupon binders are some of the most versatile tools in the deal-digging world, and they are prized possessions for those that use them. If you have been looking for a good binder to house all of your coupons, there are a few features you may want to seek out in your quest. You can act as your own private investigator scoping out the bet binder for your couponing needs. Before you do that though, you need to know what to look for. Here are some suggestions to help you find the best binder for your coupons.

Size

The size of your coupon binder will depend on the amount of coupons you plan to house in it. If you only coupon every once and a while, you may only need a 1″ binder or so. If you are really detailed about organizing your binder, you may use a 5″ binder. You have to think about how many sheets of coupons you will logically use and try to adjust around that. You can always buy something small and then upgrade to something larger as the time passes. That way you don’t spend money on a huge binder that you don’t actually need right now.

Durability

Your binder is probably going to get a lot of wear and tear when you tote it from store to store. You need to find something that is going to last for a long time without ripping in half. Most of the cheap stuff they sell at Walmart will only last for about six months. Even though it seems like the better deal, it will actually cost you more money in the long run. You need to focus on finding a binder that is going to last for a few years, and then you will be able to get your money’s worth out of it.

Convenience

Some coupon binders have convenient little pockets built into them that you can use to hold scissors, calculators, and whatever else you need to carry around with you. You can use a pencil pouch to do the same thing, but sometimes it is nice to have extra storage space. That way you can keep all of your couponing items in one area at one time, without having to worry about finding stuff in your purse later on. This gives you better access to the deals when you need them most.

Price

Of course, price is going to impact what you decide to buy in the end. Try to look for a coupon from Staples or Office Depot because those stores tend to have better quality binders. Most of the time, it pays to invest in quality couponing supplies because you will be using them so often. I’m not suggesting that you would have to pay…gulp…retail for the binder you need, but you should at least make sure you get something that’s worth a crap. Compare the prices from a few different stores if you have to, and you should be able to find a binder bargain somewhere along the way.

Your coupon binder is going to be a huge part of your life as a savvy shopper. It pays to do a little research to find out which binder will truly work for you. You can look into different colors and designs if you want to, but that isn’t going to be as important as the function of the binder. If you find a really good deal on one, buy a few of them. You will eventually be able to use them as your current binder starts to wear down. With the right binder at the right time, you will have no trouble couponing like a pro.

If you have been couponing for a while now, you probably think that you are all that and a bag of buy-one-get-one-free chips. You may very well be the baron of bargains in your community, but that does not mean that you cannot learn a thing or two about how to save. A lot of couponers lose out on improving their saving abilities because they are not willing to learn new tricks of the trade. In my opinion, you can never be over-educated when it comes to saving money. That is why you need to learn about couponing as much as possible so that you can make the most of your time in a store. Here are a few ways you could potentially improve your skills in the future.

Watch Extreme Couponing

If you are still using one or two coupons a week as your source of savings, you can’t call yourself a true couponer. The fact is that there are men and women out there who probably save a lot more money than you do, and most of them are featured on TLC’s Extreme Couponing. This is a show devoted to people who literally make a career out of couponing. In the show, you can find tons of helpful tips to make you better at what you already do. If you are new to the process of couponing, this show can provide you with a crash course in how to get better at it. In general, it is definitely worth watching.

Subscribe to Coupon Blogs

There are tons and tons and tons of coupon blogs online, and any one of them could be a great place for you to pick up helpful tips. Some people just turn to coupon blogs to find great deals, but they can be used for training purposes as well. If you subscribe to the posts, you can see all of those great deals, and you can also pick up on tips from really couponers like you and me. Perhaps there is some piece of information that you have missed in your shopping experiences that you wouldn’t know about without one of these blogs. You never know until you start exploring like an FBI agent.

Watch YouTube Videos

A lot of couponers have started putting up videos online explaining what they do and how they save money. By watching those videos, you can learn about all of the different techniques that these men and women use for deal hunting. Then you can emulate what you learn in your own life so you can save as much money as possible. Combine suggestions from different sets of people, and you should have no trouble saving money when you need it most. It’s all a matter of watching the right videos at the right time.

Still Not Convinced?

If you are still stubborn about learning how to coupon more effectively, consider all of the time it took for you to learn how to coupon as well as you do now. Don’t you wish someone would have just told you all of this information so you wouldn’t have had to figure it out on your own? Think about all of the money you could have saved back in the day and how much more you could save now. When you really start assessing all of this, you may not question the art of learning more about couponing.

Find a great video series, book set, or coupon blog that you can count on, and you will be on your way to even greater savings in no time.

The summer months are dreadful no matter where you live in the country, but they can be especially taxing if you live in the south. If you are tired of spending tons of money on air conditioning bills, you need to learn how to keep your home cool without spending too much money overall. Keeping your house cool is about more than having a good air conditioner. There are some other things you can do to reduce the heat in your home and your energy bills as a result. Here are a few tips to help you drop the degrees in your house so you can make it through the summer without melting along the way.

*Note that I am posting this in the winter because that is when most places have sales on cooling products. Buy now if you want to get the best deals of the year.

Install a Good Roof

Your roof is the part of your home that gets the most direct sunlight, so it is important to install a roofing system that will not allow a ton of heat to get into your home. A metal alloy roof will provide you with the most protection from heat and sunlight, and it will last for a lifetime. You will only need to invest in this protective source once. If you buy now, you can probably find a really good deal on roofing because most people don’t get their roofs fixed until the spring or summer. The crews will be anxious to work with you, so they will most likely cut you a break on materials and labor costs.

Get a Radiant Barrier

A radiant barrier is a form of insulation that you can use with your roof to protect your house form any sun that manages to get through the roofing. The barrier will essentially collect the sunrays and reflect them out of the house so you do not have to suffer from the heat. You can get a free radiant barrier with the installation of a metal roof (in most cases), or you could purchase one to install on your own. Either way, you will see a significant improvement in your house temperatures throughout the summer.

Cover Your Windows

Mini-blinds are not always sufficient enough to keep the heat from coming through your windows. You may consider buying darkening shades or curtains to keep out the heat during the summer. You can still pull these back at night to see outside, but the covers will protect your windows when the sun is most prevalent in the day. A simple investment like this can cut your air conditioning costs dramatically. Some people also choose to put aluminum foil under the blinds to block out the sun, but that will not allow any light in at all. You have to weigh out your options to figure out what the best plan of attack is going to be.

Final Thoughts

You do not have to stand next to an open refrigerator to keep yourself cool in the summer. You just have to modify your house to maintain cool temperatures during the hotter parts of the year. Hopefully the tips above will provide you with ways to do just that. Sometimes it takes a little bit of money to save money in the long run. If you spend that money now, you will have the best chance at getting a low price on the solutions you need. Then when the summer hits, you will be nice and cool in your home.

TheKrazyCouponLady.com is one of my favorite coupon blogs on the web, and it is one that I remark on every chance I get. I recently came to the realization that I haven’t posted a review about the site yet, so I figured it may be a good idea to get the word out there. If you haven’t checked out the blog yet, you really need to. It could change the way you coupon for the better. Here is a look at some of the pros and cons of the site so you can get a better understanding of what it could do for you.

An Overview of Krazy Coupon Lady

Before I go into the pros and cons of KCL, I thought I would explain what this site is all about. Krazy Coupon Lady is a blog for coupons of all ages, genders, and skill levels. It is a fun place to go for couponing tips, links, resources, and more. The sections of the site include:

• Let’s Shop: The main page of the site, home of the daily deals and store specials.
• Krazy This Week: A database of coupon matchups that compare store sales with coupons online and in newspaper inserts.
• Beginners: A training program to help new couponers save money from the start.
• Retail Therapy: A list of great deals to help you avoid spending retail prices on the items you need.
• Print Coupons: A large database of printable coupons, along with links to other databases online.
• Freebies: A list of sweepstakes, giveaways, and free samples in restaurants and retail stores/
• Extreme Couponing: A training facility for experienced couponers who want to save the most money they possibly can.
• Brag Lounge: A forum where couponers can get advice or post stories about their couponing success.
• Book: A link to PickAnotherCheckoutLaneHoney.com, a site dedicated to a book written by the blog owners.

You can see a little walkthrough of all this information through the video below:

Pros and Cons of Krazy Coupon Lady

Krazy Coupon Lady is by far the most exciting coupon blog I have found because it is well designed and chalk-full of great information. You can find anything from free offers to advice videos on the site, and all of that information can improve your couponing skills over time. The women behind KCL are real couponers with real couponing experiences. They know what they are talking about, and you can tell that in every post that they make. They put up tons of deals throughout the day on just about anything you could want, which means that there is never a dull moment on the blog.

The only problem I really have is that the site may be a little too complicated for some users. I’m pretty computer savvy, so I can navigate through multiple menus without breaking a sweat. I think that some other users may have a hard time finding the information they need, just because there is so much of it to choose from on the site. There also seem to be a lot of technical problems on the site because I will have difficulties pulling up pages at times. Luckily the help on the site makes up for any glitches that I may come across when I’m on.

If you want to be the best couponer you can be, you have to at least look at this site. You’ll be saving more of your criminal justice salary in no time.

Coupon policies are rules that stores have in place for the way that people can use coupons for various items. Every coupon policy is different, and keeping up with all of them is not always easy to do. With that in mind, it is important to have a firm grasp on couponing policies because they impact how much money you could potentially save on a shopping trip. If you try to use a coupon incorrectly, you could end up paying…RETAIL…for an item. Ahhh! Let’s take a look at the true importance of coupon policies so you can start using them in your savings.

The Information in Coupon Policies

Couponing policies outline how, when, and where you can apply coupons in a certain store. They may put a limit on the amount of money you can double a coupon to or the amount of coupons you can use per transaction. Some stores will not allow you to use coupons on top of sale prices, which is a process known as stacking. If you cannot stack your coupons at a store, you will be very limited in the amount of money you can save. You need to know all of this before you get your hopes set on a sale price you won’t be able to hit.

Where to Find Coupon Policies

You can contact the store you want to work with for coupon policies, but that may be hard to do if you like to shop all over the place. Some popular coupon blogs have coupon policies listed on their sites, which are a lot easier to reference than individual store policies. TheKrazyCouponLady.com has a really great list you can refer to, and so does CouponDivas.com. You can look to either one of those websites when you want to review policies from different stores you like to shop in. They should have most of the information you may need.

How to Use Coupon Policies

Skim over the coupon policies you will most likely use, and try to get a firm understanding of how you can use coupons in different stores. Keep in mind the information about stacking and doubling, as that will have the biggest impact on the amount of money you can save couponing. You don’t have to study this like you’re going to be tested on it, but you do need to look over it pretty carefully. It can’t hurt to be overly prepared.

It may be a good idea to print off a copy of store coupon policies to keep in your coupon binder, just so you can refer to them whenever you go out. You can put these in the back for easy reference. They don’t have to be right at the front. If you have your coupons organized by store, you could put each store’s policy with its section. It just depends on what your overall organization plan is and how you like to refer to information.

Stores update their coupon policies fairly often, so try to check back with your store’s policies whenever you can, just to stay up to date. There is no guarantee there is going to be a change in the policy, but you have to make sure you catch any changes that happen when they do. With the current state of the economy, you never know when a store is going to get strict about saving and ruin your chances of saving money. If you review your coupon policies often enough, you should have no trouble enjoying the best experience you can have shopping.

Are you trying to plan a romantic Valentine’s Day on a small budget? You are not alone. This is one of the biggest holidays of the year because it sends people off into a frenzy, buying gifts, planning meals, and doing all sorts of romantic things they may not do otherwise. You should not let your small budget stop you from having a good time with the person you love. You just need to find a way to make coupons work for you. Here is a look at how you may be able to use coupons to create a great date night for your partner or spouse. Let’s consider this your personal guide to cupid couponing.

Couponing for a Home Made Meal

You don’t necessarily have to go out to eat to have a romantic dinner. You can make the dinner all on your own. Doing this would allow you to save money in gas, food, and tips, and it would give you a chance to speak privately with your date right at home. Try to find coupons that would allow you to buy all of the ingredients for a really romantic meal, or try to pull them from your stockpile. If you can match up the right coupons and Valentine’s Day store sales, you should be able to gather enough food for a pretty decent dinner.

Couponing for a Special Gift

You don’t have to get your partner flowers or chocolate for Valentine’s Day. You could actually think outside of the box a bit. Maybe you girlfriend wants her own Build-a-Bear or your husband wants his own kegerator. Think of this like a second Christmas, rather than a time to exchange cliché romantic gifts. As much as your wife may love that diamond bracelet from Kay Jewelers, she could just as easily love the portable book reader that is on sale at Walmart. If you can figure out a gift that works within your budget, you should be able to make the most out of your day.

Couponing for Entertainment

You may have a hard time finding cheap movie tickets on Valentine’s Day, but there are other forms of entertainment that could be available at a discount. For instance, you could go to a free concert at a local coffee shop or rent a movie with the discount card you already have. You don’t have to go through the predictable venues to formulate a date for Valentine’s Day. In fact, your partner may prefer something a little out of the ordinary. Try to get creative with the events you plan, and you will both have a much better time in the end.

Couponing for Travel Tickets

You don’t have to stick to your home town for V Day. You can always plan a special vacation with the one you love. This could be a second honeymoon for you or just a nice getaway you can spend as a couple. If you manage to find a good deal early on, you can enjoy a great vacation without having to spend a ton of money on it. The key is to keep your eyes open and find the best option for you and your partner.

There is no reason to avoid having a romantic Valentine’s Day just because you have a small budget to work with. You just have to think about what money you have left from your neonatal nurse salary and try to find options that will work within that. If you are creative enough from the start, you should have no trouble creating a special moment you will always remember.

Couponing is no longer a matter of just clipping ads out of the Sunday paper. It has branched out to the World Wide Web. Whether you need to find coupons or you need help being a better couponer, you might want to turn to the web for the assistance you are looking for. There are hundreds and perhaps thousands of couponing sites out there, so much that it would be impossible for me to list them all. Nevertheless, I have compiled a list of my 63 favorites for your entertainment. Check out some of the links below and see if they lead you to savings in the future.

1. 8 Coupons
2. Baby Cheapskate
3. Bargainist
4. Ben’s Bargains
5. Brads Deals
6. Buxr
7. Cheap Stingy Bargains
8. Coupon Album
9. Coupon Cabin
10. Coupon Code
11. Coupon Divas
12. Coupon Mom
13. Coupon Mountain
14. Coupons
15. Crazy Coupon Mommy
16. Deal Catcher
17. Dealigg
18. Dealighted
19. Dealio
20. Deal Locker
21. Deal News
22. Deals
23. Deals 2 Buy
24. Deals of America
25. Deals Plus
26. Deal Taker
27. Ebates
28. eCoupons
29. Entertainment Book
30. Fat Wallet
31. Freebies 4 Mom
32. Free Shipping
33. Gotta Deal
34. Hip 2 Save
35. Mommy Saves Big
36. My Grocery Deals
37. Retail Me Not
38. Savings
39. Shop It To Me
40. Shortcuts
41. Slick Deals
42. Spoofee
43. Tech Bargains
44. The Krazy Coupon Lady
45. Valpak
46. America’s Cheapest Family
47. Cellfire
48. CheapTweet
49. Coupon Craze
50. Coupon Dudes
51. Couponing to Disney
52. Coupon Sense
53. Coupon Sherpa
54. Coupon Suzy
55. CouponTweet
56. Dealplumber
57. Deal Seeking Mom
58. Yowza
59. MySavings
60. Pinching Your Pennies
61. Red Plum
62. We Use Coupons
63. Zavers

If there is a site that I missed, let me know. Those are just the ones I have looked through or used recently. Feel free to do your own coupon site exploration and see what you find. A good deal may only be a click away from you.

Creating a Coupon Reference List

If you like the coupon sites listed above and want to reference them in the future, you may want to create a section of bookmarks devoted to couponing sites. I actually have multiple folders of bookmarks that I go to on a regular basis, just so I can navigate between them easier. I have a list of coupon blogs, a list of coupon databases, and a list of coupon comparison sites. I use all of them on a pretty regular basis to save as much money as possible. If you develop your own list of sites to pull from, you should have no trouble shopping within a budget in the future.

If you want to be an effective couponer, you have to make a plan. You need to know which coupons you are going to use, where you are going to use them, and when you need to use them by. A lot of people just find coupons and use them on a whim, but that is not an effective use of your time. You need to make a plan to save as much money as possible, and that isn’t always easy to do at first. The tips below are designed to help you use coupons correctly so that you can save as much of your tattoo artist salary as possible.

Understand Coupon Policies

Every store has a different policy related to how you can use coupons within it. You need to review these store coupon policies before you try to use a coupon in a way that you shouldn’t be able to use it. You may not be able to double up on certain kinds of coupons, or you may be limited by the amount of discounts you can get. If you understand all of that before you go out, you will be able to plan your savings more effectively.

Use Coupon Matchups

Coupon matchups are great for saving money because they allow you to use coupons during store sales to save as much money as possible. You can match coupons up on your own, or you could use some of the resources available online. Here are some of my favorite places to go when I want to see the coupon matchups for a week:

• Krazy Coupon Lady Krazy This Week
• Coupon Divas Matchups
• Couponing to Disney Walmart under $1
• Couponing to Disney Target under $1

If you check over those sites and others like them before you go out, you will be able to make sure you save as much money as you can on the items you need most. Some coupon matchups will save you more money than others, but they will all save more than coupons alone. Keep the matchups in mind as you shop, and you will be able to plan your shopping a lot better in the long run.

Make a Shopping Itinerary

If you want to be considered a true extreme couponer, you need to make an itinerary to follow as you shop. Get a rough idea of which aisles you need to be in while you shop so you don’t end up going back across the store because you missed something. You need to know which stores are having sales throughout the week, and you also need to know how many of each item you need to get. That way you can obtain a rain check for any of the items the store may not have enough of at a certain time.

Once you have your list in place, think about how much you should be spending after coupons and other store discounts. That way you can watch your total at the register and make sure everything is working out properly. If you planned well and executed your plan correctly, you should end up with a low total you can be happy with. Make sure to use your coupons before they expire, and check with stores to see when their sales run out. Hopefully you can be in the right place at the right time to save a ton of money as you shop.

It is a new year now and a new chance to find coupons for your household. Ever since the launch of Extreme Couponing on TLC, people have started to view coupons as forms of money and solutions for frugal living. No matter what your budget is or what you like to buy, you can benefit from the use of coupons in your life. The key is to find coupons that you can use and then figure out a way to use them effectively. Here are a few suggestions on how to go about finding coupons in 2012. You can use these tips to help you save the most money possible.

Read Coupon Blogs

One of the easiest ways to get access to great deals is to read coupon blogs from real couponers just like you. Some of my favorite coupon blogs include:

• KrazyCouponLady.com
• Hip2Save.com
• CouponDivas.com
• WeUseCoupons.com
• CouponSuzy.com

All of those sites feature great tips on how to coupon, but they also provide great lists for coupon matchups and suggestions on deals you could find in your area. The people that run the blog frequently post deals that they get throughout the week so that you could potentially get them yourself. If you subscribe to the newsletters for these blogs, you can get email alerts about special discounts that you may not have otherwise known about. The blogs are fun, entertaining, and incredibly helpful as you struggle to stretch your budget. I would recommend them to anyone.

Printable Coupons

You obviously have a computer with internet access because you are reading this post. Thus the only other thing you need to access coupons from the web is to get a printer. If you have one of those, you could print coupons from popular coupon databases and hopefully save a lot of money in the long run. Some great databases to keep in mind include:

• Coupons.com
• CouponCabin.com
• CouponSuzy.com
• RedPlum.com
• MommySavesBig.com

You can find tons of coupons on those sites to use online and in stores. You just have to explore your options and see what you could possibly use. Most of the sites have all of the coupons categorized by type, by store, or by something else along those lines. You can browse through each of the sites to see what they have to offer, and then you will be able to print or use your coupons accordingly.

Coupon Inserts

Newspaper inserts may seem a little antiquated, but they are still great resources for coupons. Unlike printable coupons, you can get as many copies of these coupons as you want. If you get the coupon inserts that are left over at the newspaper office every week, you could get hundreds of coupons to use for your shopping. Combine these with the sale prices in stores, and you should be able to save a ton of money in the long run.

Finding coupons in 2012 is simply a matter of looking around. Use the internet and the print ads around you so that you can save money from every angle. With the economy in a rocky situation, you might as well do whatever you can to reduce your expenses in a month. Proper couponing techniques may allow you to do just that.

If you ever read the tips on coupon blogs or printable coupons sites, you have probably come across the idea for a coupon email newsletter or alert system of some sort. This is basically a program that you can access for free and get information about special deals and promotions emailed directly to you. Most coupon sites have these little newsletters, and they can seem pretty enticing at first. Before you get excited about them though, you may want to know what they are really used for. Let’s examine the truth behind coupon email alert programs so you can determine whether or not you want to sign up for one.

What Coupon Sites Get from Giving Away Free Coupons

Isn’t it a little odd that a coupon site would just email you information every day without wanting something in return? They don’t want any part of your business administrator salary, so no worries about having to shell out money for these services. They are legitimately free. There is still a catch with them though, and that is the fact that you are basically selling your information so that companies can advertise to you.

Whenever a coupon blog gets popular, tons of different people want to advertise on it to encourage visitors to come to their site or store. That results in a lot of businesses wanting access to the email lists from the coupon sites so that they can send out marketing materials to people who would genuinely be interested in their specials. When you sign up for a free newsletter, you aren’t actually signing up for a free newsletter. You are giving out information so that companies can contact you and even spam you on a regular basis. You have to determine if you are okay with that or not.

Does That Really Matter?

Even though coupon email alerts are essentially scams to get you to give up your information, you can still get a lot of useful information out of them. I have found a lot of good deals through the few newsletters I have subscribed to, and I usually save at least a little money in the year with them. Thus I don’t mind having my information floating all over the place if it is in fact giving me access to special deals I may not have found on my own. When you get right down to it, the truth behind coupon email alerts just isn’t as important as the offers you can find through them.

How to Avoid Getting Spammed through Email Alerts

If you want to avoid getting a lot of spam mail through the email address you use for the newsletters, just set up a fake email account to use. Give out a fake name and that fake address, and then all you have to do is check that email account every day or week. That way you avoid clogging your inbox with information you may not need and you have an easy way to ignore the information if it turns out to be pure spam. I have three different email accounts that I rotate when signing up for promotions like that, and I just check them every now and then for deals. If all I see is cheap advertising, I send it all to the trash and move on.

Now that you know what really happens with coupon email alert systems, you can determine if you want to sign up for them or not. You should not experience much of a negative effective from signing up or not signing up, so it is really up to you as to what to do. Hopefully the tips above have cleared any confusions you have about these programs so you can go about using them effectively in the future.

Want to be an extreme couponer but don’t know where to start? If so, you may just need a few materials to truly launch your life of savings. Every extreme couponer uses a slightly different set of supplies to hunt for bargains, but most of them have the same foundation to build from. What you need is an extreme couponing startup kit, which will give you everything you need to at least start the journey of saving money. Here are some of the items you may want to include in this kit so you can be prepared to shop.

Printer

A lot of the coupons you may use will come from sites like Coupons.com. These coupons are printable, so you will need to have a printer and some paper to be able to use them. You don’t have to get a fancy printer or anything along those lines. You just need something that can print information off the web. If you want to be on the safe side, you should also get a printer that can make copies so that you can make multiples of the coupons you print from the web. Then you will be able to get a lot of use out of a single device.

Binder

No extreme couponer’s life is complete without a coupon binder. This is a large binder that you can use to store all of your coupons for easy access. If you have a three ring binder already, you may just need to add some baseball card protectors to it to make it coupon friendly. You can also add a pencil pouch with scissors, a calculator, or anything else you may need for couponing. Take a look at this video for more information about what you may be able to put into your coupon binder…

Paper Cutter

Once you start using hundreds of coupons a week, the idea of cutting them by hand will seem a bit absurd. You need to have a better and more practical way of cutting out the coupons you want to use. This may come in the form of a paper cutter, otherwise known as a guillotine cutter. The cutter will have a large arm with a blade on it so that it can slice down and provide a clear line of cuts from the start. You can stack many ads together at once and cut them all out at one time. This is a simple and effective way to clip a lot of coupons at once.

Sunday Paper

The Sunday paper is going to be a great source for coupons for you, so you need to make sure you subscribe to it. This may cost a little extra money a month, but it will be well worth all the money you get to save. You can also talk to the people that run the newspaper in your area and see if there is a way for you to pick up any ads that they do not use at the end of the week. You could get huge stacks of savings delivered right to your door if you play your cards right.

You will most likely figure out some other pieces to add to your couponing kit along the way, but those should give you a decent starting point to work from. If you watch the show Extreme Couponing on TLC, you will get even more ideas for items to include in your kit. Then you will be fully prepared to start saving money.

Have you ever heard of coupon match-ups? If not, you may be missing out on some fantastic deals in your area. Extreme couponers have been using match-ups for years now, and most of them can’t leave home without checking them. In order to use them to your advantage though, you need to know what match-ups are and how they can work for you. Here is an overview of the coupon match-up system so you can get a better idea of what may be in store for your savings in the future.

What Are Coupon Match-Ups?

Match-ups are coupons that correspond to a sale going on in a store. For example, let’s say that General Mills cereal is on sale at a grocery store. The store price is $10 for five boxes of cereal. If you had a coupon from General Mills that could save $.50 off each box of cereal you buy, you can get each box for $1.50. If you have a store discount on top of that, you could save even more money. By matching the sales and the coupons available for a given week, you can get the best deals possible at a store.

How to Find Coupon Match-Ups

You can try to figure out coupon match-ups on your own by comparing your local ads to the coupons you have in your binder. You may miss something doing that though, so you might want to check a few websites that offer match-ups for free. The sites will do all the work for you so all you have to do is print off the coupons mentioned in the match-ups. I like to use CouponDivas.com because it is easy to work with. You may find a site you like better though. It just depends on the stores that you like to shop in.

Where to Use Coupon Match-Ups

Some stores will not allow you to use a coupon on top of the sale price for an item, so you need to be careful as to how much you rely on coupon match-ups. You first need to make sure there is a store in your area that will allow that. Most of the time, this will be a grocery store like Kroger or Albertson’s that is already good about offering low prices on food. You can speak to a manager at one of your local grocery stores to see if you can use match-ups or not.

How to Make the Most of Your Match-Ups

If you find a place to use match-ups in, you need to make sure you do all you can to get the most out of your match-ups. This means that you need to use as many resources as possible to find them. Some sites only offer match-ups for certain stores, and you may have multiple stores in your town that you can save at. Thus you need to look around to get as many options as possible. You also need to do your own research to increase your chances of finding a good deal. Pretend you’ve gone through police officer training and you will be able to scope out the good deals around you.

Since most store ads run weekly, you need to get in the habit of looking for match-ups every week. If you only do this once a month, you may miss out on a great sale on your favorite food items. As long as you plan your hunt well enough, you can usually find great deals with the match-up process. You may even wonder why you never thought to look for that in the first place. With a little research and some good coupons on hand, you can get a great deal for your family in no time.

If you want to call yourself a true couponer, you have to check out KrazyCouponLady.com. This is a site founded by two actual extreme couponers for the purpose of helping others save money like they have. These women are the authors of Pick Another Checkout Lane, Honey, a top selling book outlining the chronicles of their couponing experiences. The website is an extension of their book and their legacy, and it allows men and women alike to learn how to save from the best. Here’s a look at some of the features of that site to give you a better idea of the opportunities that come along with being a krazy coupon lady.

Couponing Tips

There are several sections of the site devoted to tutorials, helping novice and experienced couponers alike hone their skills to maximize their savings. Whether you want to save a few bucks a week or you want to see a 75% savings on your next couponing trip, there is a tutorial on the site for you. The founders of the site have literally been paid to take merchandise out of the store before, just because they know how to work the system. Their tips can help you do the same.

Printable Coupons

KrazyCouponLady.com pulls from some of the top couponing databases on the web to provide an extensive list of printable coupons you could use. Some of them are featured on the homepage, and others are categorized by store or product type. If you see a coupon you like on the site, you can print it off your computer to use at the store. If there is a specific store that you like to shop at more than others, you can search for coupons based on that criterion. Take a look at some of the options on the site because you may be able to supplement your current coupon supply.

Freebies

There is a whole section of the site devoted to freebies, or things you can get for free if you meet certain conditions. Sometimes these freebies are just free product samples, but other times they may be free offers with the purchase of something else. For instance, you might be able to get a free drink at a fast food restaurant with the purchase of a sandwich at regular price. Deals like that happen more often than you’d think, but you don’t have to scour the web looking for them. Just pop onto the site and see what’s going on.

Brag Lounge

The brag lounge is a place where couponers can go to brag about their success stories. This is a great way to get support from other couponers and encourage people to save money with this process. If you just saved 85% on your grocery list, you can brag about it on the website. Then you can check to see the kinds of savings other people have had recently. This is a great way to get extra coupon training as well because you can pick up on the tricks of the trade from others. Doing so may make you a better saver down the road.

Are You Fit to Be a Krazy Coupon Lady?

You don’t technically have to be a “lady” to be a krazy coupon lady. You just have to have a passion for savings and a dedication for finding a good deal. If you have that and more, this is certainly a site to look into. You may even find some free scholarships along the way if you look around enough.

Your coupon binder is the keeper of your savings, and it is something you should cherish just as much as you would a textbook for one of your software development courses. A binder doesn’t have to just be a thing with rings that you shove paper into though. It can be a lively little creature that you accessorize like your favorite outfit. If you want to make the most of your coupon binder, you need to have some accessories to go along with it. Here are some of those accessories you may want to invest in.

Pencil Pouch

A pencil pouch is a simple device that you can put in the front of your binder to hold all of your other accessories. This pouch will have a few zipper pockets to use, along with holes in the top of it so you can strap it into the binder. You probably had one of these as a kid to hold your pencils and pens for school. You could bring that old one out, or you could look for a new one. Just make sure you find a coupon for it so you don’t spend a ton of money on a pencil pouch.

Scissors

A small pair of scissors can always come in handy if you have to cut coupons on the go. You may find an ad on the sidewalk outside of a store, and without scissors, you would have to rip any coupons out that you want. You can get a small pair that will fit into your pencil pouch, and then you will always have something on hand to use when you coupon. You don’t have to get a fancy pair of scissors. You just need something that you can take with you in your binder.

Plastic Sleeves

Plastic sleeves are great for holding your coupons. If you get the kind that can be used for baseball cards, you could store several sets of coupons on the same sleeve. These will have clear faces, so you can always see what you are about to use before you use it. If you have been putting full sheets of coupons in your binder until now, having some protectors like this on hand could help you get organized better in the future. You’ll soon wonder how you ever lived without them.

Calculator

If you want to figure out if something is a good deal or not in a store, you should get a calculator to bring with you. Try to look for a small, flat calculator because you will be able to put that in your pencil pouch. Anything that is super bulky may not fit in there. A lot of calculators nowadays are made with fabric backings, so they are really light and flexible. You may want to look for something like that to use in your coupon binder. You don’t need to take online accounting courses to benefit from having a calculator on hand.

Dividers

To ensure that our coupon binder is well organized, you need to have a set of dividers to keep track of everything. You can use dividers to separate coupons by date, by category, or by store if you want to. You just have to think about how you will logically look for the coupons you use, and then you can setup your dividers accordingly.

There are plenty of other little accessories like these that you will probably come across in your couponing adventures. After a few months of consistent savings, you should be well stocked for the next time you go to the store.

Do you ever feel like you may be missing out on some really good deals just because you don’t have access to all the coupons you should? Wouldn’t it be nice if you had an extra set of eyes watching out for those good deals for you? If you said “yes” to those questions, you may think about setting up a coupon club. This is a group of people that you can meet up with to discuss the ads for a week, much like a book club. Coupon clubs are becoming quite popular nowadays because of the expansion of the coupon world. The guide below will explain how you may go about setting up yours.

Step 1 – Call in the Couponers

The first thing you need to do is get a group of people together that make up the club. This could be a set of moms from your PTA group, a group of girls from your Everest online classes, or a set of strangers you happen to see in the checkout line. That is up to you. The size of your club is entirely up to you, but it would be nice to start with at least four or five people. If you’re trying to just gather new people out of nowhere, you can explain what the purpose of the club is. Let them know that you plan to work together to compare your ads for the week so everyone can benefit from the savings. If your pitch is convincing enough, you will draw in the newbies in no time.

Step 2 – Set up the Meetings

Like every good club, you will need to have a meeting place and a meeting time that you can rely on every week. You may agree to meet in a neutral location, like a local restaurant or the library. You could also agree to meet at a different person’s house every week. That way one person doesn’t have to carry the burden of hosting the meeting every single week. Figure out a time and place that works for everyone, and then you will be able to go about the clubby duties.

Step 3 – Hold Your First Meeting

Once you know when and where to meet, you can actually go about holding your first meeting. Have everyone in the club bring their coupon binders and any other materials they have to help people save. Then at the meeting, you can all compare coupons to see what other people have to say. This is also a great opportunity to exchange coupons with other people for ones you may not want. If you have a set of 20 coupons for baby food but all your kids are in high school, you might exchange them with a new mother who has a set of coupons for soda and pizza rolls. You can combine resources with other people in the club so that everyone gets the most out of the current sales.

Step 4 – Coupon, Clip, Repeat

Eventually, you should be able to get a rhythm going with your meetings. You may elect a set of officers for the meetings if you want something formal, or you may just carry things on as a group of friends. Get everyone’s email addresses so you can communicate with one another, and that will give everyone a chance to send links to great coupon sites they find. You may also think about making a wish list that highlights the coupons that everyone likes to use. That way when other group members come across those coupons, they know who to give them to. If you establish the right amount of team work, you can get a lot out of your coupon club.