Coupon Mom

Watch this video at how you can save money couponing.

I watched her today on the CBS Early Morning Show and have signed up on her website.

Watch this Video

Source:Coupon Mom System Video

Coupon User Mastered the Art of Saving

Coupon-user has mastered art of saving Mother of 4 says that she spent about $1,500 on groceries last year In 2003, Jennifer Walker spent about $1,500 on groceries for her family of six. No, that wasn't on one trip to the store. That was for the whole year. The Shelbyville mother had heard about people who saved money by using coupons, but she didn't know how they did it. In February 2002, she discovered mycoupons.com. By saving coupons and following the Web site's advice, she began to learn the fundamentals. Grasping the concept was difficult at first. She started out spending three hours in the grocery store. At first, Walker meticulously followed the advice of people who posted on the Web site; she bought the same items using the same coupons as others suggested. After about three months, she became proficient at saving money with coupons. Walker has found coupons for almost everything she buys at the supermarket -- even milk and meat. Last year, Walker said she saved nearly $11,000. She still uses the Internet for tips but develops her own shopping strategies by clipping and organizing her coupons and scouring supermarket ads. Walker compares coupons to sales to get the best bargains. Now, she spends about one hour a week clipping and organizing coupons and about an hour in the grocery store during each visit. Timing is crucial. If a coupon is nearing its expiration date, she will use itright away rather than lose it. If the coupon still has plenty of life, it will be saved in hopes of an upcoming sale. Locally, Marsh, Meijer and Kroger double coupons of up to 50 cents. That'spretty good, but Walker waits for super-double and triple-couponpromotions, which Marsh and Kroger have on a recurring basis. A triple-coupon promotion triples the face value of a manufacturer's couponup to 50 cents. A super-double promotion doubles the face value for amanufacturer's coupon between 51 cents and $1. Coupons between $1.01 and $2 are redeemed at $2. Coupons worth $2.01 and higher are redeemed at face value. Usually, stores offer these two promotions simultaneously. Organization is a key factor to using coupons. Some people use pocketbook-size coupon organizers. Others use envelopes. Walker prefers a large three-ring binder with protective plastic baseballsheets. She can organize like coupons together and easily see what she has. Walker's husband, Dan, 35, has supported his wife from the beginning. He will even go to the store himself, if he is given a list of items and the required coupons. With two adults, four boys -- ages 4, 6, 10 and 12 -- two dogs, two cats, one hamster and one fish, food costs can be high. Thanks to coupon-clipping,Walker said she saves about 70 percent on her grocery store bills."I don't know how we managed before," she said. Now that she has mastered the techniques of coupon redemption, Walkercould never stop. Paper coupons are like cash to her. She hates to pay fullprice for any item, and she hates to see others pay full price, too. If Walkersees someone buying an item that she has a coupon for, she will give the person the coupon. Most people will accept a coupon from a stranger, but one man turned herdown. He was buying a bottle of liquid soap, and he had a coupon. Walkeroffered him two coupons, so he could buy two more bottles. Refusing theoffer, the man told Walker that he only needed one bottle of soap. The man failed to recognize Walker's most powerful saving strategy:buying sale items in multiples when possible. Businesses typically don't buy items singly -- including office supplies like pens and pads of paper --and savvy shopper don't, either. Most local supermarkets will accept multiple coupons for the same numberof items purchased. If Walker has 10 coupons for pickles, she buys 10 jars-- even if she has 20 jars at home. She knows she will use them eventually. When sales are exceptional, Walker shops every day. When sales are unimpressive, she often skips weeks at a time. She has waited as long asone month between shopping trips. Of course, her husband might stopand pick up some gallons of milk in the meantime. Buying in multiples does have one major disadvantage: storage. The Walkers bought two freezers to supplement the one in their refrigerator. They also expanded their kitchen pantry. The shelves are filled with a variety of brand-name items -- Mott'sApplesauce, Act II Popcorn, Honey Bunches of Oats cereal, Sweet Baby Ray's Gourmet Barbecue Sauce, Mrs. Butterworth's Pancake Syrup, Vlasic Pickle Relish, Lawry's Steak Sauce and Mike-sell's Potato Chips. The Walkers have passed their blessings on to others. They've donated boxes of toiletries to a mission in Fort Myers, Fla., which is affiliated with their Shelbyville church, Bible Holiness Church. They have allso have donated food items to a few families experiencing financial hardships. Walker has an advantage over most shoppers. She has a friend who collects newspapers for recycling. The woman gives all of the coupon circulars to Walker. Anyone can enjoy the savings power of multiple coupons, though. Walker's friend Debbie Conover said she saves approximately $40 a week by buying newspapers and collecting coupons from a few relatives. It might not sound like much, but she only buys for herself and her husband, Coyt, so grocery expenses are low. In a year, she reports saving $2,080. Walker taught Conover how to save by showing her some techniques at Kroger. "Jennifer said you have to learn by doing it," Conover said. "Now, I get free stuff at the grocery store almost every week." Walker also taught her sister, Stephanie Murphy, how to save money with coupons. Sometimes, they shop together. "Anybody can do it," Murphy said. "Sometimes, I only owe the clerk a few cents or nothing at all." Walker is a semi-celebrity at her favorite supermarket, the ShelbyvilleKroger. Most know her by her first name. Some even motion her to their lane,so they can see how much she has saved. Sometimes, clerks get almost as excited as Walker. A few have given Walker stacks of coupons. So far, Walker's crowning coupon-clipping achievement was handing the clerk 32 cents for $700 worth of groceries and other items. "I had three carts," she said. Coupon tips Jennifer Walker's tips for saving money at the supermarket: • Visit www.mycoupons. com weekly. • Buy a Sunday paper every week. • Ask friends and family for unwanted coupons. • Join or form a coupon-clipping club. • Stay organized. • Match coupons to sales for the best deals. • Buy multiples of free/inexpensive items. • Buying at a discount now is better than paying full price later. • Always watch for coupons. Other sources for coupons include publications (especially women's magazines) and blinking coupon- dispensers in stores. • Obtain a rain check if the store is out of an item. • Take advantage of rebates. • If possible, purchase rebate items separately because you will need to mail in the receipts.

The Grocery Game

I found this article on www.hubpages.com

Have you ever heard of the Grocery Game? Started a few years ago by Teri Gault in California and it is becoming a more and more popular way to save money on your grocery bill. But how do you play and is it worth it? Playing is easy, you have to decide if it is worth it.

Basically, the Grocery Game matches up the coupons in each Sunday's paper with the sales going on at the grocery store of your choice. The Grocery Game does all the work for you finding the best sales of the week. Not all sales are advertised in the weekly paper, and the grocery game does a great job of hunting down the extra bargains out there.

Did you know that all grocery store sales go in cycles? Some food items cycle on sale each month, some every 6 weeks and some every 12 weeks. As a consumer, it is hard to keep track of how often something goes on sale. Purchasing items when they are at their lowest sale is the best way to save money on your grocery bill. But don't just buy enough for that week. Stockpile food items when they are at their lowest prices, so that you have enough to get your through until the next sale comes. This way you will never have to pay full price for things.

So how do you know when something is at its lowest price? The Grocery Game will tell you. The list that comes out each week will tell you which items are at a good sale price (black) and which items are at their lowest price (blue) - which means now would be a good time to stock up. The list also frequently has free items on it and these are in green. If you have a store that doubles coupons, which I highly recommend if you are going to do the Grocery Game, it is pretty easy to get free items each week.

So is the Grocery Game worth the money? It costs $10 for an 8 week period for one store. Many people will participate in the Grocery Game at more than one store and additional stores are $5 per 8 week period. I participated in the Grocery Game in Colorado and loved it. It worked wonderfully and I always got great deals. It made my life so much easier not having to pour over my coupons and sale ads each week.

When I moved to Ohio I immediately joined the Grocery Game here too. I did not have as much success here though. I found that items listed in the sales ads were not listed on the Grocery Game list, that items listed on the Grocery Game list were not actually on sale at my list store, and also that some of the coupons the Grocery Game said I should have that week were not actually in my paper. I tried the Grocery Game here for about six months, but it was frustrating and didn't work very well for me here. So while I quit using it, I long for the days in CO when it worked so well.

The Grocery Game offers a 4 week trial membership for $1, which I highly recommend. Just based on my experience you never know if this is going to work out for you. Before ordering the trial membership though, I have some tips to help you make the most of it. Save your coupons for a few weeks before joining the Grocery Game. They use any coupon that has not expired on their lists each week. So they might have a coupon that is two months old on their list. Remember that the point of the game is to match up coupons to the lowest sale prices, so the coupons in this weeks paper are not all going to be used this week on the list. So save your coupon inserts for a few weeks to give you the most benefit when you try out the game.

Another tip is to not be brand specific. Don't just clip the few coupons that you think you might use. Save the whole insert and be willing to try different brands. If you can get an item for free why not try it? Also, if your regular brand is full price this week, but you can get another brand for $.20, it is definitely worth trying. Also consider purchasing extra Sunday papers in order to get more coupons. I don't always purchase an extra paper, but if it has really good inserts I will stop and pick up a couple of extra papers. Then when an item I use on a regular basis is at its lowest sale price and I have coupons, I can get several of the item instead of just one.

I think the Grocery Game makes shopping the sales a lot easier and can very much be worth the money. I did notice some glitches, but they aren't there for everyone. Join for the trial membership and see how it works for you. It is super easy to cancel at any time and even if you do cancel, you will still learn a lot about how the grocery sales work and ideas on getting the best deals. These things alone are worth the $1 trial membership fee.

Couponing

A few years ago, I used to do "couponing". I did it quite well, too. For many different reasons, I quit doing it. Couponing was in another lifetime for me. I was married to another man and he was always looking for something for FREE. His sister was doing it and was quite well at it. She taught me how to coupon the right way.

Her and her husband were coming home weekly with free toilet paper, cereal, pastas, cleaning products, etc. I could not figure out how they were coming home with these things and it not costing them hardly anything.

They had an auction house and they would run these items through it and actually make money. People would buy these things from them cheaper than they could go to the store and buy it. I began to dabble around with couponing and not really saving much money on my own. A little at a time, I began to watch her and learn from her. My husband (at that time) and I began to coupon shop more. We found a couple of stores that offered "triple" coupons on certain days and they only offered it once a month. We had to travel several miles to get to the stores, but it ended up paying off.

Couponing began to consume my whole day on some days. It turned into a full time job for us. From purchasing the newspapers, clipping the coupons and sorting them to spending many, many hours in the grocery stores. Once I caught on how to do this and seen how much money we saved, it didn't seem like such a chore to do.

I've watched people on Oprah and other shows that did couponing and they had earned the name of "Coupon Queen". I would watch them and giggle because there were many times we had done way better than they had.

I used to go into a store armed with three big plastic boxes with lids full of coupons. I had them all in their different categories, and usually knew right where to find everything in my box. We got so good shopping at the 'triple coupon stores', they they have actually paid us money when we checked out. (Not all stores will do this.) I used to hate checking out because it was embarrasing for me. I didn't want people to get upset with us because it took so long in line. But after awhile, the embarasment wore off and it became quite fun. People enjoyed watching with us as the grand total showed up and then what little we were going to have to pay. It was really exciting the times they paid us money! There was one visit they owed us like $60 so we went and got things like steak to eat, some diapers and baby wipes for free, since we had a small baby at that time.

I remember one night, we actually spent 8 HOURS in one store! My grocery receipt reached the cash register all the way to the front door! I think we had three, maybe four buggies full of groceries that night. You would be surprised at how much you can get into a buggy when it is neatly stacked and organized.

It was so funny, when the stock boy loaded our car. At that time, we drove a Mercury Tracer station wagon. One of the smaller ones. I now laugh and call it a "granny grocery getter". The next time we went back to the store, the person on the register remembered us and told us that the stock boy came in the night of our last visit, holding up his pen and said, "I would have given them $100 if they could have gotten this pen into the car!" I laughed and told them, "I would have told my husband to bend over!" LOL

Now, moving ahead.... like 10 years. I have since married a wonderful, loving man. He knows how hard it was on me when I was couponing, having to spend countless hours sitting in the floor cutting and sorting them, not to mention the time at the stores. He has never wanted me to clip coupons since we've been married. I have often thought about it, but then he discourages me from it. My husband has told me that he will work harder if he has to. He does not want me couponing. Couponing was in a past life, with another man, another marriage and he does not want me to be reminded of that.

Two years ago, I quit a very good paying job to stay at home with my kids. We have done okay financially without the second income.
Things haven't always been easy and we have had to give up many things we used to enjoy doing. The Lord has provided and has taken care of us and blessed us tremendously.

Almost six months ago, my oldest moved in with her children and now has a baby six weeks old. Things are still tight financially. Just recently, my husband quit his trucking job due to financial difficulties his employer was having due to the economy.

I am now looking for more ways to cut expenses and to help us save money. I would like to be able to have a little extra savings for rainy days or for extra things that we cannot afford right now.

I recently began looking on the internet for ways to save money.
I came up with an idea to put together a blog after seeing many, many ways.

I don't know if I will ever go back to couponing or not. If my husband has his way about it, I won't. For now, I will look for alternative ways.

I would love to hear from you. What ways do you have of saving money? What works for your family? How much have you saved? Tell us your story.

~Lisa Holland
Simply Frugal Nana

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