Coupon Clipping to save $$$?? Anyone do this?

[Super~Single~Mama]

Hi all, do any of your clip coupons to save money?  I know some people who save MAJOR money doing this, so I want to try.  Problem is I don't have a printer, and the library isn't real easy to do this at since I have to pay to print.  I can print some stuff at my old school, and maybe save up money to buy a printer eventually.....anyway - who does this and what websites do you go to??

[kriket]

I do :) I used to be a major coupon hater, but have seen the light.

It really depends on what stores you have in your area, but I use upromise.com, cellfire.com, coupons.com (actually, I use MyPoints.com, they have a coupon printer that you can earn points to get gift cards for using)

Also, the stores like Target, Rite Aid, and Meijer, have their own coupons! Also, corporations like Oscar Meyer, or Annie's have coupons on their site from time to time.

I don't know where you are on your journey to coupons, but first, find a blogger from your area that does the stores you like to shop. They will post lists of what is on sale, and what coupons match the sale, and if the coupons are from the net or the newspaper.

[Super~Single~Mama]

How do I find a blogger in my area?  There aren't many grocery stores around me (even though I'm in a HUGE city - I can only do walking distance really, but target did just open a huge new store near me....).

Hmm...I really need an easy way to print coupons.  I hate being printer-less.

[kriket]

What city are you in and I may know one :) If you can pick up a printer at goodwill or elsewhere, then go for it, but maybe do a little research on what printer has the cheapest ink. I print in only black, to save money, but ink is still pricey.

You can also get newspaper coupons from the recycle bins, if you don't want to buy the paper. What I do is save all the inserts in flat rate envelopes from the post office, write the date on the outside, then when you read about a sale, you can go and clip the coupons you need. Some people also take binder pages for baseball cards, and cut out the coupons to put in the pockets so they can flip through and see what they have.

Couponing can be overwhelming :) But once we find you a good blogger to follow, they usually have a "How to" that includes the coupon policy for your local stores.

[Super~Single~Mama]

I'm in Queens, NY (flushing to be exact).

There's a target really close to me now, so I might start doing target coupons, combined with manufacturer coupons to save.  But I try not to eat too many prepared foods, and I try to eat lots of fruits and veggies.  Which makes it a little harder to save money.  I'm not opposed to frozen fruits and veggies, but then they don't taste as good in salads.  Hmmm.....

And I hardly use any cleaners, b/c its just me and DS, but I'll take what I can get. 

Thanks for the tips!!!  Keep em coming!

[happysmileylady]

Check out moneysavingmom.com  She's got a list of a whole bunch of stores.  She doesn't actually do the match ups herself, she just links to the blogger that does.  You should be able to find your stores there.

And of course there's the drugstores.  You can usually get your toiletries for free there, or at least super cheap.  There's CVS, Walgreens and RiteAid, you can get all kinds of free stuff with them. 

Once you get going, you will be surprised at how much not "processed crap" you can actually get with coupons.  And, depending on the stores in your area and how they do things, you might even be able to get that fresh produce cheaper too, using the stores own coupons.

[happysmileylady]

An example of how I did on Friday:

2 boxes of "garden delight" pasta for $0.35 each.  This is the Ronzoni brand, their vegetable blend pasta, with the green spinach noodles and the red tomtato ones.  It was $1.35  box, and I had coupons for $1 off.  I actually screwed up on this one, it was on sale earlier in the month for $1 a box, with the $1 off coupons, it would have been free.  But I just didn't make it out in time.  I also had more than 2 coupons, but couldn't find them.

2 bags of no yolks egg noodles $0.45 each.  They were on sale for $1 each and I had coupons for $0.55 each.

I also got some tostidos chips-some consider them junk food, but of all the chips you could eat, most tortilla chips are the best option.  They really are just corn, oil and salt.  I paid $1.45 for each bag.  They are normally $4 a bag.  I got a total of 4 bags, because one of the keys to coupons is stocking up.  I now have tortilla chips to snack on now, and also put up to snack on later.  They were on sale buy one get one free, then I had 4 $0.55 off coupons.  In most cases you can use coupons for those free items in the bogo sale.  So, they rang up at $8 for 4 bags, then used the 4 $0.55 coupons. 

Tonight, I will be getting a box of diapers and also several bottles of dawn dishwasher detergent for free using manufacturer coupons and my CVS Extra Care Bucks (the cvs store coupons), plus I will get more ECBs back.