How I Began

When I first started couponing and getting freebies, I was a little overwhelmed. If you feel that way, you are not alone. My husband and I both work full-time and we have two very active daughters. I am a Girl Scout Leader and my husband always helps coach the girls' sports. My point...we are the typical family heading in a million different directions with little time to spare. If we can do this, believe me...you can too! Take it one step at a time. I started with a Sunday paper and our local grocery store. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention I live in a small town. We have one grocery store (IGA). I drive 30 minutes to get to the nearest Walgreens, CVS, Wal-Mart, etc. It's not always easy, but the rewards are worth the time and effort. It honestly took me 2 or 3 months to get a schedule down for my couponing. I often have my girls in tow and I plan on doing some videos to show you how I attempt to involve them in my money saving efforts. They do a great job helping at home...but once we're in the stores it takes some creativity to keep them focused on the task at hand! I'll share some of our games with you during one of our upcoming videos. The games help them stay involved and help me maintain my sanity during our shopping trips. My husband works shiftwork and I'm often left shopping with the girls alone. I'm guessing many of you will find yourself in the same situation at one point or another. Hopefully, the games we teach you will work to keep your children involved in the shopping experience.

Okay...I'm so good at rambling. To start, I recommend setting up an organizing method for your coupons. There are multiple ways to organize your coupons. One of the most popular methods is the small accordian file. I use a binder with baseball card sleeves. I've also seen people use photo albums. I will make a video to show how my coupons are organized and I'll also share a different method used by many experienced couponers. You should pick the method that works best for you and your needs. Watch the video and you decide.

I recommend starting your couponing journey with one Sunday paper. Take it slow. It will take some time to understand the best ways to save money at various locations (see my post Understanding CVS and Walgreens). Some stores offer their own coupon incentives for puchasing certain products. The coupons then work like cash in their stores. Both Walgreens and CVS provide incentives for purchasing certain products at their stores. The items usually change on a weekly/monthly basis and when you pair coupons with their coupon incentives, you can really save a lot of money.

I hope you enjoy this blog and learn from it. I am still learning and would love to hear from you! Share a good deal with me and I'll post it on Cool 2 Clip with your name!