How to $ave Big Without Doubling a Single Coupon!

So, you’ve watched TLC's Extreme Coupning, and you are pretty impressed with what they can do. You want to start, however, you’ve called every, single grocery store in your area, and NOT A SINGLE ONE DOUBLES!! How on earth are you going to save as much as they do on TV? Is it even possible?? Good news! It IS possible to save 90% or more on your grocery bill without doubling a single coupon! I’m going to share my tips and tricks with you and then offer a little friendly advice, couponer to couponer.

Let me start off by giving you a little background about myself about doubling. I have one store in my area that actually does offer double coupons, but it is only a couple times a month (maybe) and there are strict rules and restrictions that go along with it. There are no stores in my area that do the automatic doubling of all your coupons .50 cents and up (That would be glorious though!) I want you to know that although it may not seem like it, doubling is not the norm. There are FAR more stores that NEVER double, than there are ones that do.

Soooo how do I score great deals? The very first thing I do is I get a copy of the store ad I am planning on shopping at. I study it cover to cover and look for items that I know my family always uses, or things that would be great for my stockpile. Once I find those items I check eBay for coupons. A lot of time I may not have a coupon for the item I want to purchase, but someone, somewhere in the country does. For example: crackers are on sale at my grocery store this week 2/$4. Currently, I don’t have a coupon for them, but I found some on eBay for $1 off one box. That would make each box only $1.00! To me, that’s a steal. Sure it’s not free, but it is something my family is always eating, and I usually pay around $4.00 a box at my local supercenter. At $1.00 a box, that is a savings of 75%! (You will need to calculate the cost of the coupons in your final number though).

Another thing I do is I stack coupons. “Stacking” coupons means using one manufacturers coupon in addition to one store coupon. Almost all stores allow you to do this. For instance, when I plan on going to shop at Target, I will first go online and find the Target match ups for the week (you can just Google Target match ups and a million websites will pop up). Once I have those, I will go through them and figure out what are some things I would be interested in buying. Then I will go on the Target website and see what coupons they currently have out. The majority ones on their site are Target store coupons (when you print them they will say Target web coupon along the top). You can use those in addition to the coupons you get in the Sunday paper, or from the coupon websites you print coupons from! For example: I really want to stock up on sunscreen for the summer. I went on Target’s website and found a coupon for $2 off my favorite brand. I also have a manufacturers coupon for $2 off from Sunday’s paper. I can combine both of them to get $4 off. That makes that $7 sunscreen only $3! Note: at many stores you don’t even need to worry about printing their store coupons out ahead of time. They will be found in their ads, or in special coupon books that are easily accessible.

There is always free stuff available from grocery stores...it is just a matter of looking for it. I just glanced over my current grocery store ad, and part of their promo is pasta for .75 cents…combine that with the $1/1 coupon I already have in my binder, and voila! Free pasta without doubling a single coupon! You don’t need to double to get great deals….but you do need to be patient, wait for the good sales, research available coupons, and then stock up!
Another thing to remember…even those grocery stores that DO double, almost always only double up to a total of $1.00 off. That means doubling is only beneficial when they are using coupons worth .50 cents or less. If you have a coupon for a $1.00 off it doesn’t matter whether or not your store doubles because both of your coupons will be redeemed for the same value. Personally, it seems like I see more and more coupons worth $1.00 (or more!) being offered on a regular basis which is great!

Let me clarify something really quickly… my shopping trip I did for the show was NOT typical. I can tell you right now, there is no way I can save 90% every shopping trip. It’s just not doable for me. I’m sure you hear stories of people feeding their family of six on $15 a week. I’m not there, and honestly have no desire to ever get there! We buy a lot of fresh fruits and veggies, and I don’t like to freeze milk or bread. My hubby likes a certain kind of bread there are never coupons for, and I only like a certain kind of name brand soup that rarely has high value coupons. That means I will usually pay full price for those things, and that’s okay! However…. when I make a “coupon run” as I like to call it, I will usually save 80-90% because I am only buying the things that are super cheap or free that week. If you decide to go to a drugstore and only buy the things that are free or cheap that week, you will probably save over 90% too!

I always tell people that the difference between just “clipping coupons” and “couponing” is that with couponing you are waiting for an item to hit its rock bottom price and then buying several of them (enough to last you until the next sale), and as a result you will never pay full price for something. “Clipping coupons” means you just clip a coupon or two out of the paper, and end up using it on the full price item you are planning on buying anyway. The difference of savings is about 5% versus 85%. If you are couponing correctly, then you are slowly building up a stockpile that works for your family. As your stockpile grows, that “weekly list” of essentials you need to buy will decrease…and you will notice you are spending less and less every week. When you reach a point when you have a nice sized stockpile, you will only be buying the things on sale (plus whatever fresh and perishable items you need for the week) and your savings will be HUGE! If you are only buying what is on sale you could easily save 80-90% every shopping trip! Remember though, building up your stockpile does not happen overnight, but if you are diligent on working on it, it will get there!

And now a little advice. ANY savings are GREAT savings. PLEASE don’t feel like a failure if you are not always saving 90%! When I hear people say “Well I only saved 50% at the grocery store…” I feel like saying “You saved, 50%?? Really?! That’s FANTASTIC!!!” Obviously we coupon because we want to save money. If you go to a store and save 50%, but you bought (and stocked up on) things your family uses everyday… GREAT JOB! You are a complete success in my book. Do you know how many people would LOVE to save what you did? Tons, I promise. I guess what I am trying to say is, no you may not always save 80%, but THAT IS OKAY! There is no “coupon rule” that says in order to be a success you have to save a certain percentage. Start small, and work your way up, building your stockpile along the way. Before you know it, you will be saving more than you ever thought possible, and you will be spending way less than you ever have before!