When I first started couponing, my goal was to clip coupons and save myself $20 each week. That’s exactly what I did. Or, that’s what I thought I did. I made a rookie mistake! I ended up buying items that I would not normally purchase.
Once I got past my initial 30 days of couponing, saving money became easier. It’s those first few weeks that the toughest. A typical shopper will buy 100 different items each month. Chances are in the first thirty days you do not have coupons for eggs, or coffee, or cooking oil. You may have lots of personal hygiene coupons, but do you need 10 tubes of toothpaste this week? Maybe just 3. Those first 30 days are the toughest to balance. Hang in there!
After that 30 days, you can start your planning slowly. That means if you plan to fix tuna noodle casserole one night a week for the next 12 weeks, you can go ahead and pick up 24 cans of tuna when it’s on sale and you have a coupon to match. If that puts too much of a dent in your budget, shoot for 12 cans of tuna and you’ll still have half of what you need for a 90 day meal plan.
Budgets are difficult to maintain in today’s inflation. Whatever your budget happens to be for a week of shopping you should split it up.
· 1/3 of your budget should be for this week’s meal planning. Milk, eggs, bread.
· 1/3 should be for items that are on sale but you are not stockpiling, cheese dip looks good but you only need one.
· 1/3 is for deep stockpiling.
Deep stockpiling is for shelf stable goods you plan to use over and over in meal planning. The term itself sounds scary, but each family stocks different items and it can save you a lot of money. The tuna is a good example. It’s a canned good, so when you see a sale and a coupon is valid for the same time, you have two forms of savings. Stockpiling will save you more money long term than any coupons used for short term consumption.
My other mistake, was not thinking big enough. If you buy groceries and add $20 per week to your budget, and pack a lunch to work instead of dining out, you can save $30 per week. Spend $20, to save yourself an additional net $30. Take a look at your debit card statement. What can you shop for with coupons, and replace expenditures?
For additions Print N Save Coupons:
All internet coupon print limits are subjective. At the time of this email coupons were available for print. If the daily or weekly print limit has been reached, the coupon will be automatically pulled from the websites. You can try to print again tomorrow. All coupons listed are not available in our stores. We list them so you can order or find them to save you money. Check with clipping services, trade boards, or ebay to find coupons not in your store. It is our intent to help you find as many savings opportunities as possible. Enjoy!
