New To Couponing & to this or any Forum...please help!!

[UniQreations]

Good evening!

After an hour of trying to figure this out I have come to this page and and happy that I can post something. Woo hoo!!! Well, my name is Sandra, I am a mother of 2 teens 1 girl/1 boy. They eat a lot!!! I have been out of work for 2 yrs now and have survived stretching money here and basically robbing Peter to pay Paul....I have used coupons before and never had a problem until now. I guess my problem lies on not knowing before that you could save so much using coupons the right way. I still do not understand it completely, so any help that any one can provide, I am open and eager to learn. I thank you in advance and look forward to any advice I can receive. Good night!

[Rabid]

Welcome! You will love this site. Don't expect to rack up Extreme Couponing type savings. That show is staged for maximum impact, and coupon rules are suspended for the shoppers. But you will be able to save substantial amounts on many of your health and beauty and grocery items. In a nutshell, you should watch for sales on the items that you and your family use regularly and then use coupons on the sale items. You will need to find a good source of coupons, probably the Sunday paper. Also, there are many printable coupons available on the Internet.

[zhaojin]

Warm Welcome, I am also new here. And try my best to get used to everything here.

[shallen3]

Welcome! The first suggestion is to read EVERYTHING! Start with the begginer section and read all the posts. Read the e books and watch the videos on the CM site. Look for mnm'z to post here also she has alot of helpful links on her profile. She will post soon. Second start getting your Sunday paper. Most of us get multiple papers and some recommend one per person in your household. Start slow and don't expect to start saving huge amounts untill you have a good stock of coupons.

[mnm'z]

Welcome to Couponmom. Happy to have you here.

Here’s a link to help you get started… http://forum.couponmom.com/beginners...er-thread.html. I also have many helpful hints in my signature line and if you click on my screen name and go to my profile, I have many more links that you may find helpful and we have a thread for chit chatting and getting to know each other, please join us… http://forum.couponmom.com/just-chat...-5-11-c-_.html

[CurtisBeers]

(I just posted this on another thread and thought it might help you out as well...)

Welcome to Coupon Mom!

Walgreens allows you to stack mfr. coupons along with in-ad store coupons. For example, starting this Sunday, the Clabber Girl baking powder is on sale for 50 cents each with store coupon. There is an Internet Printable coupon available right now for 50 cents and you can print 2 of them. Combine these mfr. coupons with the store coupons and get 2 of them free. They also have a great rewards program called Register Rewards which give you a coupon for a dollar amount for the next time you shop when purchasing certain weekly/monthly deals.

Target also allows you to stack mfr. coupons with store coupons. You can go to their site and print the store coupons and match them up with any mfr. coupons you may have. For example, a box of Tazo tea bags is normally $2.79. A few weeks ago, they had a store coupon for $1.00 off a box and there was a $1.00 mfr. coupon as well. When the 2 are combined on the one item, the box came out to 79 cents.

And finally, you can get some deals at Walmart by using mfr. coupons and getting the smallest size available. They have a great trial-size section in the health and beauty department. If a mfr. coupon says "good on ANY size", you can use it there. I have gotten body wash, toothpaste, floss, laundry detergent, deodorant, etc. this way. They allow overages which means that if the coupon amount is higher than the item, you get that amount applied to other items in your cart. I do this to save on necessary items like bread, eggs and milk.

Another great way to save is if there are rebates for items out there. Walmart has the new Bissell carpet cleaning pads for something like $5.00. There is a $1.50 mfr. coupon that was in the paper a few weeks ago. You pay $3.50 for it and get back the full $5.00 in the mail.

Be sure to read as much of this site as possible as there is so much knowledge here and don't be afraid to ask questions....we are here to help you save as much money as possible.

[POORDAD]

Not sure if this helps, but here are some observations that may help.

1 - It takes time and a stock pile to realize a large savings.
Becuase initially you still have to buy what you need now to make till later.
Ex: Stopped at Kroger.
Spent $64.87

Only two items were a good deal.
Hormel chilli - free after coupon and sale.
soup - $.29 a can after coupon and sale.

Everything else I paid full price because I had to hae it now.

2 - Read everything.
3 - Learn that a coupon by itself even when matched with a sale may not be the best deal.
4 - Create a baseline price guide for the items you buy so you know how much you are saving.

God Bless