News to Coupons Would like some advice please

[Pdogz1974]

Hello

My name is Patrick and I am new to couponing after an employment downsize. I've read lots of different books and websites and I am regularly clipping and using to find the best deals. However I have a few questions. How do you veterans best organize the coupons. I am not sure if a basic organizer works well for me because I am never sure if I should organize by coupon type, product name, or category type. Any suggestions? I also wanted to ask any of you that have seen extreme coupons on TLC.. are those size transactions truly possible? I don't have the same stores in my area(SC) that are shown in the show, and I don't see how some of the deals are possible. In one episode the shopper broke her trip up into 18 transactions, yet she bought 100 cookies or 200 toothbrushes etc. Would you be able to buy that many with a coupon for each in as few as 18 transactions? I ask because I want to start my own stock room as shown in the episodes. Not hording or reselling but for family use. We have a large family and I am trying to save where ever I can. In summary What is the best way to organize my coupons? How can I buy multiple items at once? How do I start creating my stockpile? Thanks in advance!

[lisabr]

Well first of all, that show is just that a show, yes you can save money and yes you can buy a few to alot of products at one time(or sep. transactions) depending on each stores policies. But being realistic that kind of shopping doesn't happen for most of us.
How many do you have in your family? I have 4, so I only get 4-5 papers each week for the inserts. I don't buy any cpns off online or any of that, I just use what I get in my inserts. However there are lots of folks that do buy more cpns, then like on here people also trade cpns.

Now as far as organizing them, that is totally up to how you will be more comfortable and easier for you. I have a binder w/baseball sleeves in it to hold all my cpns, then I have labeled each category like : cereal/breakfast, frozen stuff, pasta & rice, drugs, paper products (toliet paper, paper towels, ect), ect... This way is easier for me, and I know where everything is, and I take the whole binder into the stores with me, so that if I have a cpn for something that is perhaps on sale or clearance, I don't have to run back to the car for it, or worse have to wait till another day if I left the binder at home. I do however, make a list for the things I want to get and I pull out all the cpns that I need for the items on my list and put them in an envelope(a blue one) so I know I can look in there for the cpns when I'm shopping. I usually have another envelope(a black one) for the cpns of the items I am for sure I'm gonna get, so I would pull the cpns from the first envelope(blue one) as I pick up the items and put them in my basket and put the cpns into the second envelope (black one), then when I get to the register I just pull everything out of that envlope(black one) and it just makes my life easier at the register. (I have different colored plastic envlopes that I got on clearance somewhere.)
Basically you start slowly until you get the hang of couponing, and you buy things that are on a really good sale that you have cpns for. You have to look at your sale flyers at the stores you shop at and look for good deals on things your family will use, then see if you have cpns to match the items on sale. Couponmom has lists for many stores of the sales each week, and also if there is a coupon for those items it will be listed with the item. If you haven't checked it out you should! Plus look around the forum at other threads to see how others are oranizing or what kind of deals others are getting at different stores. And know the stores coupon policies of the stores in your area that you will shop at, so you won't get any surprises at checkout.

[shallen3]

Welcome to the forum Patrick. Everyone has developed a system that works for them and everyone is different. I suggest reading the ebooks on the Coupon Mom site and read all of the old posts in the begginner section. Look for posts by mnm'z as she has alot of helpful threads in her signature line. You will find your method of organizing coupons will evolve over time. Some people do not clip their coupons and leave the inserts whole and clip as needed. Some of us use a binder with baseball card inserts to organize. Mine is broken down by the ailse (sp?) in my grocery store. There are several examples on youtube.
Regarding the show, I refuse to watch it and I can tell you that reality TV has nothing to do with reality. I save between 60-70% on average and I m happy with that. I started by learning the drugstores first because that was where I could get free or really cheap H&B items and they are the easiest to stockpile. Once things like toothpaste, bodywash, soap, shampoo, lotion and cosmetics were taken out of my budget I moved on to household cleaning and laundry products. Of course I was using coupons at the grocery store at the same time but my biggest savings were on those items. I was spending 150.00-200.00 a week and now I send about 70.00 a week because I no longer have to buy the other items. The most of any one item I have bought at one time is 10 and I have plenty of everything. I would suggest forgetting what you have seen on TV because stores change their policies for the filming and it does not show how much they are spending on getting all those coupons. I would start by buying one paper per person and as you build your stockpile you will learn if you need to buy more or less depending on the week. Keep reading everything and in a few months you will be on your way to a good stockpile.

[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

Here’s another link: http://forum.couponmom.com/beginners...erwhelmed.html

I also use a binder for organization, you can click on Tricky to file q's to see how several of us have our categories broken down. Mine is a bit OCD regarding categories, but I don't like to search for anything in the stores, I want to flip to my frozen pizza section to find my Red Baron q, and not look through an entire frozen food section.

The recommendation for newspaper's is 1 per member of the family, I currently have 3 in my household so I'm getting 3 papers...

Do not pay attention to the show EC... it isn't realistic in most area's... The stores have actually suspended their coupon policies for taping so a normal coupon shopper couldn't even hope to walk in and do the same thing. I typically save anywhere between 40-70% on groceries and 90-95% on H&B items... that would be a realistic savings.

This will also take time to get to, you need to build up your stash of q's (I have many from a month or two ago that I can rely on where you do not), you'll need to build up your stockpile (I can go downstairs to my pantry for foods) so I'm somewhat at a 'cherrypicking' stage, getting the best of the best deals and that's when your food bill drops drastically...