Below are step-by-step instructions for beginning the process of saving. You do not need to accomplish and conquer each step immediately. Start slowly so that you don’t get overwhelmed. The goal with couponing is to have a huge stockpile of coupons to use. That way, each week when your grocery store or drugstore releases their weekly sales, you will have enough of a stash to go through in order to match the sales with coupons. If you are just starting cut coupons now, it will only take a few weeks for your coupon stash to be all encompassing. As always, email me or post any questions you might have.
Step 1: Gather at least 2 newspapers every Sunday. I personally will have at least 2 Sunday papers, but when I feel particularly adventurous, I will get 4 or 6 sets. Always get an even number of papers so you have an even number of duplicate coupons. Also, save all of your coupons since you never know when you can use your coupons with an excellent sale to score dirt-cheap or even free items!
Why do we need an even number of duplicate coupons? When Publix (and most every store) has a B1G1 sale, you can use two manufacturer coupons. For example, if toothpaste is B1G1 and you have two $1.00 off 1 tube coupons for that particular brand, you can use both coupons. You will not only get one tube of toothpaste for free, but you will save an additional $2.00 on the purchase!
Mathematical example: Colgate Toothpaste is B1G1 (reg price per tube $3.50) With B1G1 sale, price for 2 tubes is $3.50 (you save $3.50!) Using two $1.00 off coupons, price for 2 tubes is now $1.50 (you save $5.50!)Save all of your coupons even if you don’t need them right away. You never know when you will be able to get free stuff using your old coupons! If there is a great sale and you can get free cookies or fabric softener using coupons, you will regret having thrown away the coupons because you thought you won’t need them! So, save them until they expire.
Step 2: Print out coupons online. Most websites allow you to print out two coupons per printer/computer. Simply hit the back button a few times and a new coupon will print out. **Tip – print in black & white so that you don’t use color ink. Only print out the coupons you will use so as to conserve ink & paper. When you first realize the vast amount of online coupons at your fingertips, you may be tempted to print out each and every one. However, you will see that only high value coupons need to be printed out right away (they go fast). There is no need to print out and waste paper and expensive ink on hundreds of coupons that will expire and go to waste. So, print out what you need and the high value coupons.
Some of the many sources for online coupons:
coupons.com (you can also use the toolbar on my blog)
Step 3: Gather store magazines. Many stores distribute store magazines which have valuable coupons inside. Many stores have magazines right by the main entrance. The nice thing about these magazines is that often the coupons are store coupons not manufacturer coupons. This means, you can use both a store coupon and a manufacturer coupon towards one item! Save these coupons and use when the item is on sale to maximize your savings!
Mathematical Example: Publix has Colgate B1G1. Price is $3.50 per tube. Price for two tubes of toothpaste w/ sale: $3.50 Publix flyer has a 50 cents off 2 tubes coupon (store coupon) You clipped two $1.00 of one tube coupons. Total price for two tubes: $1.00! (**This makes the tubes 50 cents each!) Step 4: For Publix customers, Publix mails free magazines every few months. Sign up for these magazines to get store coupons! (Oftentimes the magazines are available in Publix’s entrance.. however, the store coupons are often only in the mailed magazines.) Sign up Here!Step 5: Buy or trade coupons online. I know this seems counterproductive – Buying coupons to save money. But, when there is a great sale, sometimes buying or trading for additional coupons is extremely beneficial. There are great websites you can go to to either buy or trade coupons. (**Tip: trading coupons is an excellent way to get rid of coupons you don’t use!! Trade them to people who do use them for coupons that you need!)
Coupon Database(Do you need to buy something and want to find out if there is an online coupon you can print out?) Go to HotCouponworld Here!
Trade: Go to Couponforum Here!
Go to Southern Savers Traders Here! (I’ve used this forum twice so far and have had great success!)
Buy Coupons: Search ebay Here!
Go to Couponclippers Here!
Step 6: Gather Blinkies & Tearpads. These are coupons you will see throughout the store. As you walk down aisles, you may see tearpads where you can tear off a coupon or blinkies which are the little canisters that spit out coupons when you pull one. I will always take one or two of these coupons when I see them and will hang on to them until the item(s) go on sale.
**Random side note: You will also see coupons attached to items throughout the store. These coupons are called “Peelies”. There are many aggressive coupon bloggers out there that will peel the coupons off of items and save them until they can use/match them with a good sale. Ethically, you need to decide if this is appropriate. I’ve chosen not to do this. Again, aggressive couponers view this differently, but morally, I see this almost as stealing. The manufacturer is trying to entice you to purchase the item right then and there. Not abuse the system and save the coupon for the future. That’s just my 10 cents tho =)
Step 7: Purchase a subscription to All You Magazine. I pay for very few magazine subscriptions. Runner’s World is one of the few I can’t live without and I will pay top dollar for it. However, All You Magazine is worth the subscription price as it is jam packed with manufacturer coupons. You can also buy this magazine in Walmart. For a free 2 month subscription go Here (select “Bill Me Later” and you don’t need to worry about your credit card being charged!)
Step 8: Check the items you already have in your home! I very often will find a coupon inside of cereal boxes or toothpaste boxes. You just have to look!
Step 9: If you sign up online for a sample of a product, once you receive it in the mail, check for a coupon. Usually companies will send samples with high value coupons.
Step 10: I know of many bloggerswho email their favorite companies and give positiveor negativefeedback on their products. Very often, they will receive coupons in the mail for free products or high value money off coupons. This is a couponing technique I have not utilized myself yet. However, it’s on my list of things to do once I get this blog up and running!
{ 36 comments… read them below or add one }
Thanks for the imput, I am going to start this, wish me luck!
Awesome! Let me know how it goes and if you have any questions! Also – I am such a dorky numbers person so I would love to hear how much money you spent and how much money you saved! Good luck!
Hi Liza! I’m a friend of Brenda’s from Wheaton and saw the link to your blog from her facebook page. I live in Denver and have been couponing for a couple of months. How do you organize all of your coupons? Right now I cut them all out and then categorize them in a binder. I also have a spreadsheet of all my coupon and expiration dates so I know what I have (I have to do most coupon/sale matching myself since there aren’t good blogs for this area). My method is taking forever. How do you organize?
Hi Jen! I know I’ve heard your name from Brenda but I don’t know if we’ve ever officially met
First, what stores do you shop at? I may know some good blogs for you to go to. It sounds like you do a lot of work each week if you are matching sales and coupons yourself!
Regarding organization… There are really two schools of thought.. The first way is the way you are doing it.. Cutting coupons and organizing them. I am using the binder method as well. I don’t use a spreadsheet and list out the coupons – I just organize my binder via category and then go through about once a month or so and remove expired coupons. HOWEVER, I’ve been slowly moving to the lazy organization way. Basically, I’ve been keeping my inserts together each week and going into the inserts and cutting coupons as needed. (I do put my duplicate pages together so that I don’t have to thumb through 4 or 6 copies of one week’s inserts every time I need one coupon.) I have them organized by date and insert name (i.e. RP (Red Plum), SS (smart source), etc). What I will start doing this week is putting a cover sheet on the first page of each insert w/ the coupons inside and expiration date. This method may be quicker, however, I won’t be able to bring all of my stacks into the grocery store w/ me.. Have you tried this method as well? I may blog about this quandry this week
I went to Publix 2/27 and got $166 worth of groceries for $22. Thanks for the info yout blog. I love the show and tell as I am visual learner.
Wow. You did Awesome Janice!! Great job
Ok, Liza. I thought I was doing well by hitting a local grocer that stocks restaurants and getting my produce and meat at wholesale, while completing my supply by going to Aldi. But, I have a friend that manages a Winn-Dixie and get the inside scoop to the upcoming sales, and am VERY interested in shifting my current way of shopping to your way. It’s a new way of thinking for me, because now? I think of a few menus for the week, keep a running list of the staples I need to replace that I always have on hand, and am able to keep my grocery bill down to about $50-$75 a week for me and our 2 girls (my husband is an over the road truck driver) The whole “coupon thing” almost seems like a part time job, or hobby. But I guess once I get into it, it will make more sense. Is the whole concept to shop weekly for what’s on sale vs. what I need? and after awhile I won’t “need” anything because I will have a back-stock?
Your advice is greatly appreciated! THANK YOU!!!
Hi Liza –
Did my first try tonight. I was wondering if you have a spreadsheet that you use to calculate your savings.
I didn’t see one. Thanks for the inspiration and help!!
Can’t imagine doing this on my own.
FYI Linda R and I went to HS together
Hi Liza
Just started with this and I’m very excited. I’m working on getting my coupons together and hope to shop some tomorrow with those B1G1 items. Getting my daughter and niece involved also. Thank you for taking the time to share.
Yeah! Linda I’m excited for you! Let me know if you have any questions as you start couponing. And, please let me know how you do!
Hi I’m a newby for sure coupons have always eluded me. My daughter is helping me get into this. we really need it recently placed on food stamps times are really tough. So far the biggest hurdle for me is the printable online coupons, my computer is sooo old it won’t upload my printer making it impossible and trying to sign up for all the coupons I need is daunting. Any advice?
Hi Lisa! Thanks for the comment! Don’t get overwhelmed with an old computer. What you can start by doing is purchasing at least two newspapers each Sunday. Always buy newspapers in even numbers so that if you have two $1.00 off 1 box of cereal coupons, when the cereal goes on sale BOGO, you can use both coupons.
That said, a lot of the printable coupons are high value so you are missing out a little if you can’t print out coupons. I have many readers in your situation and what they will do is go to the library to use the computers and printers there. Or you could ask friends if you could use their computers or have family members print coupons for you.
Good luck and keep me updated on your success!
Thank you so much Liza! This is really a helpful guide (especially your focus on Publix). I’d love to come to a seminar, but I’m in South Florida. Any plans to someday host webinars?
Hi Liz! Where in South Florida do you live? And, yes, I plan to host webinars
That is in the works for the future 
Liza, my printer died and I am looking for a reasonable(cheap if possible) printer, hopefully HP that is more cost effective with the ink costs in printing coupons alot, etc, with a scanner, fax, which do you think is best, please reply asap. Thanks
Hi, I’m new to being a serious couponer and have been following a blogger out of the NW. She always seems to get “doublers” at her stores out there. Do you know of any stores in Illinois that double manufacture coupons? I called my Jewel, Dominicks, Butera, and Woodmans and all said they don’t. I feel like that makes a HUGE difference? Any ideas?
Hi Camille! I totally understand the frustration of not being able to double coupons – I never reap the benefits of doubling either.
And, sadly, I don’t have any ideas for you! Doubling coupons is on a state by state basis and also a store by store basis. I will say that sometimes stores will have “Double Coupon Events” where for a limited time they will double coupons. If I learn of these events, I promise I will post them. Hope that helps! And don’t let the fact that the NW blogger gets to double coupons discourage you! A good percentage of my readers live in states that do not double coupons and we still do great! Good luck! 
Hello everyone,Im new and very excited that I stumbled upon this great web site.I have been trying to do the whole coupon thing.It has been a challange for me there is so many sites out there and different techniques.I have gone to go get a couple of items that would end up being free with coupons but the shelves are always empty.I waiste so much gas and time to just get let down.I also can’t seem to find coupons “very few” for the foods we buy.I really want this to work.Good Luck to everyone!
I am new at this and have been looking for good sites to print coupons from. I have yet to figure out Coupon Alert site. I couldn’t find grocery coupons there and that site pops up every where. I have registered at a lot of manufactures sites. any suggestions?
Hello, I am new to all the couponing things, I have my binder with several pages full of coupons. My husband is getting into it as well as myself. We have serached several websites for coupons and printed all that we use. We are not doing this to be extreme couponers, but would love to save on groceries. I spend around 1-2 hundren a week for a family of 3 so it would help tremendously to bring that down significantly. Our local Kroger store does offer double coupons but only upto 55cents. I am researching now to see what other stores we have in our area that doubles coupons. We live is a very smal town in WV and I have a feeling I will be traveling an hour to get the best deals. But don’t know if it is worth it. I have one question, how are you using more than one coupon on items?
Hi Brandi! Thanks for the comment! To answer your question, I am not using two manufacturer coupons on one item. I am, however, using one store coupon and one manufacturer coupon on one item. Coupon policies vary per grocery and drugstore but most of the stores I shop at allow the use of one store and one manufacturer coupon on just one item.
With regards to doubling coupons – doubling coupons is definitely an awesome thing. But don’t get discouraged if you don’t have a store near you that doubles. I live in Florida and no stores in Florida double coupons. So, Floridians never have the opportunity to have a coupon doubled. And, despite that, we still do an awesome job saving. So, don’t get discouraged and please let me know if there is anything I can do to help you through your couponing journey!
I’m trying to become a couponer, my only problem is my organizing. It takes me forever at the grocery store. How do you plan your shopping trips so it’s quick? I’m always at the store trying to figure out what’s cheaper: the coupon for the item or the store brand etc. And end up spending around two hours at the store. I know practice makes perfect and I’m only a month in, I would just like to know the best preparation process. I’m also completely confused on the stocking of items to get the most for your money until the next good sale. How do you plan for this? Your blog is awesome by the way and I am learning a lot from you. Thank you for sharing!
I don’t mean to jump in on the bloggers turf, but…
Here’s what I do.
If you shop at publix take advantage of their online ad and shopping list. It has tabs for bogo’s, coupons, and the ad itself.
You can create a shopping list there and sort it by aisle. You can also check a box to indicate additional coupons and add notes. This makes shopping at Publix painless.
I’m saving around 55% per visit in coupons and my wife and I are picky choosers. I’m in and out in under 30 minutes every time.
With practice and just the right deals I bet we’ll be in the 75% range soon enough.
Thank you so much for pointing this out… i’m new to grocery shopping, let alone couponing… and Publix is what I’m focusing on at the moment. I will be sure to use the Publix website all the time as my GPS LOL
Sorry forgot to add:
If you take the final price of the coupon item and divide it by the total ounces of the product it will give you the per ounce price. Most store labels are marked with the per ounce price in the upper right corner.
This is the bes way to determine which is the best deal.
new at publix ….. publix give in cash if you coupon amount is more the cost the item.
this is the new policy at publix
Wow! Good to know!
hi im just new at this and i would like to understand how does a buy3 cereal for $1 works how will i save money on this? thank you
I just discovered yesterday that the grocery store called “Harvey’s” here in NW Florida doubles coupons up to $0.50. Not sure if there is a Harvey’s down south but just wanted to let you know.
Thanks for this informative blog. I’ve started this couponing thing 3 days ago and for a minute I thought I wasn’t successsful because I’ve collected a few coupons and didn’t find very many store sales match ups. My cousin lives in GA and she’s been successful and so I decided to try it out and this was the only helpful website I found that suits Floridians. Hopefully a few more weeks of collecting and I will be able to start extreme couponing. Will let you know how that goes… Thanks again.
Hey Liza
I bought 2 papers this morning and am going to give this a shot! Can’t wait to really get into it and know what I am doing.
Love your blog! See you around; have a great week!
Hi Claire! This is a great week to start couponing – there are some great coupons in today’s papers! Let me know if you have any questions and keep me posted on your progress!
Good evening, Claire. Thank you for being straight to the point, thus keeping “Q’ing for beginners” so much more simplier than the 3others I’ve run across. Keep up the great work… happy Q’ing everyone!
PLEASE HELP…I would like to know if i can use a Manufacture coupon & Target coupon on the same item at Publix…i know my store takes Target but dont know if i can use both on one item…thanks
Hi Kwai! As long as your Publix accepts Target coupons, yes you should be able to use one manufacturer and one Target store coupon on one item