My coupon story starts pretty much the same as most loss of income or lack of sufficient income to make ends meet. Couponing was a way to get our household needs at minimal cost in order to get out of debt. I have always known about coupons but never thought that you could see the amount of savings that I have seen in my journey. I have watched Extreme couponing shows and read stories about people who regularly do shopping hauls where they have hundreds of dollars of groceries and household items for pennies. Now I do believe the possibilities of that are possible, but realistically for a beginner or even a person with a full-time job and a family won’t necessarily reach that goal easily. It also depends on the State one lives in sometimes even the city you live in as supply and demand is somewhat different.
As I began my coupon journey I found myself chasing every deal that was posted leaving shelves empty. Free toothpaste, almost free shampoos and conditions, almost free detergents. I had closets full of all those things. But when it came to food that was a challenge. There are a few things I wish I would have known when I began to coupon.

1. Couponing is not a competition, there are couponing accounts that show the deals of the week and coupon matchups and other people’s shopping hauls. It is easy to get sucked into the excitement of it and want to match or do better and bigger hauls. But then you end up with 16 shampoos, 20 detergents, and enough toothpaste to last you a lifetime.
2. You don’t have to chase every deal you see. All deals repeat themselves, a lot of the times they come in seasonal cycles. Try getting familiar with the cycles so you can purchase what you need until the next cycle comes around.
3. Paper coupons are in most Sunday newspaper, in some area they put them in a weekly flyer packet on your doorstep or even in you mailbox. You can also print them out from sites like coupons.com. Some companies have them on their websites and you can sign up for email coupons. You can even write some companies and for the most part they will mail or email you coupons. There are also all types of apps that make coupons and rebates available.
4. Coupons differ from region to region. Distribution on the West Coast will be different on the East Coast and some regions have higher valued coupons according to the cost of living in some areas.
5. It is a good idea to have a coupon filing system, it makes it easy to find coupons when you need them.
6. Taking at least 20-30 minutes to plan your shopping trip and organize any coupons you plan to use minimizes the amount of time spent in store.