Coupon Queen Wannabe

One day I was watching the local news, and they had a self proclaimed “coupon queen” on who proceeded to purchase a great deal of groceries for a very minimal amount of money. I was amazed, and interested for sure. After all I was spending average of $800 a month sometimes upwards to $1200 for a family of five. I said to myself “what am I doing wrong? I use coupons, but I don't save near that much” So I started researching and the more I researched the more I learned what an amazing amount of items you can get for pennies on the dollar or absolutely free. I was floored! I could legally walk out of a store with free groceries! It did not take me long at all, I would say just a small handful of trips to the store saving huge amounts of money before I was completely hooked, I would say even addicted to couponing. I was even able to actually “get paid” to take the free items. It was completely amazing!
I went from spending on average $800 a month to today approx. $400. That is a $400 savings a month!
Do I consider myself a “coupon queen”? Absolutely not as I still have plenty I need to learn! But I do consider myself a “coupon queen wannabe”. That statement in itself makes me try harder, and learn more. It is almost a game to me, a challenge, to see how much more I can save and how much I can obtain for free!!

Don't use coupons? Stop and think about it. I know for most it is a blow to your ego or a pride issue to use those little pieces of paper. You want people to think you are successful and don't need to worry about saving $.50 cents. You would rather live above your means and pretend like you have all the money in the world. Or maybe they just takes to long to clip and file those pesky things. To loyal to a brand is another reason people won't use coupons.

Well here is my 2 cents! (Be sure to Save it!!)
GET OVER IT!
Okay, I know most of you won't listen to me just saying get over it, but I hope the following information changes your minds.
Here is a small list of reasons:
1) It's FREE money........yes Coupons are free and they save you money.

2) In today's economy Coupon use has doubled and I for one believe that using coupons is not associated with "poor" people, but rather "smart  responsible" people.

3) They are abundant and easy to find. Look in your Sunday newspaper or print them on-line, in magazines, at the grocery store, they are everywhere.

Clipping coupons, does not really take that much time, you can file entire coupon inserts and clip as you need them only. There are plenty of sites on-line that will even tell you what coupon insert from what date had the specific coupon in, so just write the date on the front cover of the coupon insert, and pull it out when there is a great sale!

Quick and easy.

With a little bit of effort and time, you can save $100's of dollars a month off your grocery bills! Who couldn't use a little extra cash.
I'm not talking about saving just $.50 here. On my very first shopping trip, armed with sale ads and coupons I saved $71.00 with coupons and in store specials. Would you rather pay $3.00 for that tube of toothpaste or get it free? Yes I said free, and it is very do-able, with a bit of attention paid to store sales and coupons.

Here is an example:

Your store toothpaste on sale 2 for $3.00 which in turn makes them $1.50

each, you have a .75 cent coupon. Most grocery store chains double coupons, so that .75

cent coupon now becomes $1.50, thus making the toothpaste free.

Another example:

The drugstore has razors on sale buy one get one free (bogo). The cost of each razor is $8.99, you have $4.00 off 1 coupons. You may use two coupons, because you are purchasing two, even though one is "free". So if you have 2 $4.00 coupons, you now have taken $8.00 off the one razor you are paying for, getting it for .99 cents + tax in most areas, and getting the other completely free.
So what sounds better to you? $8.99 or .99?

If you can afford to do so, it is best to get as many coupons / Sunday newspapers as you can and or purchase good coupons on ebay ect., and stockpile stuff when you can get it for very reasonable or free, in the end you will save a ton of money that you could be paying off credit card bills with or tossing it into a savings account, instead of feeding it to the grocery store chain.