Saving Money With Coupons
By Diana Cassen, Fri Dec 9th

Coupons Can Save You money If used correctly coupons can saveyou a lot of money on your grocery bill. It's quite easy to gethooked on clipping coupons and getting used to big savings. Ifirst got hooked on savings a few years ago, I saw acoupon for Tide and since it was the only detergent that my babyat the time was not allergic too and they had a sale at ourlocal grocery store and I saved 50 cents, and I was hooked. NowI clip coupons and save an average of about 40% off of our foodbudget thru careful shopping and watching all the sales everyweek. I am not loyal to any particular brands, most of the timeI just buy the no-name or store brand for most things since itis the least expensive, but a lot of the time a good sale and afew coupons and I get a great deal. I find most of my coupons inthe paper, some thru free surveys I have filled out, a ton offree coupons that I print off the internet, and quite a few fromfriends who think I am off my rocker but indulge me anyway.:-)You can also get great coupons by calling the 1800 number listedon the back of your favorite products, I have gotten a number ofgreat $2.00 off coupons that way. If I also truly like a productI will email the company and let them know that I was satisfiedwith their product and most of the time they send out a coupon.I keep all my coupons organized in a box of sorts,divided by index cards and sorted by food, bathroom items.cleaners, dog food etc. A good friend of mine sorts hers byexpiry

dates but she has a fantastic memory for the amount ofcoupons she has and I have yet to duplicate her methods.

If you live in a region where the stores will double yourcoupons then you have it made. I wish I did, but with keeping acareful eye on the sales and knowing what I have on hand and thestore policy I do quite well and stock up on a lot of necessaryitems. Some stores may have a great deal but limit the toonly one per person per item, this is where my teenagers andhusband come in handy.. I have had people make fun of me forclipping coupons, clerks who rolled their eyes, and even my ownfamily giving me a hard time for doing this. Every time I wentto the store I calculated how much I saved by using my couponsand the first year no one seemed to complain when we went toDisneyland using the savings I had built up thru couponclipping. Now my kids get in the act and help finding coupons,getting extra flyers when possible (our complex has a paperrecycling bin, most flyers are thrown out) and a lot of storeshave the coupons in store that you have to carefully watch foror you will miss it. Clipping coupons may not make you rich butit sure can add a nice big bonus to the family savings accountwhen you take the time to do so.

About the author:Diana Cassen is a part time write and co-webmaster ofhttp://www.thrifty-mom.com