Extreme Savings Tips from a REAL Mom!

My friend Angela sent me this message, and I wanted to share her couponing adventures with you:


I just recently got interested in couponing. I was very skeptical and thought that using coupons weren’t a good idea because you just bought things you didn’t really need. But I began to research how people are saving so much money and I was shocked! I immediately invested in a binder and baseball card inserts, I organized my coupons and got to work searching the papers for coupons to add to my collection.

People who coupon, know that you aren’t buying what you need for this week, you’re buying what you will need during the next year. It is important to have a stockpile. This is an area designated to hold all the items that you get for next to nothing so that when you run out of shampoo, you don’t go to the store and pay full retail price! You go to your stockpile and get the item that you need for which you paid a fraction of the cost. Most couponers do not pay at all for items like toothpaste, toothbrushes, deodorant, razors, and laundry detergent! You can get these items for FREE with coupons! Look for sales, clearances, close-outs and markdowns on items for which you have coupons. Just today, I happened to find Suave deodorant on sale for 10 for $10. I had 5 .50 cents off 1 coupons, which doubled at the register, making them totally FREE! The other day, I found KC Masterpiece BBQ Sauce on sale for .88 cents. I had 6 1.00 off 1 coupons and so these ended up being a “moneymaker” for me. Most stores will let you use these overages to pay for your other items. Having four growing boys at our house, we go through a lot of cereal. Today, Albertsons had a great sale on General Mills cereals (2 for $3). I used coupons to get the price down to $1 per box and bought 43 boxes of different kinds of cereal, which I anticipate will last us for at least one year. $140 worth of cereal for just $43. This was a GREAT deal!

One way to save is to shop at Walgreens and CVS. These both offer “Register Rewards” and “Extrabucks”. After looking through the weekly sale paper, I make a list of the items that:

1. Are on sale that week,
2. I have a manufacturers coupon for,
3. I have an in-store coupon for, and
4. The store offers a “Register Reward” or “Extrabucks”for.

Not many people know that you can “stack” coupons, which means that you can use a manufacturers coupon and a store coupon for one item. Stacking coupons usually bring the price of the item very low, especially when it’s already on sale.

When I shop at the drugstores, I usually have at least three different transactions, so that I can “roll” my “Register Rewards” and “Extrabucks”. This means if I have an item that gives me “Register Rewards” or “Extrabucks”, I buy that item first, and then on my next transaction, I use the reward coupons to purchase the next item (which also may have a reward which I use to buy the next item or group of items). Most of the time, you can get a lot of stuff for very little out of pocket. For example, I shopped at Walgreens last Sunday and got about $40 worth of stuff for .47 cents out of pocket. With my coupons (manufacturers and store), the sale, and the rewards, I paid nearly nothing!

You can pay full retail price, or you can use coupons and when you find an unbelievable deal, stock up for the next year and SAVE, SAVE, SAVE at the register! 

This is a picture of Angela's couponing notebook above! Angela is a pastor's wife who sings, plays piano, and homeschools. She has four boys! See more deals she got here.