Extreme couponing has its positives and its negatives, mostly due to the negative effects that extreme couponing can have. There’s no doubt really that pulling up to a grocery store checkout with seven shopping carts and a shoebox full of coupons isn’t going to make you a friend of the cashier who was supposed to go home in five minutes, but you can dial it down a bit and save a significant pile of cash every time you go out shopping. The best place to start is by collecting up newspapers. Some couponers who have obsession disorders will steal newspapers in order to get their coupons, but it is just as effective, and less criminal, to purchase your coupon-bearing newspapers on Monday morning from the store’s leftover stock. In most cases, you can get the papers at half price, if not free. Just check with the store manager, and you’ll likely find exactly what you need.
Next, clip out the coupons for products you normally use, as well as the coupons for those items that you might be interested in. Do this for at least four weeks, building up your store of coupons. What you may or may not realize is that when coupons are issued, you actually have as many as three months to use them. You don’t necessarily have to run out to the stores and use them all up at once. Besides, many grocery stores and manufacturers wait to run their best promotions through the grocery stores after the coupons are issued. For now, just get your coupons organized. It’s helpful to use a file folder for this. Make a mental note of what coupons you have.
Watch in grocery store circulars that usually appear on Sundays and Wednesdays. Some grocery stores offer two for one specials or discounted prices on popular items that they sell regularly at a given location. If you watch for these specials, check to see if they will work with your coupons. While keeping in mind quantity limits and product expiration dates, purchase as many discounted items as you can with the number of coupons you have available. Try to avoid purchasing items that are at regular price, even if you have a coupon for them. Try to wait until the item is on special.
Check the circulars for grocery stores outside of your geographic area. If you regularly travel to other states or even other counties, you may find that their circulars may have different items on special than the grocery stores in your immediate area. You can also use the opportunity to purchase additional quantities of the products that you aren’t able to purchase at a single location. Remember that you will want to maintain good relationships with the cashiers and the stores themselves so that you will be able to continue visiting the stores on your couponing expeditions without feeling like you aren’t welcome to return.