I always joke that y0u can tell when it is the last few days of the month and I have been at the grocery store….because you can follow the trail of soon-to-be-expired coupons behind me!

By clipping my coupons each week and filing them in my binder, I often have coupons each week that will expire that I may not use.

And so, I become “The Coupon Fairy”…and you can be one too!

Are you in the cereal aisle and there are no good sales and you don’t really NEED cereal that week, but have coupons that will expire before you go shopping again?  Simply drop the coupons on the shelf!  The next person looking to buy cereal may be able to use them!

I no longer have children in diapers, but I always clip the diaper coupons.  Why?  Because I drop them on the shelves whenever I am in the store.  I remember the 8 years that I spent buying diapers every.single.week and every bit of savings helps! It’s a way to do your good deed for the day!

My friends have cats and I don’t (partly because Brad is allergic and partly because I think cats are evil creatures who suck out the breath of children), but each time I see them in the inserts, I clip the cat food and litter coupons and give them to them.  I also make it a point to let them know when those coupons can be maximized with a really good deal.

How do you share your savings with others?

Looking for more tips on how to Save Money With Coupons? Make sure that you check out all the posts in my Coupon 101 and Coupon Ethics sections!

I get this question all the time and the answer is simple:  It Depends!

There have been weeks where I have bought just 1 copy of the newspaper, and there was 1 week where I bought 22 copies of the newspaper! (and plenty of weeks in between where I bought anywhere from 3-10 issues).  So how do you know how many copies to buy each week?

As a general rule, I like to think that 1 copy per family member should be your minimum. If you have 5 members in your family, you should be getting 5 copies of the paper each week.

HOWEVER, this rule is not set in stone.  There are some weeks where the coupons are pretty yucky, and according to the Coupon Insert Schedule, some weeks where there will be no coupons.  How do you find a healthy balance, not buy more newspapers than you need, but not miss the good coupons?

Consider a Subscription:  I have 3 subscriptions to the Philadelphia Inquirer…so every week they throw 3 papers on my driveway.  This gives me a good starting point and most major newspapers will have a deal every few months where you can get the Sunday paper at a deeply discounted rate. Keep looking for those deals and renew your subscription at the discounted rate whenever possible.

Check out the Sunday Coupon listings:  updated by Thursday morning each week, this is a complete listing of the coupons that will be in the Sunday newspapers.  Check out the coupons, see which ones you like and make your decision based on that!

Never miss my Coupon Insert Preview posts:  every Saturday morning, I post my Coupon Insert preview post, where I detail what I think are the best coupons this week.  I let you know how many newspapers that I will be buying that week.  I’ve been told and emailed that many of my readers find this an invaluable tool and that I am rarely wrong!

How many copies of the newspaper do you buy each week?  How do you decide how many to buy?

Looking for more Extreme Couponing tips? Make sure that you check out all the posts in my Coupon 101 and Coupon Ethics sections!

If there is one thing that is true in using coupons (as in life)…it’s that “timing is everything” . So many people say to me “yeah – I see a coupon for $1/2 of X product…then I take it to the store and the product is $4.99 that week.  Big Whoop! It’s too much trouble and not enough of a return to use coupons”.

Well – YEAH…if you sit at your kitchen table on a Sunday morning clipping coupons, then head out to the store 2 hours later to use those coupons..then you will NEVER maximize your savings.

Manufacturers count on you Sunday Morning Clippers! But here is a little secret for you:  with very few exceptions, you should never use a coupon until about 2 weeks after it was in the newspaper!

Sales cycles at grocery stores are on a very predictable 8-12 week cycle.  Most of your needs will hit their rock bottom price at one point every 8-12 weeks…..and the coupon that is released will generally NOT be the same week that it is the “rock bottom price”.  You need to HOLD ON to that coupon once you clip it…and wait for the lowest price!

Coupon + lowest price = maximum savings!

Now let’s throw in Double Coupons…..

If you live in an area where Double Coupons aren’t the “norm”, but your store occasionally has those events, make sure that you hold on to those coupons for those events! (I happen to live in an area where all the stores double, so I have a little bit more flexibility with my savings.)

Add Store Coupons

Many stores will release their own coupons that can be stacked with manufacturers coupons.  Pair this savings with a double-coupon event?  You have the “Perfect Storm of Savings!”

What are your best tips for timing your savings?

Looking for more Extreme Couponing tips? Make sure that you check out all the posts in my Coupon 101 and Coupon Ethics sections!

Ahh – the grocery circulars….those geniuses of marketing designed to get you in to the stores! We often think of the weekly mailings that we get as notifying us of the sales…and in many cases that is true. But in many cases that is not! Here is a quick list of what you need to know:

1. The front and back pages usually have the true sales for the week. The best prices can be found there. Shop THOSE deals before anything else!
2. The terms “Save with Card” without telling you how much you are saving usually means no savings at all (or maybe $0.20 savings…woohoo!)
3. Look for “On Your Next Trip” deals: these can become a huge source of savings for your meats, produce and things for which we normally don’t see coupons. Simply put, the store is advertising that you will get a coupon at checkout for a certain amount off your next trip when you buy specific items. But those items (using coupons to bring your cost down) and get “cash money” off your next trip!
4. Buy One Get One Free sales are not always the best deals: my best example that I can give you is ice cream. I always see ice cream priced at BOGO….but the “regular price” is $4.99. Better to wait for the times that it is on sale for $2-$2.25 and stock up then!
5. In most cases, if a deal is listed as “10 for $10″ or “2 for $5″, you can just buy 1 of that item and get the sale price. Look to see if there is wording in your circular like “must buy 10″. If there isn’t, you don’t need to!

What are some of your tips for navigating the circulars?

Looking for more Extreme Couponing tips? Make sure that you check out all the posts in my Coupon 101 and Coupon Ethics sections!