This post may contain affiliate links. Read our disclosure here.
I’ve been writing about how to save money at the store for over 15 years, but sometimes it’s good to go back to the basics. At this time of year, many people are trying to get their finances back on track. How much you spend on groceries is something you can control to a degree, and couponing is one way to do it.
Hear me out—you don’t have to go to an extreme. You can focus on the things you buy regularly at one or two stores and make a huge difference in how much you spend each month. If you’re new here, I hope you find these 7 tips to get started couponing helpful. If you’ve been here a while, then consider this a refresher!
Coupon Basics | 7 Tips to Get Started Couponing
Understand how coupons work
Coupons can seem confusing when you’re dealing with store coupons, manufacturer coupons, rebates, and more. Knowing how you can use them together and what the coupon terms means is key to actually saving money with coupons. I have a whole page on coupon facts that you can review any time you need to.
Understand sales cycles
Stores obviously don’t put everything on sale at once. They put items on sales in cycles in an attempt to get you into the store. Some sale items they lose money on (loss leaders) some are actually paid for by the brand, they do this because they hope you will buy lots of other things that aren’t on sale. This is where knowledge is power! If you can slowly build up a stockpile, then you will only have to buy items when they go on sale, and you won’t ever pay full price for them. You’ll really save big when you combine coupons with sales cycles!
Buy what you’ll use in one sales cycle
Sales cycles usually run about every 6-8 weeks. The exceptions to this are seasonal items, which you can keep up with in our monthly “what to buy” posts (see What to buy in january). Let’s use the example of cereal. Maybe your family goes through 2 boxes of cereal each week. Thankfully not all cereal goes on sale at the same time, but that particular week you may want to grab 4 boxes to get you through a few weeks when something you like isn’t on sale.
Choose a favorite store
When you first get started with coupons, stick to one store. This will allow you to learn the basics of couponing as well as become an expert on that store. While you may be able to save more money by going to multiple stores, this takes time. You want to make sure that you know what you’re doing before you spend extra time driving to different stores.
Stock up at the sale price
Building a stockpile is the key to saving money on your groceries whether you use coupons or not. You want to try to reach a point of only stocking up when the item is at its lowest price. You can use the grocery lists on Southern Savers to help with this. We only post items when they are at their lowest prices. If it’s not on the list… it’s not the week to buy it.
Use the Southern Savers item search
If you need to buy an item and it doesn’t seem like it’s on sale, use the item search on our website. It will list all sales and coupons associated with that item. You may be able to find a coupon, even if it isn’t on sale!
Extra tip: Use can use the items search to make your own buy price list too! Put in a date in the last couple months and see every sale we’ve seen on that item up to 6 months out. You only need a couple prices though to get an idea of what prices you’ll see.
Stay organized
You have to keep track of coupons if you want to actually use them! If you’re using digital coupons, review the list before you go to the store. If you use paper coupons, find a way to keep them organized and make sure you haev them with you when you go to the store. I sometimes add the coupons I have next to the items on my grocery list so that I don’t forget at checkout!
Know store policies
Knowing store policies is as important as knowing how coupons work. Many stores have similar policies, but you don’t want to mix them up and not be able to use your coupons or save the money you thought you would. I have a whole page on store policies so you can keep them straight.
