Couponing

By Gina E.

I am not an “extreme couponer” by any stretch of the imagination. I don’t want to be a shelf-clearing hoarder, but I do want to be a good steward of our family’s household budget as the Lord calls me to be. I’m the average person in this economy looking to make our money stretch as far as I can – as I seek to feed, care for, and clothe four rapidly growing children in addition to a husband with special diet requirements. I want to share with you a couple of ways I’ve found to do that.

I haven’t always been consistent at using coupons. There were many weeks that I threw them away without looking at them…thinking, “It’s all prepared foods, brands I don’t like/won’t use; it’s only 25¢ off a $900 package of toilet paper…” The thought of pairing them with a sale never crossed my mind, and if it happened, I considered it a ‘happy accident’. Then I had a baby. And another. And another. In 35 months I had three children – and a $100/month bill for diapers. Nothing will drive a family to coupons like buying diapers!!

I’m an engineer. I research things to death before I try doing them. So, I started following Money Saving Mom and reading all I could on how to save money using coupons. The frugal blogs are a great source for savings in stores and online. SKIM them because they post A LOT (sometimes 50+ posts a day). I use Google Reader and when I read the frugal blogs, I put them in “list view” so I see post titles. That way I don’t have to scroll through 50 posts about things that I don’t need, don’t want or stores that aren’t near us. Another option is to use a service like The Grocery Game that does all of that for you (for a fee).

So, how did I get started using coupons once I read up on it? First, I had to CLIP the coupons! I only clipped the ones I knew I’d use – but if I didn’t organize them, I knew I wouldn’t use them. Some people use a small accordion file, like a check file. Some use an index card file (Rubbermaid has a photo/media storage box that works well and gives more room than an index card box). Some use a binder with page protectors, some use a binder with baseball card protectors. Initially I used the Rubbermaid photo box with index dividers; but, recently I switched to a binder and baseball card sleeves using Krazy Coupon Lady’s system. There are all sorts of You Tube videos and blog posts that discuss coupon organization systems if you’re interested in it. The main thing is finding what works for you and knowing it may change over time.

Target, Walgreens, and Kroger will allow coupon “stacking”: that means you can use a STORE coupon + a manufacturer coupon for an item. You can get items for a great price – sometimes even free – by coupon stacking. If you don’t have a Kroger card, consider getting one. Yes, it means they track what you buy – but they also send coupons and for every $100 spent, you get 10-cents a gallon off on gas. I get free eggs four times a year from Kroger – sometimes I get other free stuff, too (deli meat, chips, butter). Who can’t use free stuff? Target has printable coupons on their website – some are manufacturer coupons and some are store coupons – and you can’t always tell which is which until you print them. They also include coupons for store brand (Up&Up). Up&Up usually ranks very high in Consumer Reports testing (their laundry detergent beat Tide). I’ve stacked Target and manufacturer coupons in the past to get Shout pre-treater, light bulbs, and toothbrush heads for my Sonicare toothbrush very inexpensively.

I take my coupons with me EVERY TIME I go to the store. And I take them ALL…the whole big binder. There have been times that I’ve happened upon something on clearance or a special markdown and had a coupon for a great deal!! I was in WalMart a month or so ago and they had bottles of Dawn dishwashing liquid in apple and pineapple scents marked down to 50-cents each. I had several 25-cents off coupons in my binder. I got four bottles of dishwashing liquid for $1.00. If I’d only taken the coupons I was planning on using that trip, I’d have missed that deal – and I’d have been kicking myself! (I’ve done that before.)

It’s okay to be brand loyal, but I know I’m not always going to get a great deal or have a coupon. I used to be loyal to Crest toothpaste – until we got 8 tubes of Colgate for 38¢/tube. You know what? My teeth have not fallen out!! However, I’m only going to buy Heinz ketchup - I don’t care how cheap I can get Hunt’s - and my teeth might fall out.

Besides coupons there are a couple of other things I do to save money on our household budget: I buy store brands and I make things at home.

All of us spend a lot of money on toilet paper and laundry detergent. We want clean bottoms and clean clothes. I hate, hate, HATE spending a ton of money on something I’m literally sending down the drain!! I recently decided I wasn’t going to buy name-brand toilet paper for my kids’ bathroom. They waste more toilet paper than they use because I find it all over the floor (unused) and they use it like paper towels. So, I bought Great Value (Wal-Mart brand) Soft & Strong toilet tissue (12 double rolls for less than $7). I discovered that it’s just a soft as Northern or Charmin! If you can get name-brand on sale and/or with a coupon, do it (I got 12 double rolls of Northern for $5.99 last week thanks to the Kroger ad). But if not, don’t be afraid to buy the Great Value Soft & Strong. I promise it’s not sandpaper. And it won’t clog the toilet like Charmin!

Laundry detergent… ugh! $13 for a bottle of soap to wash my clothes?! There are six people in my house. Four of them are little people who can dirty up some clothes in a heart beat. I was spending $60/month on detergent! Um, no thank you!! I started making my own detergent in May, 2010. I’ve made four or five batches of Duggar liquid laundry soap since then and saved a ton of money. You make a five-gallon bucket of detergent that is actually a concentrate. You end up with TEN GALLONS of laundry detergent. It is safe for front-loading machines that call for HE detergent because it is low-sudsing. However, know that using it in an HE machine when your manual says only use HE detergent could void your warranty.

I have not found an acceptable homemade dishwasher detergent – I’ve tried. Everything leaves a film on my glasses and I can’t stand that. So, this is also an area where I stick to a couple of brands. I use Cascade or Finish – whoever has the better coupon. Though I’d also be willing to try Target’s Up&Up brand – I need to check their site for a coupon.

Being good stewards of our household budgets will also allow us to serve others – another thing we are called to do in Scripture. By saving at the grocery store, perhaps we can buy a few extra items and donate them to the church food pantry. Or maybe put the amount saved on a gift card and send it to a struggling family so they can buy milk, meat or other perishables or put gas in their vehicle. Some people use their savings to enable them to give more to the church or missions – whether toward general giving, a gift to the building fund or a Christmas in October gift. Any of these ways to serve others through our grocery savings are a blessing – to both the giver and receiver!

TOMORROW: Helpful Websites & my laundry detergent recipe