it's pronounced koo-pawn

so here's something new.

i was watching extreme couponing online the other day. (that is not new. watching tv online is my life.) i've watched that show many times and in the past, i'd just thought those women (or men i guess, weirdos) were just plain crazy. i mean let's take a look at mama june, shall we? 

but i just couldn't shake the fact that there was a legitimate way to save bazillions of dollars on groceries. so i decided to do my research. turns out, as i discovered here, those extreme couponers ARE just plain crazy! even according to fellow couponers! turns out all that shelf clearing, stocking up for the thousands of imaginary family members, and stealing newspapers is frowned upon in the coupon community. dually noted.

but still. the deals! the coupons! the free things! how does it work?  whenever i see coupons, the savings look so small they just seem inconsequential. so i kept researching. i learned some pretttty valuable information about how all that business works. so i'll share it in layman's terms. here are the BASICS of the basics.

there are basically 2 different types of coupons:

Manufacturer's Coupons : coupons printed by the manufacturer. here's how my newfound favorite coupon blogger puts it: "A manufacturer’s coupon is a piece of paper with a discount for a specified product printed on it.  The coupon can be used at most stores that carry the specified product.  To receive your discount you must purchase the product and give the cashier the coupon.  The cashier will scan the coupon and the coupon amount will be deducted from your purchase.  You then pay for the remainder of the purchase." you can find them online, in the sunday paper, on the products's website and in newspaper inserts.

In-store coupons : store specific coupons distributed by the specific store at which you purchase the product

off to an easy start. it doesn't get much more complicated either. after you learn that there are 2 types of coupons, you learn how to work it all out together, like a puzzle. 

most stores will let you stack your coupons, which means that you can use both a manufacturer's coupon AND an in-store coupon on the same product. however, most store policies dictate that you may use only ONE in-store coupon and ONE manufacturer's coupon.

a lot of grocery stores will also do something called doubling (which confused me on the show). doubling is simply a way for stores to get you to shop at their store. certain stores will double the value of a manufacturer's coupon if you redeem it at their store. if you read your grocery store's coupon policy, it will tell you how their doubling works. 

for example, the 3 stores in my area all have different doubling policies. 

store 1 will double one manufacturer's coupon per type of product for a value of up to 50 cents (making that coupon worth 1.00 instead).

store 2 will double up to four identical coupons per household per day for a value of up to 50 cents

store 3 will double the value of any manufacturer’s coupon 99 cents or less (i.e. 99 cent coupon will be doubled to $1.98)

and each of those stores will only redeem coupons up to the value of the product (i.e you can get products for free, but you can't exceed the value of the product. so the store won't pay you for buying things, like you see on extreme couponing.)

easy enough. stack one (possibly doubled) manufacturer's coupon with one in-store coupon and you get a decent amount of savings. BUT. still, how do they get that stuff for FREE?! (or almost free?!)

they stack coupons when things go on sale. 

that's why they load up on a bazillion things, because the value is time sensitive. that's how they build their outrageous stockpiles.

i don't want to make a huge stockpile, mostly because i don't have a room to put it in. i just want to save on my weekly groceries. so i decided i would give this couponing thing a try with my newly acquired knowledge.

first, i made a grocery list.
then i searched for in-store coupons.
i shop at target, and they are pretty much the only store that puts their in-store coupons online, so that made things extra convenient; off their site, i printed all the coupons they had for things that were on my list. {plus i have a target debit card so that is an extra 5% off.}
then i looked at coupons.com and similar sites for manufacturer's coupons.
then, for my household and toiletry items, i chose the brands that had i in-store coupons for and i looked at those products' websites for additional coupons. (had i known i'd be trying this out, i'd have grabbed a sunday paper and looked there too.) after doing that, i found this website that does all the in-store/manufacturer match-ups FOR you, so that's a good reference for next time that will save me some time. i clipped about 10-12 coupons total.
all of this took me maybe 20-30 minutes. not so bad.

i ended up saving 14% off my grocery bill with just the coupons, so with my 5% target discount, i saved almost 20%! and this was without buying any sale items! (well i bought one sale item, by coincidence. i got an 8 pack of bounty paper towels that are usually $13 for just $8. that felt really awesome.) it was kind of a rush, to be honest with you. next time i am going to do my research and find out what's on sale and stock up on that. things go on sale every 6 weeks or so, and my family is small, so if i only stock up on sale items to last us for 6 weeks, i don't have to buy a ton of them like they do on the show. if i keep at it, i think it is very possible to start saving 40-50% off my groceries if i just buy things with coupons while they're on sale.

that show is so extreme it sort of makes couponing look impossible unless you buy a million things and spend all your time clipping coupons. i'm glad i gave it a shot because i learned you don't have to spend a ton of time, and you really can save a decent amount of money, even if you aren't stockpiling.