Extreme Couponing

My question for you is do you want to be extreme at couponing or just an extreme saver?

I would have to say, it would be best for you and your family to be an extreme saver. In order to do this, you must have boundries. Are you really saving money if you buy 10 bottles of shampoo and have to pay $5.00 for them because they were “only” $0.50 each.
(You just paid $5 for something you are not going to use, plus eventually you will probably be getting this product for FREE)

Also, what are you going to do with all the products you get. Donate or store them somewhere. It really does matter where you keep certain products. Some items need to be in a controlled enviroment.

Best tips I can give you all who are new to couponing is remember, there will be another deal if you miss the current deal. I do believe in building a stockpile, it is really nice to have lots of condiments such as BBQ, mustard, ketchup and salad dressings that have long shelf life. (At one time I had about 10 mustards.. now I have only about 1/10 of a bottle left! So, back to collecting when on sale/ or FREE again.)

When your stockpile gets to large, start checking your inventory. Try to only go to store to buy the absolute FREE items and produce, milk and bread. This gets to be super fun, and that is how some months we can eat on only spending around $250 for the entire month! Don’t tell hubby, because the extra money gets spent somewhere else… like shopping. However, I don’t have to fill guilty when I buy myself or the kids new shoes or clothes.

Another tip is collect those coupons. (which if unorganized can cause quite a headache) If you are wanting to coupon, start saving the coupons out of the Sunday Papers. This is a must. It is helpful to have about one set of coupons for each family member.
Sign up for FREEBIEs.. inside the freebies, free samples, etc.. there are sometimes coupons of higher value then normal. Set up a junk email account, so your reg. inbox doesn’t explode ; )

Make sure to sign up for those where you shop alot. This will pay off eventually. I had $30 to use at Best Buy, bought my son a new DSi game.

Here is a link to a post I wrote a year ago on 5 tips to save when couponing!

Photo Credit: Catcher in my Eye (my talented Aunt)