Saving Money with Coupons

Today is the day.  The day I get back to using coupons for groceries and gifts.  Last year I started using coupons to save money and discovered that you never really have to pay full price for the stuff you buy.  I learned a ton from several moms who have turned this into a science!  I saved so much money.  I even got things for free and got "paid" for buying an item!  Do you know what I am talking about? 

Well, it  worked really well for us, and even helped pay for Christmas gifts.  I got several gifts using coupons, sales, and the money saved in other areas.  The downside to all this?  Well, for me at least, it takes quite alot of time to organize your coupons.  You have to clip new ones, discard old ones, and organize by type so you can find them again.   You can also load coupons on your cell phone or store savings card too.  To really make couponing pay off you need to combine your coupons with sales, promotions, and other deals.  Anyway, a lot of time is involved, at least at first. 

When I started my online Etsy shop, and this blog, and my Facebook Fan page, I needed that time to devote to learning how to do all the business related stuff.  I still have a LONG way to go in that area.  I am not very techie, and to do online stuff, that is definately something I need to learn.  I still don't know how to make this blog "wider" since I am using a template and don't want to mess up everything by changing! 

So, I haven't used coupons since February or March.  We have gone back to paying full price again.  Christmas is coming up, and I am ready to jump back in to it.  Yesterday my daughter cleaned out all the expired coupons in my notebook which was most of them!  So today, I need to organize, find out where the sales are, locate the coupons, and go forth and conquer! 

Fortunately, there are several great sites out there that help with this.  These wonderful moms seek out the sales, tell you where to find the coupons, and how much the product will cost you in the end.  They even provide scenarios for you to follow for the best deal! 

If you haven't tried this before and are interested in learning.  Here are some excellant sites to begin your journey:

Hip2Save - http://hip2save.com/
The Coupon Project - http://thecouponproject.com/

These ladies will teach you everything you need to know to save tons of money!  You can also find other sites to check out on their blogs. 

Ok, I can't put this off any longer!  First step - find coupons!