One day at commissary, Pat showed me a lady who had a coupon binder just like the one in the pictures below. We were amazed how much coupon she had and why did she carry the huge coupon binder for. I do use coupons now at the commissary because it's so expensive to buy groceries even in commissary overseas. I spent 1.5 times money than back in Keesler. Although there are coupons in the commissary but I seldom find the ones I need.
So I went home and goggled coupon and came out tons of results. Something caught my eye in the YouTube. It's a file talking about a " Coupon Queen" and how did she use coupons to cut down her grocery bill from $200/week to $50/week for a family of 5. I was totally impressed by the video. Then I went on more videos and other websites to see how to use these coupons and the tips to save big. I got these results:
1. Collect as many coupons as you could, at least have 5 coupons of same products.
2. Save double by buying sale items with coupons.
3. Don't be stuck on certain brands, when other brands are on sale for much cheaper, you get that instead. When you save all coupons, you are able to take advantage of some great sales. If you only save the coupons for the brands, you normally buy then you pay a lot more.
4. When you get really good deals for the items on sale + using coupons, you got to buy large amount to stuck up your pantry. When you buy items at a low price, and stock up the goal is to have enough so you won’t have to buy it again till it comes on sale. This way you are ALWAYS able to buy your items half off or more.
5. Just because you have a coupon does not mean you should buy an item. In fact if you buy items just because you have a coupon, you will end up spending more money on items you don’t really need, and are still overpriced. The trick is to wait for the coupon to go on sale or clearance which is an even better deal.
6. Buy one get one free sales- When a store has a buy one get one free sale; this is a great time to use your coupons. You can use 2 coupons. One for the item you are buying and one for the item you are getting for free. WHY, you need to remember that a coupon is like cash. The store IS getting paid for that product, by the Manufacturer. So the store gives you the second item for free, but they can turn in the coupon and get paid for that item they just gave you for free.
7. Double your coupon by using store coupon and manufacturer coupon. Like Walgreens, Albertson's has their own store coupons. You can use that + a manufacturer coupon to save even more.
8. Store match or double- Some stores do this every week, but my local stores only do it a few times a year. They will match you coupon amount, which gives you the chance to get twice the amount of your coupon.
After reading all these articles and blogs, I understand more about how to save money by using coupons. So next trip to commissary, I went through every isle to collect every single coupon I saw. (Unless the one I know I will never use.) And I took at least 5 of each coupon for one product. And thanks for my mother-in-law. She always sent me coupons. So my coupons became a big pile. So I put them in the binder and bring with me whenever I go to commissary. Then I start to save more after this.
The 1st trip I saved $ 7.30
The 2nd trip I saved $ 10.00
The 3rd trip I saved $ 23.00
The 4th trip I saved $ 22.30
I'm very happy by the savings. Although I did not save as much as the coupon queen did yet, it's just a beginning. I am certain I will be like that in the future. It's easier to save big in the states than overseas. Because the only store I can use coupons is commissary. But in the states, all different stores offer different sales. That's how you get stuffs cheap even free. Let's save money.
