Not everyone wants to be an extreme coupon user, but the money savings they offer can be attractive. Sure, they have a storeroom full of their trophies, but you just want to cut down on the grocery bill. Here are some tips on saving real money with couponing without going overboard in the process.

Couponing for Real People

Get Multiple Subscriptions to the Sunday Paper

The trick here is to wait until the local papers offer promotional subscription rates. You will find that these promotions happen a couple of times a year.

When it does, grab an extra subscription or two for coupon purposes.

Now you can have multiple coupons for an item you use, which should carry you through numerous trips to the store. You can also stock up (within reason) on an often used thing or two. Focus on one couponing sale cycle at a time.

Only Grab Coupons for Items You Use

It seems that extreme couponers will get anything for which they have a coupon, and it all goes to fill the trophy room. Real people don’t have a use for all that stuff, and it ends up being a waste. Instead, stick to the products you use.

We should note that maximizing your couponing savings might make it necessary to be brand agnostic. That might not be your usual brand of ketchup, but at that net price, you may learn to love it.

Keep Your Coupons Organized

There are many ways of organizing small papers like coupons. One system that works incorporates sandwich baggies and an affordable accordion-style folder.

You can label each baggie by item (cheese, bread, etc.) and store it in the appropriate accordion slot. This technique makes it fast to identify and retrieve coupons during the heat of battle (trip to the grocery store).

Match Your Coupons to Weekly Flyers

Check the Sunday ads for sales that involve products and food staples that you can use over the next eight weeks. Make a list of them, then pull your coupons and play the match game. After that, go shopping and save some money on needed items.

You can save money with coupons with making it extreme or complicated. By limiting yourself to coupons for products you typically use, you simplify the process significantly.

You can also stick to places you usually shop and still save money using coupons. You can do that and even check online sites that offer great coupon deals.

By keeping it hassle-free, it will be more likely something that you will stick with over time. I know the 50 bottles of soy sauce is a fantastic price with all the coupons, but trust me when I say it will end up being a waste of money and time. In other words, keep it simple to really save.