How to Save Time While Shopping With Coupons

Coupons can be a huge money saver. Whether you are using them to buy groceries or furniture, they can save you hundreds of dollars a month. But they also cost you hours of clipping, searching and sorting at the store. Some organization can help save you both money and time.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

1. Clip coupons as they come into your house. Don't let them stack up and take up space. Sorting through the coupons that come through the mail once a day is much easier than letting them stack up until Saturday and taking them with you to the store. Same idea goes for the Sunday paper. Sort, clip, file and throw away the rest. This can be done while watching television or before bed.

2. Organize coupons in the same way you write you grocery list. When at the store, if the coupon is next in the pile, you don't waste time searching through all your coupons every time you pick up an item. You may have to search through three or four of them, but not fifty.

3. Placing coupons in a checkbook-type wallet or a small-sized folder made especially for coupons really does save time. Coupon books now have tabbed areas that make it easy for organizing clipped coupons.

4. Don't get flustered and not use them. You spent the time already clipping and thinking if you need or want the item, so take a couple extra seconds and find the coupon that you know you have. It may have just gotten out of order.

5. Have the kids help. Cutting is a great hand-eye exercise for small children and it makes them feel great to help. They can also collect coupons at the store, by grabbing those loose coupons that are offered in the aisles by the product. Collecting also keeps them from wanting and asking for things not on the list.

6. Hand your coupons over to the cashier as soon as it is your turn to check out. Often you will be swiping your credit card or writing a check by the time you remember that you have coupons. Mortified to make the people behind you angry, you just decide to use the coupons on the next visit, which means all the time you spent organizing just flew out the window.

[momandpopoften]

on 6/3/2008 Great idea to give the coupons to the cashier first! I REGULARLY buy over $100 in groceries for less than $10. Take a look at my articles where I share how I do it: http://www.ehow.com/members/momandpopoften-articles.html