I promised to blog about a recent couponing class I took in my own town, Hutchinson, MN. I have been very interested in learning more about how those “crazy” women do it that I see on the news. You know the stories; $200 of groceries for $1.57 or some amazingly small amount.

I have also been watching other moms who blog about coupons and savings, but it all seemed overwhelming and quite frankly, incoherent for me.

I am happy to say that the couponing class was amazing, and I learned a ton. This is MY version of what I learned and what I feel is key to saving massive amounts on groceries.

1. It’s not about shopping sales or using coupons. It’s about finding as many “match-ups” as possible. This means that you look for sales or price cuts of items, find store coupons, and manufacturing coupons for the same product. Then buy as many products as possible.

• For Example, this week Cashwise had cereal on sale 4 boxes for $10. They then offered an “in store” coupon for 4 boxes for $6. Then I found manufacturers coupons for each of the four boxes I had to buy to meet the requirements, and I paid less than $3 for 4 boxes.

2. It is really important to get to know your local options rather than focus on what you don’t have in town. In my town, my options are Cashwise, Econo Foods, Target, Walmart, and Shopko. I have found very good deals at each one. I use the weekly ad/sale, as well as websites that announce sales. I then work to find manufacturer coupons for those deals, and again stock up on as many as I can.

• For Example, this week Target had a temporary price cut on band-aids. They also offered Target Coupons, and I found manufacturer coupons, so that when I left the store with $14 worth of stuff, I paid $1.98. If you factor in that I used a gift card that I earned on a previous shopping match-up, I paid nothing.

3. Buy more than one Sunday newspaper on Saturday. The inserts are in there, the newspaper is cheaper when it’s an early edition, and the more coupons you have the better the deals later.

4. Find some other people willing to do this with you and share their “finds”. We started a local couponing group and now I get an email or Facebook post about a local find.

• For Example, a friend told me about a recently clearance cart of salad dressing at Cashwise and pointed out that we all have multiple $1 coupons that make it free, after purchase.

5. Use Facebook and follow blogs for immediate notice of offers. This week I was online when two great offers came through. Many have a time limit or a print limit, so you have to use the tools available to you to get in on the deals.

6. Organizing is key. I have chosen to organize my coupons by subject. I have been able to do very fast match-ups this way, but most couponing sites like TotallyTarget.com will reference publish dates (i.e. Sunday paper they came out in)

Do you have some additional tips you can share? Maybe something doesn’t make sense. Please share your thoughts. I’ll help if I can. I am new at this and have plenty to learn.

photo credit: MissMessie