How to Coupon Quickly to Save Money and Time

When we first got married, we were in a tight financial spot. My hubby was a grad student, and we were living off his stipend while I looked for work. Anyone remember that country song "Living on Love, Buying on Time"? I think that might have accurately described us. And while being poor is good for my waistline (it's hard to overeat when you've got to make that dinner you just cooked last for 2 more meals-- yay for portion control), it's tough on the food budget! So, I started to research couponing to see if I could stretch our grocery dollar.

We're in less of a bind financially now that I have a job, but we still love couponing. Part of why I love it is because it feels like a game, and I love to win by saving money! But I also love that I can use things that I get inexpensively to give away to those in need. It's neat to be able to coupon with a purpose, because the more money I save, the more money I have to buy stuff for local homeless shelters and food banks. Yay!

So, as mentioned about, I love saving money with coupons. It did take some time, however, to figure out how to save money with couponing. Initially, I would get so excited about saving some money with coupons that sometimes I would buy things that we didn't need just because I could save some money on that. Have you ever done that?

To save money and time, I had to give myself some guidelines. I don't buy things that weren't already on our list. I do sometimes substitute things that were close to our items, but I ask myself, "Would we still need this if it weren't on sale?" Also, I try to focus on the staples of our budget first, such as the meats, veggies, and fruit, before the coupon items. That helps me focus on the items that I know we'll use before I spend time searching for deals.

Couponing can take up quite a bit of time if you let it. I love the show Extreme Couponing, but I tried to coupon like that once. It was like having another full time job! I'm super impressed by their skills, but at this point, it's better for me to keep my day job. So I had to develop my own Time Saving and Money Saving Couponing System. I'm still perfecting my system, so here's what I've got so far:

I file my coupon inserts whole into an accordion folder when I get them. I label each folder by date and pull the folder out when it's time for my weekly couponing speed session. :)

To start, I check out my favorite sites for the deals of the week. So far, I've found the best deals on these sites:

southernsavers.com

savingfreak.com

moneysavingmom.com

Then, I slide out the inserts with the coupons that I need and cut the coupons that I'll use. I usually keep a handwritten list with the items that I'll buy and note that I have a coupon for it. The websites above also have links to print out the list that you'll use, but I've found that it's quicker for me to dash it down by hand. I usually put the coupons in an envelope to keep them together for the shopping trip.

Then, I head out to the store, and I slide my coupons out of the envelope as I go along. That helps me not to forget them!

I'd love to hear your money and time saving methods for couponing! Meet you in the comments!