How To Be A Good Couponer, Not an Extreme Couponer

Who’s a Good Couponer

I created the definition “good couponer” out of my own extreme couponing experience of  2011 – 2013. I realized that the same couponing experience that was good and helped me save and stretch my money was also really really bad for me and could slowly turn addictive. I immediately started winding down my habit to live with an abundance mentality.  From that period my attitude towards buying food changed. So I coined my new lifestyle  “Good Couponing”, meaning I intentionally found a balance between extreme couponing and not couponing at all, the process puts our emotional well being first and recognizes God as the steward of all.

How to Become a Good Couponer?

Let’s look at a day in the life of Caroline a new couponer.

Caroline is who you’ll call a newbie couponer, she just discovered couponing on Monday afternoon during her lunch break and she now realizes that stacking coupons can help her stretch her dollars. So far she doesn’t have a plan but is excited to start saving her family money. Because she hasn’t done this before she has no plan of action and so she couponed all night after work on Friday, all day Saturday and ½ day Sunday. She finally went to the store Sunday to coupon night spending 4 hours between 6 stores she barely makes it home just in time to start prepping for work on Monday.

Caroline should answer these questions before her first good couponing trip.

1. Will she be a weekly, biweekly, or monthly couponer.
2. Which store will she regularly coupon with.
3. Will she need to create an inventory sheet to determine what the maximum to the minimum quantity of items she’ll need to have in her pantry?
4. Does she need pantry space if she doesn’t currently have one?
5. Figure out what to buy for the space she has. Should she buy more of item XYZ if she doesn’t have much space to store them?
6. And if she has space what else could she use the space for if not for couponing?
7. Should she buy a refrigerator to store her XYZ items that need to be frozen, If she buys a fridge to store food how much will her electricity bill go up, where will she place the fridge and which budget line item will the cash to buy the fridge come from?

As you start your couponing experience remember that it’s a beautiful journey that’s worth every minute of your time and the money you’re saving in this period of life that you’re couponing. Couponing teaches a new habit of buying items at a discount, at its core it teaches a lifetime habit of spending money wisely by always buying at a discount. 

A great organizing idea when couponing is to have a couponing system, lack of one may mean you end up getting frustrated spending more valuable time and money than you intended.

In the 21st century, coupons/discounts come in the form of paper, electronic or mobile forms. 

The History of Couponing: How We Went From Couponing To Extreme Couponing

Merrian-Webster defines coupons as a small piece of paper that allows one to get a service or product for free or at a lower price; tickets, certificates, discounts on merchant services.

Dictionary.com defines couponing as the activity of seeking out or saving discount coupons to save money on food or household purchases.

Urban dictionary describes extreme couponing as the act of buying a ridiculous amount of products at a retail store or grocery store for next to nothing. In certain scenarios, the store may end up owing you money.

In the 21st century, coupons come in the form of paper, electronic or mobile forms. 

Asa Candler an Atlanta businessman and co-owner of Coca-Cola had a brainstorm in 1887 and had this great marketing revelation and that’s when he created the first coupon. He transformed the beverage company by this singular act. In the early 1900 coupons were synonymous with cereals but it wasn’t until the great depression that coupons took off again. By 1940s grocery stores started offering coupons to attract customers (who doesn’t love a Catalina) by 1987 these were in major grocery stores. Fast forward to 1990’the invention of the internet helped people print coupons more easily. By the 2000s people had started stacking coupons over regular store sales to save more of their money. With the recession of 2008, came a new breed of couponers that used skills in shopping with couponing to save money. The naming of this new breed of couponers as “extreme couponers” was first mentioned in an article in the Wall Street Journal on March 8th, 2010. In December 2010, the series TLC’s Extreme Couponing aired on TLC, according to Wikipedia.

Want to learn how to coupon, click here

10 Mindset Shift You’ll Need To make As You Start Your “Good Couponing”  Journey.

1. Create a budget, and live by your budget.
2. Coupon using the money you’ve set aside in your food/household supplies budget – this helps to curb impulsively or compulsively couponing – once you have a budget you know if you overspend you need to adjust from another area with money left. 
3. Create a coupon binder or a coupon purse and carry it with you always.
4. Choose 2 to 3 stores to always shop at, you don’t want to spend time store hopping when you can spend that time with your family, it’s better to have these 2-3 stores in your plan of action before you hit the store.
5. Write down a list of what you’ll be buying at the grocery store before leaving the house, this list should be based on your meal plan for the week or month click (depending on if you want to be a weekly, bi-weekly or a monthly couponer)  
6. Stick to the list when you get to the store.
7. Be flexible enough to understand when to pivot; while at the store if you find a good deal (aka a steal) and you have the coupons available in your coupon binder get those items immediately (let’s say Tide Pods cost $11 but there’s a crazy 1/2 day sale of $5 and you have a $5 off 2 coupon you’d better get that Tide pod) remember that if you choose to buy that Tide pods you have to let go of another item on your shopping list.
8. Assign a day to coupon; If you’re like me and you get myopically focused, putting all-important things aside to get this one thing done, then set time aside a day of the month or week (depending on if you are a weekly, bi-weekly or a monthly couponer) to organize your coupon binder. This will work for both online and shop front couponing.
9. Go couponing at one of your 2-3 stores only after you’ve calculated you can save up to 20% – 60%. If you miss a deal due to some unforeseen issues remember all sales run on cycles and you can catch the deal the next cycle – don’t forget to break the coupon only if you can save 20-60% rule above (because there’ll be a time when your children, spouse, work or even your service to the community will require your attention and should be more important than couponing) in all situation where we choose family over saving money by using coupons never doubt that you made the right call.
10. On the days, weeks or months described in #9 above that you’re overwhelmed, frustrated or just have too much on your plate (because life happens) and you can’t apply or use your coupons before they expire remember that shopping from page 1 of the store sales circular (called a loss leader) will save you up to 20%.

So who’s a good couponer you ask, the answer is you are: YOU.

Thanks for stoping by, please comment, like, or/and share.

– Sincerely Gloria

Change Watch: Try one of the 10 mindset shifts above as you start your “Good Couponing”  journey.