how to use coupons without 'couponing'

So you say you don't have time for couponing?  OK, I can totally understand that.  When my kids are older and I'm juggling multiple sports practices, extra-curricular activities and busy church responsibilities I might find myself singing a different tune.  However, if you spend any amount of time on Facebook, then you too can get coupons and find great deals.

Wait, I don't need to buy (or dumpster dive) five copies of the newspaper every week?  I don't need a coupon binder?

Nope.  All you need is a good printer.

Will you get better deals if you get the newspaper?  Sure.  If you get the newspaper* do you have to buy one or two accordion folders to hold the inserts?  Yes, unless you have some other way to keep them organized by date.  But the point is, YOU DON"T NEED TO in order to save.

Here are my two cents on Facebook couponing; take from it what you will.

Follow (like) on FB couponing blogs.  These blogs post things all day long about good deals.  My top two are Krazy Coupon Lady and Frugal Living NW.  There are many others.  Some I follow for a while and then stop because they just repeat what my other blogs are saying.  When there is a good deal, they will always have a link for any printable coupons.  Just follow the link, print and viola, you have coupons ready for your next shopping trip.

Tiny word of caution here: print coupons as soon as you see them.  Many have limited quantities.  Most legit coupon printing services ask you to download a small program in order to print legitimate bar codes.  If you have multiple computers, print the good coupons as many times as you can.  Most will allow you to print twice per computer.

A lot of companies now offer coupons if you "like" their product on FB.  I "like" the page, print my coupon and then remove the page right away so that my FB account doesn't turn out looking like an infomercial.

After you printed your coupons, you'll want a way to make sure that you know what coupon goes to which product at what store.  Here is what I do to keep organized: I keep a Word document open on my laptop.  When I come across a good deal, I copy that deal right from the blog (following the link from the FB page) and paste it into my Word file under the store name.  Then I print out the coupons and when I'm ready to do my weekly shopping I just print the Word file, round up my coupons and sort according to which store I'm going to use them, and away I go to happy money-saving bliss.

So how does this work out in real life?  In my previous post I wrote about some really cheap things I got and only one of those deals was from using a newspaper.  For the 25c boxes of cereal, the original box was on sale at FM for $1, and then there was a printable coupon for 75c off from the manufacturer.  The yogurts for 33c was a sale price, no coupons needed.  (Yes, I know there are cheaper yogurts out there, but I'm picky and don't buy the ones that are primarily syrup with a little milk tossed in.)  The bread and peanut butter for $1 each was a FM store coupon found in their ad.  Juice was a FM store ad coupon, stacked with a manufacturer coupon for $1.75 off of three.  The bagged salads for 50c was the only coupon from the newspaper and since it was a week that I happened to buy an Oregonian in addition to the RG (big formula coupons justified the price) then I was able to use two 50c off coupons on  a BOGO  sale.

You don't have to spend hours or have elaborate setups in order to save money with coupons.  The excuse of "I don't buy those sort of foods" doesn't really make sense to me either.  I don't buy a ton of bad for you foods (with the exception of fostering my Oreo and Cheeze-It addictions.)  The way I figure it, if I don't have to spend money on household products, toiletries and other misc items, then I have money that can be put towards fresh produce and organic items.

*side note for my local readers:  don't bother getting paying for the RG if all you want is coupons.  The Oregonian has a LOT better inserts.  It's worth paying an extra 50c and buying a paper at the store since unfortunately they don't do subscriptions for just Sunday.