Couponing

For over a year I've been hearing about these women who use coupons, combined with sales, to get their whole family's groceries for less than half off. A lot of times even 80 percent off or more!

I joined one of the woman's web site for a small fee for the first 4 weeks to see how it's done. The problem with that one for me was that I didn't have access to the stores she uses. She did have a couple of options for me, but I didn't see the savings she was getting. Also, there was an additional fee for more than one store's information.

I decided not to continue with the membership and just kept doing what I was doing. I shop for most things at Sam's Club and Wal-Mart. I have found that they usually have the cheapest price on almost everything, and of course I love the one stop shopping when I bring my kids along. I always use coupons, but not for all things. I often buy store brand items and stock up when something is on a good sale.

My ears always perk up when I hear something about saving more or being more frugal, but I am usually already doing the things I hear about. But I can not figure out this couponing game thing.

Last week my local news heard about another couponing woman from Atlanta and decided to fly her to the studio to show the studio manager how the game works. Problem for me was that neither the broadcast nor the website went into detail about how to really do it yourself. They told about gathering the Sunday paper for the coupons, sometimes more than one, and matching coupons with the sale items in the weekly fliers. This specific girl would spend an hour with the ads to make her lists and half a day going to all the stores. She saved her family of 5 enough to count as a part time job. I want to be able to do this so I don't have to work every weekend and am able to have a weekend with my family once or twice a month.

I am willing to spend the time to get the reward--I don't expect a hand out. I know everything worthwhile is worth working for, but I need help in learning how. The first girl I learned about over a year ago, now has a book. I think I am going to get it and see if it helps me any more. I have already joined her site once and googled all sorts of other sites. None really spell it out for me so that I get the idea. Hopefully, next time I write about this I can pass along the info I've learned. Also, please feel free to comment and help me out if you already play the game.