Coupon Club Basics: How to Cut Your Grocery Bill with Others

Most people think that saving money with coupons is for tightwads and that they don’t save that much money. Well, on a recent shopping trip, every single member of my coupon club saved half –off their grocery bill. This isn’t just a onetime fluke, either. Here are some examples of our savings:

*5 bottles of Purell Hand Sanitizer for free.

*3 boxes of Duncan Hines Brownie mix for 45 cents a box.

*Suave shampoo for 50 cents a bottle.

*1 package of Healthy Ones lunchmeat for free.

By now you should be saying, “Wow! I want to join a coupon club and get savings like that!” Great! Let’s get started.

Starting Your Own Coupon Club

First, you have to have a club, right? Chances are you already have one. You already have friends, co-workers, and family. In fact, three or four people are all you need to enjoy the benefits of a coupon club. Why do you need other people to get great savings? For one, newspaper subscriptions are expensive. Several people subscribing to different Sunday papers (the best place to find coupons) spread the costs out. Also, when there are several people on the lookout for coupons you have more to go around. You can swap coupons that you won’t use with ones you would use. Sharing coupons is a great way to maximize your savings.

Where to Find Coupons

My club, the Clip & Save, finds coupons in free sales papers that the stores give out (these coupons can be combined with other coupons on the same item), Sunday papers, restaurant fliers, survey clubs, and several plucky members even get coupons through the internet. Some good websites to find coupons on are manufacturer’s websites, like Dove.com or Bettycrocker.com, and http://print.coupons.com, and http://www.valpak.com.

How to Maximize Savings

Our fearless leader, Jeania Watson, is a diehard coupon addict. She has taught everyone in the Clip & Save all of her tricks for saving money on groceries, and now it’s your turn to learn her secrets.

Her first rule is to clip every coupon, even if you don’t think you will use it. You can always trade coupons with other people, but many times you can find the coupon will make the item cheaper than even generic items, or will make the item free. Don’t you want free stuff? Of course you do! Here is one example of how the club used a coupon to get free stuff:

*We went to a store that triples coupons under 50 cents. This means that if you have a coupon that is marked as 50 cents or less the store will triple the value of the coupon.