Wednesday, June 23, 2010

12 Skills in a Year - May (Coupon-clipping)

As life can (and often does) throw twists and turns into even the most well-thought-out plans, I came into the month of May not having any extra spending money to use on a craft to learn as a new skill. So, with that in mind, I started clipping coupons. This is something I really never did before. Not because I couldn't use the savings, but just because it never occurred to me.
I have several friends who have used the services of a "coupon guru" online - the website/company finds deals and coupons and sends them to you ... for an upfront, monthly price; my friends swear that they've saved tons of money and stocked their shelves to the brim. However, I'm not going to pay someone else to find coupons for me ... maybe I'm old-fashioned, but that seems counter-intuitive.
So I started getting the Sunday paper, watching for coupons in the magazines that I subscribe to, and keeping a lookout online. I also found a great resource in a blog called Couponing 101 - www.couponing101.com.

I must say, this is a skill that (even now into the end of June) I'm still trying to REALLY master. I've saved some money here and there ... but nothing like stories I've heard from other blogs. However, I once scored a brand new $8.00 razor for 99 cents! The trick is combining the coupons with in-store sales/discounts. So not only do you need to clip/print the coupons, but watch the flyers of your local grocery/retail stores as well.

P.S. The blog above is a GREAT place to start if you are interested in learning the ins and outs of really saving you some cash. If you have any other resources, please leave me a comment!

1 comment:

  1. Good post, Cree. I hadn't heard of Couponing 101. You should check out http://www.centsiblesavings.com/ and http://www.becentsable.blogspot.com/. Those are great, too! :)

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