Second Rule of Couponing

Make time to focus on couponing! 

Ok, I can hear you groan- time?  Like we have anymore time in the day to focus on couponing!  But, believe me, a mother of 4- the more time you put into couponing, the better you will get and the more you will save!  If you are in a hurry, you might miss something!  When do I coupon?  Random times of day, like these:

• The time between after my school age kids leave for school and my babies wake up
• Kids' nap time
• When the kids are playing- peacefully!
• After everyone is in bed
• The random times my husband will watch the kids so I can focus on what I'm doing.

How does cutting coupons take up THAT much time?  Well, once you look through your coupons from the Sunday paper and you look at southersavers.com (or a website like it) to see exactly what sales are happening to know what coupons you need to clip, you then, print the printable coupons you need and look through the previous weeks' coupons, time passes quickly!  And trust me, you will flip through all your coupons at least 3 times before you're done!  But is is worth it!  It may take you a few hours, if you can sit and coupon for your shopping trip at one time, or it may take two days, if you find you need to break up your time.
Either way, think about what an awesome thing you're doing!  You are trading your time to save money for your family!  Money that can pay bills, allow you to go out with friends or your spouse, or save it and go on a great vacation!
For me, it has strengthened my marriage with my husband!  Since I am staying home now, instead of spending my time spending my husbands paycheck, I am saving, which he loves!  He feels appreciated for how hard he works and, in turn, he appreciates my hard work and is now just as excited as I am to get/find new coupons.  In fact, he is the biggest advocate of this blog and is my unofficial marketer!  I went from feeling like, financially, I had nothing to offer - to being proud that I can, again, help my family, financially.  I may not be working to make money anymore, I am working to save money and I am now spending a quarter of what I used to on groceries!
So, to recap:
Rule #1- Make your shopping list, and choose what store to go to, from what promotions are happening that week and what coupons you have to go with those promotions to save you the most money!
Rule #2- Make time to plan your shopping trip.  You will save much more money that way!
Tomorrow, rule number 3!