The Beginner's Guide To Couponing

I started couponing in November 2013 after binge-watching Extreme Couponers. Between November and December 2013, I saved approximately $300 using coupons. Not bad for a beginner.

In January, I saved $175.10 -- 51% of the total pre-coupon amount I spent on groceries and personal care items. I feel like every month, I keep getting better at what I'm doing. Here are some helpful tips to get started on your couponing journey:

1) You need a Savings Tracker Worksheet. This is incredibly important to have -- that way you can keep track over the months to see how much you're saving. Here is the one that I use.

2) Start gathering coupons. The Sunday newspaper is the easiest way. Checking out the websites of your favorite companies. And, printing coupons online. Coupons.com has great coupons, but Swagbucks also has the same coupons and you get Swagbucks for printing and redeeming those. Also, keep your eyes peeled over at Target (When you shop at Target, you can use one manufacturer coupon as well as one Target coupon per item).

3) Create an Excel spreadsheet to keep track of all of your coupons. This is the most time consuming part (At least for me), but you will thank yourself later. After gathering all of my coupons for the week, I input the information in an Excel spreadsheet -- what is the coupon for, expiration date, savings, and if there is a specific store it has to be used at. That way, when you find out something is on sale, you can easily search to see if you have the coupon.

4) Keep an eye on the sales. Every week when the ads come out, I start scanning. I ask myself, "What do I need?" I use an app called Favado to show me which store has what I'm looking for the cheapest, but it doesn't keep track of all the stores I shop at. I've also signed up for a daily newsletter that shows me where the good deals and sales are through Couponing101.com.

5) Whenever you put in new coupons, weed out the expired ones. And don't feel bad about throwing away coupons! I know at first it sucks that you took the time to clip it, but if there wasn't a good deal on the item, it wasn't worth it to use.

6) Don't feel discouraged. Learning how to coupon takes time and I still make mistakes all the time. Just remember -- you're saving money. You don't have to be like the people on TLC's Extreme Couponers. Any money you've saved is worth the time and effort. And, remember that practice makes perfect. You can't become an Extreme Couponer overnight.

HOW TO SAVE: The College Textbook Edition.

The semester just ended -- I know -- but now is one of the best times to start getting your books for the Spring Semester. When I was in college, I would start immediately after Christmas to find the best prices on books and one of the cheapest ways to get books is to rent them. With CampusBookRentals.com, you're going to save 40-90% off what the book store is charging you.

I rented books all the time. Why bother buying a book and never being able to sell it after the class because the newest edition just came back? Renting textbooks is so much cheaper and once you're done using it, you send it back to CampusBookRentals.com for free.

If you've been buying books the whole time you're in school, don't worry about it. You can now rent your books to other students with RentBack.com. If your books are eligible, you can make 2-4x more than if you just sold it to an online retailer. I wish I would have known about this program before selling all my textbooks off.

I'm always looking for new ways to save money and I have always recommended to my friends that they should rent their books -- it's cheaper, it's easier, and you don't have to lug that book around when you move.

DISCLAIMER: This post is sponsored by CampusBookRentals.com, but all opinions are my own. 

MODERATE COUPONING.

As I mentioned earlier this week, Mike and I started watching Extreme Couponing. And then we decided, "THIS IS US NOW!" So, we ran to the store on Sunday to get a paper for all the coupons. Cut to me huddled over an Excel spreadsheet with coupons all around me while Mike plays on his phone. Typical men.

We had our first foray into the world of couponing on Tuesday night. I had my list ready and my coupons in hand. I managed to get through the store without buying anything that wasn't on my pre-made list (Except Mike didn't get that lucky because apparently he has to buy tamales whenever they're on sale).

I spent $14.31 and saved $21.26. 

So, not bad. Not bad at all. Obviously, we'll see how long this lasts. I definitely do not want to be one of those women on the show. Dumpster diving for ads is not how I want to spend my evenings. But, saving money is kind of the name of the game right now and this is a relatively easy way to do it. 

We'll see. I don't expect to pay $0.02 for 9 baskets of groceries, but if I can save almost double of what I spent, then it's worth it. 

MONEY SAVING TIPS - The Beverage Edition.

1) Make Your Own Coffee.

Let's do some math. I get plain coffee, so if I went to Starbucks 6 days a week, that would be $2/day so

$12 a week.

$48 a month.

$576 a year.

And that's just coffee! Who doesn't go into Starbucks on a Friday and grab a pastry too? Or a breakfast sandwich? It really starts to add up. I usually buy a pound of coffee on sale for probably $6 at the grocery store. We buy coffee pretty frequently in my house because my mom also drinks it. And guys, that $576 is just for plain coffee. If you're drinking lattes, you could be spending $960 a year.

2) Make Your Own Iced Tea.

I don't know about you, but I drink a ton of iced tea. It's calorie free (No sugar!), has caffeine, and is a nice change from water. I drink a glass of iced tea a day and sometimes more. In my family, we just make gallons of it and keep it in the fridge. My mom drinks it. When people come over, they love the option. We just bought 48 large tea bags for approximately $5. Now, if I went out and bought an iced tea everyday before work, I would be spending $3/day, $15/week, $60/month, $720/year. And we just cut that cost by spending $5 for tea that will probably last us for the next month or so.

3) Water Down Your Juice.

This is a weird one, but I really love juice. However, I think most juices are just too sweet. The sugar is over-powering. There are so many calories that I'd rather just skip it. But it's so good that I can't quit it. So, I water it down. I usually do about 25% juice and 75% water, but that's me. This helps not only with calories, but the juice lasts so much longer and you get so much out of it. 

4) Refill Those Gallons of Water

My mom keeps gallons of water until they break and we just constantly refill them. We do big trips a few times a week because we're honestly drinking that much water (Hey! We live in the desert!). 25 cents instead of paying for a new one everytime doesn't seem like a lot, but it definitely adds up.

5) Reusable Cups.

My favorite cup in the entire world is my Starbucks reusable tumbler. I take it everywhere -- to work, to the gym, running errands. This way, I'm not tempted to buy a water bottle if I'm out because I can usually just ask places for water and keep it in my cup. The only downside to these are that I have a bad habit of breaking them ... 

If you were expecting some alcohol saving tips, wrong place. I wish I knew how. Pregame before the bar? But then that takes all the fun out of it. Maybe with all that money I'm saving from making my own coffee it's okay that I like to drink at the bar. Or, not.