{Couponing help anyone?? Part ONE}

- Coupons...

- Couponing...

- Hours upon hours of clipping coupons...

Have you thought about trying to coupon but don't know where to start? Do those three bullet points above make you cringe? Are you wanting to give couponing a try but not sure where to start?

Well, I just may have the answers for you!! Welcome to my FIVE part blog series on COUPONING! YAY!

What I'm going to try, is to do my best to lay couponing out simply, with the help of the amazing Fabulessly Frugal couponing blog, in five segments.

- - Part ONE: Coupon Lingo and More (covering in today's post)

- - Part TWO: Getting Started/Collecting Coupons

- - Part THREE: Coupon Organization and More

- - Part FOUR: Learn How To Navigate Coupons Sites/Blogs

- - Part FIVE: Wrapping It Up!

Let me just start off by saying that 99.9% of everything I'm going to share with you today, I learned from Fabulessly Frugal's website and their 90 Minute Couponing DVD, along with the help of my good friend Kat who helped me conquer my "fear" of couponing by taking me on my first shopping experience to help me get over that first time fear of putting all my work into action. So, if you want to bypass my post or you already have a start up knowledge of couponing and feel good about heading directly to their website to learn...please do! It's an amazing resource! :-)

The information I share about couponing will be pretty specific to the Eastern Washington/Idaho area as far as newspaper names, deal, etc but the all around idea is the same for almost everyone. The creators of Fabulessly Frugal. all live in Boise, Idaho so just know that all the information on their site as far as coupons, store lists, etc won't always be the same for everyone across the country.

**WARNING: If you can, set aside time to go through and process this couponing series. Also, grab some coffee, get comfortable and have a pen and paper because this is going to be long and extensive! If you need to take a lot of breaks, please do it! This is going to be a lot of information to process over the entire series, but I'm here to help!! It might become a little overwhelming, but again, I'm here to help you! You're not going to see IMMEDIATE results, because couponing takes some time getting used to. I'm doing this series for all of you that have asked about my couponing adventure and I would love to share it. So, here we go!!!! YAY!**

I will promise you right now, I was sitting right where you are a few months ago, completely overwhelmed and not sure where to start. What I wish I could do is take all of you to a grocery store and show you first hand on how to use your coupons in a real life setting like my friend Kat did, but I'll do my best to give you all the tools you'll need to do it without me :-)

Before we really get down to the nitty gritty I want to clarify some things and talk about some couponing "myths".

#1 - If you've seen the show Extreme Couponing....get that out of your mind RIGHT this second. That show is a HORRIBLE example of what couponing is REALLY all about. In fact, it's that very show that is making it harder for people like us, that respect couponing and others that do it as well, because stores are really cracking down and making almost impossible policies to use our coupons to their fullest. When you watch that show, you see people dragging around dozens of carts, getting 20 of the same item per transaction, clearing shelves of all one item, etc. That's not what I'm going to teach you how to do. The community of people that I've become a part of at Fab Fru and other sites are NOT "shelf clearers", most of us only have a stock pile that will last about 3 months at a time (3 months is about the average cycle that items go back on sale), I have yet to run into anyone that make additions to our houses or take over basements to store the insane amount of items that the people on Extreme Couponing have (most only have pantries), because it's NOT necessary. What the creators of that show don't tell you, is that almost every store on that show, drop their coupon policies for the sake of getting exposure from the media. Period. If you respect the use of coupons, respect other shoppers using coupons, and don't try to abuse coupons by making multiple copies, or by trying to use them for an item that it doesn't work for, store employees will love you and appreciate you and you'll come to enjoy the process.

#2 - Does it take a lot of time to coupon? That depends on where you're at with your experience. There is a drastic difference between the time it takes when you first start couponing vs. when you finally have the hang of it. For me, I felt like the setup of getting ready to coupon took FOREVER! Once I started to become more familiar with it, I took about 2-3 hours a week clipping coupons, organizing them, and creating my shopping lists. As time went on, my prep time slowly decreased. Now I feel like I'm the most efficient I've ever been, because this week, I only spent 15-30 minutes organizing my coupons, meal planning and creating my shopping lists. Couponing in 15 minutes?! I'm crazy right!? If you don't believe me, just watch this video...



#3 - YOU. CAN. DO. THIS!!! I'd be lying if I told you that I picked couponing up fast...I most certainly did not. To this very day, I'm still learning A LOT of things! I can promise you, that by the end of this post, you'll know where to find coupons and hopefully know which method of organization you will use for them, at the very least! I hope you take in and absorb everything...but of course, you won't know how much you'll take away from this series, until you're done reading all the info I share with you.

#4 - Will you use every single one of the coupons you find? No. There are a lot of coupons that end up expiring because I don't use them. Do those expired coupons go to waste? Absolutely not, if you don't want them to :-) I'll explain later what you can do with those unused or expired coupons.

#5 - Is all this preparation, organizing, clipping and couponing really worth it?? Well, that depends on YOU :-) If you are willing to make the commitment and want to become efficient, it is VERY worth it. Do you still save tons of money even if you're spending all this money on newspapers, gas to drive to the store, printer ink from printing online coupons, etc?? As long as you're not driving 2 hours each way to get to your nearest store, absolutely! And since I haven't done the math, you may also be saving tons even if you have to drive 2 hours each way to get back and forth to your nearest store.

#6 - Aren't a lot of the coupons that come out for mostly processed foods, etc? There are a lot of coupons out there that have quite a bit to do with pre-packaged, processed foods. For some people, that's not a big deal for others, it is. However, there are also just as many coupons out there for non-processed and pre-packaged foods. With food, most of it is okay in moderation, especially when serving suggestions are followed. BUT, if you're one of the ones out there that tries to stray away from pre-packaged or proccessed foods, Fabulessly Frugal. also includes produce and other sales per store, freezer meal recipes, and so much more! Again, I'll share all the awesomeness of Fabulessly Frugal. later ;-) 

Now onto some good stuff!!! :-)

Couponing Lingo - yep, it's true, us crazy couponers have our own little "language" haha! Don't worry, you'll get the hang of it in no time. But it is definitely necessary to cover the lingo now, so you can follow what I talk about later.

**This list is copied directly from Fabulessly Frugal.'s site. HERE is the direct link to the list I'm about to share**

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HERE IS A LIST OF THE “Lingo” THAT MAY BE CONFUSING YOU!!

These are the inserts that you find in the Sunday paper:

SS – Smart Source
PG -Proctor & Gamble
RP -Red Plum or Valassis
GM - General Mills insert (in Treasure Valley, the Idaho Press Tribune does not get this insert).
These will often times be coupled with a date that reflect the date of the paper they came out of. Ex: RP-1/4/09-Red Plum insert from the Jan 4th paper.

Store Lingo

SCR – Single Check Rebate (Rite Aid)
+UPs or +UP Rewards or UPR – Rite Aids version of a “catalina” or “register reward”
VV – Video Values Coupons (Rite Aid)
7-day coupon- coupon found in Walgreens weekly ad
RR – register rewards, catalina that prints out at Walgreens when you buy specific products with a $ amount good for your next shopping trip.
Twice The Value Coupon aka: Doublers – Albertsons store coupon that allows you to “double” up to three coupons per transaction. Coupons must be valued at $1.00 or less.
Round Up - Albertsons new promotion they are testing in the Idaho market. All coupons rounded up to $1.00. No limit to the amount of coupons you can use, and you don’t have to show them anything to have the coupons rounded up.
Wags- Walgreens Drug Store
Albies: Albertsons grocery store
Fredies or Freds: Fred Meyer grocery store
EB or ExtraBucks- CVS ‘s version of a “catalina” or “register reward”

Types of Coupons

Catalina- Click for detailed info- basically it’s a printable coupon that is handed to you with your receipt at the store.
Peelies- peel off coupons found on products at stores
Blinkies-found in the aisle at the store spitting out of the blinking black box
MC or MQ- manufacturers coupon
IP- Internet printable coupon

Oh and There’s More

B1G1 -Buy One Get One Free
WYB -When You Buy
B2G1-Buy 2 Get One Free
FAR- free after rebate
MIR – Mail In Rebate
OOP- out of pocket
Stack- refers to using two coupons for 1 purchase (ex. 1 store coupon and 1 MC)
YMMV- your mileage may vary (meaning in some stores this deal will be applicable, but you may have trouble trying it with others
OYNSO – On Your Next Shopping Order

Internet Browsers

IE: Internet Explorer
FF: Firefox

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I'm going to stop here for today's couponing lesson. Keep an eye on my blog for the next four days to get the rest of the couponing series!

Didn't want the lesson to end? Want to look at more couponing stuff? Head on over Fabulessly Frugal. and look around their site. Just remember, there are still 4 more parts to this series, and I will be going over a lot (as well as navigating Fabulessly Frugal.), so if you have questions, write them down and save them until at least tomorrow, because you just never know what I'm going to cover next ;-) 

Already have some questions, concerns, need more clarification about this lesson???

Please don't hesitate to comment on this post with any questions or concerns, etc (I can directly reply to your comments as long as your blogger account isn't set as "no reply blogger" - take a look at my comment form to find out more details on that). Or, you can email me directly at cblakley0531@gmail.com - Just in case your email gets sent to my SPAM folder, write "Couponing 101 Post" in the subject line so I know you're not a spammer :-)

**Disclaimer: I was in no way paid by FabuLESSly Frugal to write this series for my readers. I honestly just love couponing and this site THAT much. I wanted to share all my new knowledge with you!**