{Couponing help anyone?? Part FIVE}

Welcome to Part FIVE of my couponing series!

If you're just joining us, this is my FIVE part coupon help series! Here are the topics, along with the first and second topics that has already been covered, just click on any of the previous segments to head directly to that post. This is the last post of the series and I hope you've enjoyed it and learned something so far about couponing!

Part ONE: Coupon Lingo and More

Part TWO: Getting Started/Collecting Coupons

Part THREE: Coupon Organization and More

Part FOUR: Learn How To Navigate Coupons Sites/Blogs (covering in today's post)

Part FIVE: Wrapping It Up!

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Now that you have all this awesome info, coupons are gathered and organized, hopefully you will take the next step and get out there and start couponing! :-)

There are just a couple little things left that I wanted to mention briefly or explain a few random things here or there, so here goes...

Most grocery stores have their ads come out at certain times of the week, have certain sale cycles, restocking days, etc. Pick your favorite store(s) and find out what these cycles are. For Albertson's, their TTV's run from Sunday and are good until Tuesday when they come out. My hubby and I always do our shopping lists and prep work for our trips every Saturday night (or as needed) before we head out and hit the stores on Sundays. For those of you with kids, you'll REALLY appreciate being organized when you head out the door just in case one of the munchkins decides to have a "bad day" and make things a bit more difficult. I HIGHLY suggest, if you can, to get a sitter or have hubby watch the kiddos while you go out shopping. It really allows you to focus on what's happening just in case there's something out of stock and you have to improvise with your coupons and sales.

Here is a look at my organization when it comes to getting ready for our shopping trips...

 
If you DO have to improvise because the items you wanted to get are out of stock DO.NOT.PANIC! :-) I usually try to plan a couple back up plans in case that happens but if you don't get a chance to, just take some time to look around the store to see what you can find. There are some times where the couponing sites know about ALL the deals because a store might just put something on sale because they feel like it even if it's not necessarily a nationwide sale.

Another thing I love to do when I'm getting my grocery list ready on Saturdays is to plan out our meals for the week or possibly the month depending on the sales. This is where you'll want to look through all the grocery ads to cater the planning to the sales :-) Take a look around online, there are so many free printable meal planners online to help you.

When it comes to getting the best deals...there is definitely a "transaction science". I'm honestly still learning this process. For example, when you get doubles, say you buy three papers so you have 3 sets of three doubles (this is what I usually do when it's a TTV coupon week. You can only use 3 doubles per transaction and you can only have a maximum of three transactions in a row per trip through the line. If you want to exceed that three transaction limit, you have to get out of line and go back through the checkout line. Usually when I have to do that, I'll finish the first set of transactions, head out to my car to load it up, then I head back in for the next round :-)

If you're still not real sure about the whole "transaction science" idea, usually there are a lot of fellow readers of coupon blogs out there that will help you lay out your transactions. I was lucky enough to have my friend Kat, who basically taught me everything I know today about couponing, take me out on my first shopping trip with her so I could watch her do it and then she helped me get through my first big transaction with all my coupons! haha! So, I owe a big thanks to her! I wish that I could do the same for all of you and take you all out for your first shopping trips but that would be a lot of traveling on my end, wouldn't it? ;-)

If you're still extremely overwhelmed by the process, read everything you could get your hands on, or need more of a visual like I did, I STRONGLY encourage you to buy Fabulessly Frugal.'s 90 minute DVD: 7 Secrets to Successful Couponing (just click on the picture below to take you straight to the webpage to buy this DVD).

Click here to purchase Fabulessly Frugal's 90 Minute DVD

Here I am with my copy :-) Monica, who is pictured above, definitely rocks this photo holding the DVD better than I do haha!

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!**