10 Habits of Highly Effective Couponers | Sunday Coupon Inserts - (Part 2)

Welcome to Part 2 of this series on how to increase your savings from Sunday Coupon Inserts.

In case you missed it, you can find Part 1 here: link

Habit 6 - Organize By Shopping Category

As items in the grocery store are grouped together - with bathroom and cleaning products usually located in isles that are right next to each other. The meats, poultry, and fish are in one place. Fresh produce is often on one side of the store, and frozen foods have their own dedicated aisle.

I sometimes forget to organize the list so that items in the same area of the store are grouped together.

Organizing your grocery based on where they will be found can save you a lot of time walking around.

HABIT 7 - Stockpile

There are some items that won’t expire or go out of date, and we know that we will use them over the course of the next few months (or year).

Make a separate list for these types of items - and consider them for your Stockpile purchases.

In order to save as much as possible, you will have multiple copies of the coupon ready and also look out for the store circular savings.

Here are some items that you can consider for stockpile shopping:

Bathroom

Toilet Paper

Shampoo

Shower Gels

Shaving Creams

Shaving Razors

Bathroom Cleaning Agents

Kitchen

Dishwasher Soap

Paper Towels

Dishwashing Gloves

Pot Scrubbers

Cooking Supplies

Oil

Spices*

Canned Goods*

Salt

Laundry

Detergent

Softeners

Bleach

There are many more. What are some common items that you stockpile? We’d love to know!

HABIT 8 - Understand Store Policies

Store policies can change based on each location. Just because one location will accept competitor coupons (FACT CHECK) it doesn’t mean that another branch will do the same.

Stores often have the right to decide if they will accept a coupon or not.

If you know you will be shopping at the same store regularly, it might be worthwhile to ask if there is a copy of the store's policy on coupons available online. The manager can usually let you know where to find it.

Going through the policies can mean you will have fewer surprises and feel more confident that you are using coupons in a way that is in accordance with the store’s coupon policy.

Even if you do believe that you are following the policy, keep in mind that the manager might decide not to accept some coupons.

When you are using coupons frequently to save money - it’s bound to happen sometimes.

The good news is that it is usually only for one specific coupon, and the rest of the coupons you are using that day are usually going to be accepted.

Focus on the coupons you are able to use, and just remember that one of the coupons was not accepted - so you can get clarification on that specific one in a gentle way with the manager when you have time.

HABIT 9 - Include Your Children

This one is helpful if you have kids, but it’s still fun to read about it in case you go shopping with your niece or nephew.

Couponing is a great way to teach your children that saving money is important. You can have them join you in going through the coupons and finding the ones you will need for your next shopping trip.

This is a great way to turn coupon organizing time into a min-family activity.

The important thing here - is to treat it like a game. Don’t make it overly serious, and make sure not to scold or be harsh if your kids don’t do it right immediately. If they are still young, they might not be able to understand which coupons go with which shopping items.

You might start by finding the right section of the coupon insert, and just giving them that one page. Then it will be easy for them to find the specific coupon.

You can do this the first few times - make it a bit easier, and then slowly give them two pages, and then finally a whole insert.

This will also help to build up their confidence.

Not only are they learning about saving, they can feel good that they are helping their mom or dad, and they are also learning organizing skills and team work.

When you go to the grocery store, you can have them hold the coupons that they found and hand them to the cashier during checkout.

Now they are part of the whole process!

This has another benefit - by having your children know in advance what items are within the budget this week, and possibly some weeks they will find a good coupon for a healthy snack, or even ice cream!

HABIT 10 - Include Your Partner (or Roomate)

If you don’t have a partner, this Habit can be done with your roommate or friends.

If you are in a relationship, you probably noticed that it’s common for one partner to take most of the responsibility for a specific area of the house. One partner might focus on gardening, and another on grocery shopping. It’s good to look at these areas and consider where there could be room to turn them into shared activities. We are going to focus on possibly creating a mini-habit of sharing the shopping experience.

We are going to focus on two aspects: using the savings to buy something both of you will enjoy, and working together to create a backup plan in case the roads get closed due to storms, etc. - and you want a solid stockpile of key household items.

Before rushing in and asking your partner to join in, the first thing to remember is that they might not enjoy shopping, might not have experience using coupons, or might feel that couponing takes too long, etc.

A good place to start is to let them know you are looking for ways to increase the household savings, and possibly use it to pay bills, buy something that both of you will enjoy, put gas in the car, or do something with the saved money that you know your partner will appreciate.

Once you have them on-board that the savings are going to be used for something they want as well, now you can ask them if they would like to help on a specific area of the couponing.

One area that a lot of people find interesting is: Stockpiling

This can be especially interesting as we have recently had several storms in the Midwest, and there are regular severe weather situations in the northern states.

Stockpiling means that your partner and you can know you have some items in reserve, and it's a good feeling to have both people be part of this planning process.

For example - you might want to stockpile extra water - if you buy water, powdered milk, etc.

Once you have a common vision for how to use the savings, or how to better prepare for road outages - you can focus on applying coupons and shopping together for those specific things.

That will make your shopping together more fun and build a great habit that you can enjoy together from time to time.

Summary:

We hope these ideas were helpful to you. You might already be doing some of them, but even if you pick up one extra good habit - it can make a big difference in how you save money going forward.

In this section we covered 5 more Habits for Highly Effective Couponers. These included: 6) Organize by Shopping Category, 7) Stockpile, 8) Understand Store Policies, 9) Include Your Children, and 10) Include your Partner or Roomate.

In case you missed it, you can find Part 1 [here].

Bonus Habit: Utilize a Sunday Coupon Inserts Subscription

A nice way to give yourself more time and get your coupon inserts sent to you each week is to subscribe to Sunday Coupon Inserts. You'll receive the coupon combo pack that you choose, delivered right to your house, every week!

You are completely in control of your subscription, what coupons you receive, and when you start or stop receiving the coupons.

With just a few dollars in shipping cost, you will reliably receive hundreds of dollars in coupon savings each week to save big while shopping. Sign up for a Weekly Subscription today!