Making a lifestyle change when shopping with coupons
Using coupons – even thinking about using coupons – can seem a little scary and even intimidating. If you take a step back and ask yourself WHY you want to use coupons – then you already have stepped up to the plate. My biggest reason for using coupons was because we took a huge pay-cut and didn’t have a choice but to find a way to make ends meet. Using coupons took us from spending $800 a month on groceries and household items for a family of 4 to about $300 for our family of 6. That freed up the money we lost and made it so we felt a sense of accomplishment in knowing we are using free toothpaste, hair care for $1 or less, etc.
It is also nice to think about all the things we having in our stockpile. We didn’t even have an extra tube of toothpaste before, we didn’t want to afford it! And now we have so much, we give it away like candy! lol. Once you answer the question of why, you will be able to have a level of determination which will lead to what kind of shopper you are.
The biggest part of using coupons is making a lifestyle change. You have to become more conscious of deals and saving money. Have the desire and want to be able to save that money in order to actually take the time to make it happen. It can be slow going at first while you are learning everything. I have only been doing for a few years myself, but I couldn’t go back to any other “way of life” if I tried, simply because we have made a lifestyle change, and it “hurts” to pay more for something when I know I can get it for cheaper.
Very rarely will I give into convenience over conscious and buy something full priced. And that is mostly because I don’t have a choice. Even now, my husband will call me before heading to the store to make sure anything we need isn’t on sale or that we can get a better price. It is just a lifestyle chance that has helped us be more aware of how much we are spending and lets us get better deals because of it.
Have you made a lifestyle change when it comes to your finances?
Other great Extreme Couponing Tips:
- When enough is enough
- Using Self Checkout when using coupons
- How to start couponing – Gathering and Organizing Coupons (Week 1)
- Figuring out how many coupons you need and the three types of shoppers (Week 2)
- Cashier Profiling
- Multiple Transactions
- How to save money on groceries when the sales aren’t good
- Shopping the Sales
- How to change the zip code on coupons.com
- How to Save money on ink when you print coupons
- How to Double Coupons at Stores
- Using a Price Point List to compare prices
- Do you “shop” or do you “buy” when Grocery Shopping?
- How many coupon inserts do you need?
- How much do you need to stockpile?
- How to get coupons on your mobile phone
- 10 Grocery Items you should NEVER pay full price for
- 7 important things to know about reading coupons
- What to do when your rewards (catalinas) don’t print
- Easy ways to cut your monthly out of pocket costs on bills and groceries
- How to save money when hosting a party, potluck, or barbeque
- Buying Multiple Newspapers
- Shopping at one store or multiple stores
- Calculating the best price to get the best deal
- 5 Simple Ways to Save Money on Clothes
- Keeping Track of your Printable Coupons
- Stacking Coupons
Thanks for the great tips!!
New to couponing and these tips really helped. Awesome article!
It is simple. I buy WHAT I want, WHEN they want to sell it to me cheapest. For non coupon items, but “out of season”. For example, buy summer clothes in September for great deals.
I need to get into coupons…
Great article. I have not done much couponing but would love to learn how in order to cut spending..
Great tips! I definitely need to start using coupons and better at learning how to use them correctly.
Thanks for the great tips! I love couponing!!
This is a great post! I have to say couponing has really changed the way I live. I now have extras of items that before I had to scrape pennies to get.