Hi C.!
I remember being really overwhelmed, too. I like what the other posters are saying about finding out which stores have you everyday needed items for the cheapest in your vicinity. But I even went further--I made a list of what I use for food, cleaning supplies, household items in any week. Then, I found out who had the cheapest price and recorded it. But I kept the list with me, so if I was out in another store and saw it on sale, I could pull out the list and see if it was cheaper than where I usually buy it. For instance, I found a place in town that sells cold cereal for about $1.85/lb. So, if I happened to be at another grocery store and saw the cereal we eat on sale, I figured out that their sale price might be $1.95/lb. So, it really didn't save me to buy their cereal. It sounds like a lot at first, but after years of doing it, I just have a mental list in my head for lots of stuff. My husband has learned to simply ask me when we're out.
Also, I always shop by unit price, because some companies sneak their size vs. quantity. Cereal is a great example of this. They'll have a box of raisin bran that's the same size as their competitors, but they have 3 oz. less than the other box. I just make sure I look at the tag on the shelf that says "unit price", and I see that the box with the more raisin bran is cheaper, even though it looks the same.
As for coupons, I have 2 things:
1) I never clipped coupons for stuff I didn't use. For instance, I rarely use tuna. So, if there was a chicken-of-the-sea coupon for tuna, I skipped it. On the rare time I needed tuna, I just bought the store brand. I have found that for items like this, the store brand is usually the cheapest anyway.
2) I made up 12 letter envelopes and put each month on them. Then, I filed the coupons by their expiration date. I kept them in the car and pulled out that month's envelope when I went into any store. I also keep a calculator in my purse. I just walked around and did the unit price for the store brand vs. the unit price on the sale price with the coupon. Sometimes the brand name is cheaper, sometimes it's not. I picked up those items and stored them in my basement for when I needed them.
If you are really interested, you can write on the envelope what you saved that month using the coupons. It eventually got to the point that I realized that I might save $20 per month, but I was spending 2 hours every Sunday clipping. That meant I was working 8 hours per month. I was earning $2.50 an hour doing that for our family. When $20 was worth a lot of money to us, I didn't care how much time it took me. Years later, when my husband's income went up enough that it wasn't so tight, I realized my time was worth more than $2.50/hr, and that I could do other things with that 2 hours that were also really important to get done. For instance, if I knew I was going to have to stay up later than my bedtime in order to get the bathroom clean that day, I used the time I saved clipping coupons to buy myself time to get the bathroom cleaned and other things done. Time is money, too!
I hope I didn't overwhelm you too much! I just remember how my head started spinning when I started clipping coupons as well and wanted to give what I learned over the years.
Blessings!
C.
