How do you decide how many coupons to get?

[kaedeebug]

Hi, just wondering how you decide which coupons and how many to trade for? How much per week do you spend on q's? I am just getting started and I have already spent 18 dollars this week. I ordered from a clipping service and a few people from the forums and I chose only those I would
for sure use but I am worried they will expire before I find the right sale. I thought I did great with my 5 kraft bbq coupons paying 10 cents a bottle and then Sundays ad came out for Ingles and I could have kicked myself they would have been free! Trying to find those q's now has been impossible!
I want to build a stockpile on the things we use that is so costly like toothpaste, tampons,razors toilet paper, etc but do not know which razor q's to get?? I have one store(ingles) that doubles so do I try to get only the off/1 q's or what? I really would like Lipton 50/1 how do I get them before sale goes off? to be honest this forum has totally confused me with the database thing and have lists etc. i want to be that person with the free toothpastebut I am lost! Help me please!

[thriftycj]

Welcome! Sounds like you've already had some great successes! Here's some suggestions that may provide some guidance...

1. Read the stockpiling forum and also sign up for the email updates. These will give you some good tips on sales cycles, etc. Early summer brings opportunities to stock up on soda, powerade/gatorade, lots of condiments, ice cream, hot dogs, etc. Also, you'll find good deals on paper plates, etc. Back to school will bring sales on lunch items, breakfast cereals (though, there have been great deals now... i suspect b/c of the economy), etc. New Years is the time for diet foods... V8 veggie juice, lean cuisines, SBD foods, etc.

2. Start collecting inserts. While there are come coupons that are once a year or so, most run in cycles... so if your colgate toothpaste coupon is about to expire, no worries! another one will be coming soon! I would recommend getting 2-4 inserts each week when starting out stockpiling. This will let you get multiples of deals (and having an even number of q's means you're set for bogo sales!). It will take a few months to build your stockpile. Don't stress out that it isn't happening all at once... it is happening! :) Get printables for items that you can use, or if you plan to trade on here, printables that are popular for trading. I use clipper services and ebay solely for coupons for products that I know I want to do serious stock up on... for example, powerade is on great sales here right now, so I ordered a slew of $.75/2 q's. This will let me to stock up for the entire summer (if not longer!).

3. Keep up on the forums for your stores. Many (like CVS and Walgreens) will have previews of upcoming ads. This lets you do some planning.

I remember the temptation to get as much as you can all at once. resist the urge! sales will come around. I was able to take 6 months off from couponing recently... and my stockpile still has plenty hba items and food to last me awhile.

Again, welcome, and keep asking questions! you'll have the hang of it in no time!

[funnyface12345]

Another for buying coupons from the services..I have found as long as I order them by Monday afternoon or Tuesday morning, I can still get the coupons I need for that weeks sales. I only buy the coupons that I need for a specific sale so I know I will use them right away. As for how many...it depends on you and your family..how much you use of items. Also start paying attention to sales and coupons...I have a ton of Ronzoni coupons coming because this is the first time I've seen the right combination of sale, and coupons that will let me get them free...so I'm stocking up with 22 boxes..that should get me through until the next great sale comes along...or longer.

[sawlac]

I try to trade for coupons with long expiration dates. You will also start to learn which coupons people will want to trade for or which coupons don't come along to often so when you get the chance you collect those. I'm sure many of us have used our coupons on what we thought was a good deal only to see a better one later on! There will be more coupons & more sales to get a better deal next time! Don't feel bad about it - just treat it as a learning experience.

[cpnmaniac44]

Originally Posted by kaedeebug Hi, just wondering how you decide which coupons and how many to trade for? How much per week do you spend on q's? I am just getting started and I have already spent 18 dollars this week. I ordered from a clipping service and a few people from the forums and I chose only those I would but I am lost! Help me please!

I'm shocked at the $18 expense for a week.
Can you give me a list of the grocery stores you have?

[tmsmalley]

For $18 you could have bought at least 9 Sunday papers and had 9 sets of inserts for everything, not just the few things. Don't try to do everything at once, build up to it bit by bit over time. And don't kick yourself over .10 sauce! That's a great deal! Yes, free is great too, but so is .10!

Tess

[434Teresa]

.10 for bbq sauce is great sure it was not free but that was still great.

$18 in one weeks time is a little much..unles the coupons you got have dates of like 2 months away so you will have time to use them for sales and so on and you dont buy have to buy to many again for awhile now.

I buy my news papers at the Dollar Tree they are only $1 so i can get 4/5 of them and save the insterts till they expire, i might need them that I dont use for trades.

Most of the time if I buy coupons for things we use often I will only buy 5/10 of each one just depends on how often I know I can get the coupons and how much of the item we, use sale or no sale..right now there is coupons out there for $1 off popsicle well my four kids love the things so I got lots and lots of those because walmart has a box of 10 for $1 so they are free which is a super deal because I have place to store them and I know they will be ate summer or winter time. as for the toothpast I have yet got it for free, I only pay around $1 for it but free I have not been able to do yet, I find I get other things for free tht others on here dont so I think the free deal depends on where you live and what stores you have.

Price match if you shop at walmart or super walmart they will price match sales as long as you have the sales ad this saves on gas and time for me. I have just started price matching lately and it dose save ton when used with coupons to...walgreens has kellogs on sale for $1.99 and I had $1 coupons, i took the ad to walmart had them price match and got them for$1.99 a box I had coupons for $1 so I got them for .99 cents a box, which is great for around here I know other traders get it for .49 cents a box but here I dont get the $1.50 coupon that some of them get out of the papers. so I am happy with getting a box of cereal that cost almost $4 for .99 cents.

watch for coupons that dont have a size on them or dont say you cant use them on trail size because you can get things free that way to..