Stuck in a rut with couponing? I truly believe couponing can – and should – be fun.
If couponing is starting to feel like a chore, I want to share a few of my favorite ideas for keeping the savings game exciting.
1. Shop somewhere new. Instead of hitting up the same old stores, pack up your coupon stash and head to a new store. See how well you can plumb the coupon deals! Where are the store coupons? Is there a mailing list you can be added to? A loyalty card you can sign up for? Or maybe instead of shopping at the Walgreens near your house, shop at the one 15 minutes away. You might just discover a better stocked, coupon friendlier store.
2. Play “hide and go seek” with coupons. I don’t know I’ve ever seen anyone advocate this, but I sometimes shop this way. I’ll go to Fred Meyer with NO coupons on hand and see what I can find by merely being observant. I might check out the weekly ad, hunt for rejected Catalina coupons in the coupon exchange, or see I can find any clearance items with peelies. I don’t recommend doing this all the time, but once in awhile, this might be the ticket to shake things up.
3. Try filing your coupons in a new way. If your organization system has become a drag, it may be time to switch it up. If you put your coupons in a binder, try filing them. Or vice versa. Or invent a new system and get it patent.
4. Teach someone to coupon. There’s nothing quite like watching someone’s eyes light up when they begin to “get” how to do this. And there’s no better way I can think than to get rejuvinated about couponing yourself!
5. Host a coupon party. Going along with #4, you might decide to host a coupon party. You can share shopping trips, share deals, trade coupons, or even trade stockpile items.
6. Take a break. We can really take this whole couponing thing too seriously at times, can’t we? We see someone else’s great deal and feel like we’re somehow “failing” in comparison. Or we realize we let a coupon – or worse – a Catalina expire and we get down on ourselves. Guess what? It’s time to let yourself off the hook. If you need to, take a break or two off of couponing (although I do recommend you at least collect your papers). Come back when you’re feeling ready to go again.
What else do you do to keep couponing exciting?
Photo credit Anna Moser
{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
I keep my coupon routine interesting with a Target $5 gift card I received back in March. I only use it on deals where I get another $5 gc in return. I’ve been rolling this $5 g.c. for quite a while now and have gotten so much product for basically free. From Sobe Lifewater, to razors, to Olay Items, to Fiber One, etc. It has made my couponing even more exciting and cheaper. It’s just a silly little game to see how much I can save but it sure keeps couponing interesting to see what deals I can do with just a $5 g.c.
I LOVE that idea!!
LOVE your ideas! Switching stores is one of my favorite ways to keep things fresh. When I find myself getting bored with groceries, I”ll switch back into focusing on the drug stores and vice versa.
I also do #2 often- going in without coupons to see what deals I can find. My favorite time of day to do it is the early morning and later in the evenings when markdowns are getting put out. It’s great to find great prices of meat/produce and see what else there might be hiding in the stores.
I’ve tried shopping without coupons and not even paying attention for blinkies, peelies, etc. But then I feel oh-so guilty about the extra money that I spent. I keep thinking that I could have saved so much more because I had coupons for particular items at home. But it’s nice to not lug the big coupon binder around sometimes!!!
I would LOVE to try Keana’s Target gift card idea! I wish our Target store was closer. It’s about 35 minutes away, so I can’t pop in quickly. But I’ve been trying to do that with my CVS Extra Care Bucks. I love rolling those to see what I can get with them without paying anything but tax out-of-pocket.
Thanks for the ideas and for the OK to not coupon once in a while! I thinks we all need that reminder!
Thanks for sharing. Just this week, I told someone about couponing and she is really interested in learning how to save money for her family.
I just started a coupon train with some friends around the country
We made lists of our favorite coupons, and are sending an envelope of coupons from one person to another, to grab and add. So excited!
You’re right about changing stores. In April, we were on vacation in Montana, and I had decided that we would get groceries at the Safeway on the way back (we don’t have Safeway locally, so I never shop there). I didn’t really prepare at all, just took my coupon binder along. Turned out Safeway was having some fabulous sales, and I rocked it–took home a bunch of free stuff and spent a lot of coupons. It was thrilling! Haha. Really, it was so much fun just to have to coupon on the fly like that and still be able to come home with free cereal and fruit snacks and some very cheap fruit and so forth. Unfortunately, we live in the boondocks, so changing stores isn’t really going to happen too much for me. Once in a while I think it might be worth the 90-mile drive to Montana to hit up the Safeway again, though. Ha. Actually, on the same trip, I had some stuff I needed from Target, and just being in a different Target (the one in Bozeman, where we stayed, was much larger, nicer, and less picked-over than the one I usually go to in Idaho Falls) was exciting, because they had so many products my usual one doesn’t have, and the really hot sale items were actually still available (I am told that couponing is not as popular in MOntana as it is in Idaho, so I guess that’s why). So, even that was exciting for me. Maybe I just need to get out more, eh?
Anyway, I love the Target $5 gc idea, too. I tried that for a while with the Wags RRs, but it gets too complicated because they don’t roll. Maybe I’ll try it at Target (I have 2 $5 gcs at Target right now, so I guess I’m ready!).
Today in one of the All You mags, I noticed that they’re having a grocery challenge. When I first read it, I thought it said to challenge yourself to only spend $25 a week on groceries (for a month), and I thought I could probably do that. Then I noticed that their rules are that it’s $25 per *family member* per week, and that isn’t even a challenge anymore. But I thought maybe I’d challenge myself to do what I originally thought it was, just $25 a week for a month. It would allow me to get rid of some of the stockpile and maybe start to clean out our freezer which needs defrosting. So, maybe that will keep my couponing exciting for the next month.
I just took a break!! Well, I’m pregnant and during weeks 9 to 17- I didn’t really get off the couch! I was so happy to have a stockpile of cereal, snacks, baking stuff, frozen meats and cheeses! I barely shopped, just for dairy and produce. I’m not sure I would have made it through those yucky weeks w/o my stockpile!!
Well, now all my coupons have expired. I cleaned out my binder and drawer, and I’m starting fresh today (Sunday)!! I just taught another mom how to coupon, it’s like a part time job that I’m restarting!