If you're a complete beginner, start here . . .

There have been so many requests lately stating simply "how do I begin?" that I thought posting at least some very beginning steps might be helpful. So . . . if you're absolutely just starting:
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I’m a complete beginner – how do I get started?

1. Get the Sunday papers (yours, your neighbor’s, your friend’s, your enemy’s). In with the ads (typically inside the comic sections), you will find coupon inserts. Most weeks there are two of them, one called SmartSource (SS) and one called Valassis (once a month there is also usually a P&G brandsaver insert as well). You need to obtain lots of these coupon inserts for as little money as possible. You probably already get your own paper – so there’s one. To get more, there are several possibilities. First ask everyone you know. Believe it not, most people (gasp!) don’t coupon the way we do. They either throw them all out or just cut out a couple that they want and throw out the rest. You want them all. So ask for any leftovers. Second, if you live in or near an apartment complex go by their recycling section and see how many inserts the residents have thrown away. Third, go to your local recycling center and scour around - this is typically what people mean when they say they’re dumpster diving (DD). Fourth, on Monday mornings, go to stores that sell papers and ask if they’ll give you their Sunday leftovers. As a last resort there are some reputable services that will “sell” you coupons for a small handling fee. Obviously obtaining them free is better, but if you can “buy” a bunch of coupons for a few cents each that will get you free products, this is a viable alternative. A discussion about specific sites where you can do this is here:
Obtaining multiples from clipping services

2. Organize your newfound coupon stash. There are lots of ways to do this. Many people just keep the inserts whole and file them by date (i.e. SS 7/13, SS 7/20, Val 7/20, etc). This saves a huge amount of time up front, but takes more time when you actually go shopping since you have to cut the coupons you want at that time. Others cut the coupons and sort them in various ways – by type (i.e. frozen, paper, etc), by expiration, by aisle in store, etc

3. Familiarize yourself with all of the different grocery stores around you. Visit each and ask at the customer service desk what their coupon policy is. Policies vary store by store and region by region. The most common are:

Double Coupons: This is where the store will double the face value of your coupon up to a certain amount. Some stores will double up to $0.99 meaning a $0.75 coupon becomes $1.50 in savings. Others double up to $0.50. Some very few stores will still double $1.00’s. Doubling $1.00’s is typically referred to as "Super Doubles"

No Doubling: Exactly what it says – your coupon is simply worth face value.

Triple Coupons: Rare, but found most frequently where there is a lot of competition. Here the store will triple the face value of your coupons up to a certain amount (usually $0.50, but sometime $0.99). In cases of tripling up to $0.99, a $0.75 coupon would be worth $2.25!

4. Get the weekly grocery stores ads. If you don’t get all of them at home, you usually can go to the store’s web site and view them online. Simply match up the sales with the coupons you have. For example in the summer if you see Klondike ice cream bars regularly priced at $3.49 on sale half price for $1.74, you take your $0.75 coupon to the store (assuming they double up to $0.99) and you're out the door with boxes for $0.24 (93% savings). If you see Hefty trash bags regularly priced at $1.99 on sale half price for $0.99, you take your $0.55 coupon to the store, double it, and get the box for free (100% savings). The list of possible sales/deals is almost endless. Many FW GC members are nice enough to post "HDA" threads (also known as "GDA". These Hot Deal Alerts show special deals you can get at certain stores that week. This can save you time since somebody has already found many hot deals. However you should still look at the ads yourself, because what’s not hot for one person might be hot for you.

5. STOCKPILE, STOCKPILE, and STOCKPILE. Now that you’ve found a good deal, you need to buy a lot of it. Not 1 or 2, but 10 or 20 (or more). This is why you got all of those multiple coupons in #1 above. Now this only makes sense if the item is not perishable and you have room to store it (although many of us find room even when it seems as if there’s no room left!). The reason stockpiling is so important is because it lets you acquire large quantities of certain products for practically nothing. You’re buying at a price YOU want, not the regular price the store will charge you at another time. Serious couponers have multi-year supplies of lots of items such as shampoos, conditioners, toothpaste, toothbrushes, soap, cleaning supplies, etc. When you use up one of these items, you simply go to your stockpile thereby saving you the time of having to go to the store and the money having stockpiled it for free (or close to free) over paying the regular price.

6. How to buy meats, fruits and vegetables? This should probably get a thread of it’s own, but there are a couple of pointers to help for these typically "non-couponable" items. For meat, look for meat close to its last available selling date. Stores usually will put "$1.00 off" or "$2.00 off" coupons on them because they can’t legally sell them after this date. The meat itself is perfectly fine (after all, who cares if it sits in the store’s freezer or your freezer?) and this gets you an easy discount. In addition, only buy meat on sale (this one is a bit obvious). Sales on meat can easily be up to 50% off their regular prices. It’s all in the timing of your purchases. Another technique is to use store coupons for "$x off your order". If you have a club card, a store might mail you a "$5 off your $35 order" or something like that. Anytime you see a minimum dollar amount for an order on a coupon, it means pre-coupons - so it is pretty easy using the techniques above to get to the minimum spending amount pre-coupon, use coupons to get your actual purchase down to a few dollars, and then use your $5 off coupon for meat/fruit. In addition, valupage.com has offers where if you buy certain items you get checkout coupons (sometimes referred to as "catalinas" in the GC forum) for dollars off your next order. If you can obtain these valupage items for close to free with coupons, the resulting catalinas would give you money to use for meat/fruit/vegetables. Lastly, in some areas (sadly not where I live) there are wine tags that are coupons placed on wine, but which are actually for $1 off meat or $1 off produce.

7. More about catalinas and Valupage (thanks ROM). Valupage (link) is divided into two separate offer sections as follows:
(a) The "Additional In-Store Savings" will all print without scanning your ValuPage. You can get multiple items for multiple "dollars or cents off" as the case may be. Additional In-Store Savings offers should print multiple Catalinas if you purchase multiple products. For example, through a recent deal you could have purchased 10 Pepcid AC and would have received 10 - $2.00 off your next purchase Catalinas for a total of $20.00 off any items on a future shopping trip. If you didn't receive multiple Catalinas for multiple purchases, either the offer has changed or something isn't programmed into the register at that lane. Each register is programmed separately. Go to customer service. If that doesn't help, contact Valupage directly. They are very good about mailing the Catalinas to you, provided you have your receipt so they can get the information they need to figure out why the offer didn't print.
(b) The "Featured Savings" are the ones you must scan the Valupage to receive. The Catalinas for the Featured Savings will NOT print without scanning the Valupage. These offers are generally limited to ONE offer per order unless specified otherwise. You need to make multiple trips or multiple orders if you want to do more than one of those.

Very nice explanation. What non-couponers don't understand is why we buy lots and lots of the same thing even though we don't "need" it. This explains it well.

I need a bigger house so I can stockpile! Not a lot of room here. I am going to have to clear out some space...somewhere.

Thank you a lot! Very clear explanation!

I hope the FAQ in development addresses organization of coupons. When I first came to FW, I recall a real extensive thread on how to organize coupons. Of course, I was not couponing then and so I didn't save it. When I searched just now, the best thread I found was http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/messageview.cfm?catid=57&threadid=191098 (and the threads referenced inside of it); however, I remember a better thread. Anyone have a link to a more detailed thread? Or, should I just wait for the completed FAQ?

(MyTwoSence thanks for this thread, Pilotchase, thanks in advance for the FAQ)

Commissary shoppers can view the sales online Here

Check here to see which papers carry the P&G insert:
P&G

Just for info. My town doesn't have them either. I stop by the local gas station and pick up a "real" paper or two (or four).

Nicewife,
My local paper doesn't get the P&G insert either, so I stated buying the paper for the nearest big city, which in my case is Savannah, GA. It is sold right next to my local paper in a paper machine. I wanted to kick myself for all the times I passed it up for the local paper not knowing that this one has more coupons! Check all the news paper machines around your area and look for one selling a paper from a major city. You might to surprised to find out there's one loaded with coupons every Sunday.

Bonnie

thanks a lot

great idea to you both!

just wanted to add that you should always sign up for and use the store's loyalty cards...some even link your card to your home number so you don't have to remember the card.

Does anyone else get annoyed at the people in front of you who don't have a card and then refuse when you offer to let them use yours? IT's like I want to scream at them "Why are you throwing money away?!?!" Maybe if they were the perrson behind me they would say yes..." lol

bump for other newbies

neefersmom said:

<< Well I know everyone will yell at me . . . >>

Actually everyone should yell at you for replying to so many threads with the same exact post . . .

Yes thank you for organizing this Beginner's Guide ... I've been looking for something like it ...

sonicflame said:

<< A stockpiling question- We are planning on using a deep freezer to stock up on meats and frozen foods. I know that several of you also freeze things like cheese. How well does it freeze, and how fresh does it seem when it comes out? I'm just afraid of it getting mushy or rubbery. Also, has anyone tried freezing things like sour cream or butter/margarine? >>

I have frozen most cheeses for years. the only one you can't I think is like cream cheese, or velveeta...sour cream...the softies,they break up and look curdled.....I always freeze butter/margerine. It great when you can buy on sale! I freeze my breads,and pastries,cakes,cookies etc....just call me the queen of freeze..LOL

neefersmom said:

<< sonicflame said:

<< A stockpiling question- We are planning on using a deep freezer to stock up on meats and frozen foods. I know that several of you also freeze things like cheese. How well does it freeze, and how fresh does it seem when it comes out? I'm just afraid of it getting mushy or rubbery. Also, has anyone tried freezing things like sour cream or butter/margarine? >>

I have frozen most cheeses for years. the only one you can't I think is like cream cheese, or velveeta...sour cream...the softies,they break up and look curdled.....I always freeze butter/margerine. It great when you can buy on sale! I freeze my breads,and pastries,cakes,cookies etc....just call me the queen of freeze..LOL >>

I freeze every thing too. Do not try to freeze sour cream, because I can tell you from experience it doesn't work! As for cheese, I grate mine, then add a few tablespoons of cornstarch (this keeps it from sticking together) then I put it in a zip lock and throw it in the freezer. When I need some, I get out the amount I want and put the bag back in the freezer. It works great, and I always having grated cheese ready for me when I'm cooking.

I also freeze fresh basil (and other herbs) by chopping it up and putting it in ice cube trays with water. It's great for throwing in soups, stews, and sauces.

You can also freeze bananas to use later for baking, or mixing into oatmeal or pancake mix. I buy bananas on sale and freeze them whole. They have the best flavor if you let them get black first.

Another thing I do is buy onions, peppers, and other fresh produce when it's on sale. Then I chop them up and freeze them. I once bought 6 packages of baby carrots that were marked down to .50 a pack. I froze them, and whenever I make soups or stews I toss some in.

I also freeze left overs into single serving portions. They make great lunches when the kids are home on the weekends or in the summer.

Another way to save money, is make huge pots of homemade soup, and freeze it in those zip lock bowls. It's much cheaper than buying canned / microwave soups, and more healthy too. Of course if I can get canned soup free with coupons, I never pass it up.

Butter, lunch meat, and bread all freeze well, and it a great way to stock up on it when you can get it cheap or free.

I have a deep freezer and it's the best investment I've ever made. I'm thinking of getting another one!

<bump>

FYI, if you type in all caps, it is considered "shouting" and is "rude" on the 'net
(not a grocery tip, I know, but good for all new webbies)

Thanks OP. I also look for things that are free after Rebate over here http://www.salescircular.com/index.shtml . If you have coupons on these items thats pure profit.

bump for newbie coupon clippers such as myself...

Don't forget to grab coupons from the red dispensers on the aisles. Different grocery chains have different coupons, so if you're near a store at which you usually don'st shop run in & get them! Unfortunately, these will almost always be non-doubled coupons...

can someone answer a simple question?

What are some reputable online companies to begin buying my coupons. And is there any place on line I can print out smart source and vlassis coupons.

I am new to this. Those of you who have lots of coupons, do you just take a gamble and get a lot of coupons hoping the local "whatever" will discount your product?

I'd love to stockpile kraft cheese as I go through it like crazy and I spend so much money on it as well. I've never used a coupon and pay close to four dollars a slice,