Did she take a class to learn the best way to manage it? I was thinking of taking the one at JCC's CLeveland campus. How much time does she spend preparing for the trip to the store? TIA...
No but her sister did and basically passed on the knowledge. They have gone together the last two times but she said my wife is on her own going forward. As for the work, not really. I was out of town this past weekend when she claimed to have gathered the coupons so I can't say for sure how much time was put in for last night's trip. Knowing her, it wasn't much as she is pretty busy each day. So I wouldn't think it is unreasonable or unrealistic for most people.
It only takes an hour to two hours a week once you have your binder set up and are familiar with the sales cycles.
Couponing Made "Easier" I hope I didn't miss a post where this was already mentioned... There are multitude of websites that make couponing much easier than it used to be. The best website for beginners that I have seen recently is SouthernSavers.com They cover most of the local stores in the area. The website even has youtube video tutorials for how to find, orgranize and manage your coupons. Then they have a list of the weekly sales and the coupons that match the sales making some really good deals. Here are a few more: http://www.mycouponteacher.com http://www.couponkim.com http://www.wral.com/5onyourside/smartshopper/ http://www.hotcouponworld.com Here are some sites to get coupons: http://www.coupons.com http://www.redplum.com http://www.smartsource.com Hope it helps... ps... the comment about Stockpiling turning into hoarding... YES it does and I have a great solution to the problem... I too have been bitten by the "Its such a great deal that I have to get all I can" bug... Every month or two I go through the pantries and box up the items I know that our family will not be using and I donate them to the basic needs ministry. They will give you a tax receipt for your donation! And some local families in need will benefit from your generousity.
"buying" coupons Another way to get the Sunday coupons is to "buy" the service of a broker clipping and mailing them to you. I use http://www.thecouponclippers.com to get coupons that I may have missed in the Sunday paper. They are located in Florida and an order normally takes 2 - 3 days to get here. Usually you know a few days in advance what will be on sale and what coupons matchups there are if you are using the websites in my previous post.
