Coupon Clipping

Coupon clipping is an American pastime. I can remember my mother clipping coupons and best of all I remember S & H Green Stamps also called Green Shield Stamps. My brothers and I were so excited whenever our parents purchased gas or groceries and we'd receive a sheet of those stamps to put into our booklets. There was a catalog you looked through to see how many stamps you would need to trade for different items. Once your books were full you would take them down to the S & H Green Stamps Store to trade them for your desired item. I also remember the Blue Chips Stamps program as well. Good times!

I believe coupon clipping is an art or a curse that is passed done from mother to daughter. I am a coupon clipper but not the hard core clipper. I have just been recently reminded though of how to save an extra dollar or two by more vigilantly watching the Sunday newspaper ads along with Tuesday's ads. A friend instructed me on laying out all the ads with your coupons. Matching your coupons to the items that are on sale. Looking at the stores that will double and triple your coupons ( the slang for this is double whammy & triple whammy). Deciding which stores will have the best price for your money.

I have been searching around on different sites researching this topic. There is a lot to say about coupon clipping with many different styles of shopping. For me and my busy life I need things to be very simple and concise. When my friend talked to me about what she was doing to save about $100.00 or more per month I thought - I can do that! I have become lax with my grocery budget. I could do more to be saving the all mighty dollar.

So this is a friendly reminder to us all that if we planned a little better for our shopping excursions, by clipping a few coupons here and there, planned out our meals ahead of time making those dreaded lists we could save ourselves some money.

Some good sites for you fellow clippers are: http://www.momadvice.com/ , http://www.coolsavings.com/ , http://www.smartsource.com/ , and http://www.valupage.com/ .

I will have a part two to this article in about a month to let you know what great savings I have incurred with my coupon clipping.

With the uncertainty that is increasing in our world it is good to look at different areas in our lives where we can improve to save money. Let us network together with people you might work with, people within your churches, sports teams and communities to teach each other simple tricks to saving money. Happy shopping!