Savy Shopping: Couponing if you have 5, 30, or 120 minutes.

I'll be honest. The Krazy Coupon Lady does almost all my work for me. GASP! I know. I'm a fraud. You caught me. :P But really, if someone has enough time to keep up with extreme couponing for over a dozen stores, let her. I surely don't. And you probably don't either.

If couponing seems daunting, here are some easy tips that i think anyone (with as much or as little time as you have) can do:

IF you have 5 minutes
If you are going out to buy a certain something that you need, go to her list of online printable coupons. Skip right to the section that brand (or the couple of brands you might be willing to buy) might be. If there is one, click on it and print. (You may need to sign up for a newsletter or install a coupon printing program on your computer. This take five minutes, tops, and you can just send the emails to your spam folder if you wont read them.I never do. :P)
For example, the other day I needed trash bags. I scanned the list for Glad and Hefty coupons. I found:
          $1/1 Hefty Trash Bags at target.com


You can also go to the main page and search what you're looking for, to find where the best deal might be.
If I needed baby wipes, I searched in the search bar "Baby wipes" and got these options:
          baby wipes for $0.80 at target, posted May 12
          Gerber baby food and Huggies wipes as low as $0.25 at Harris Teeter, posted May 7
          Huggies babies wipes, as low as $0.50 at target, posted April 13
and the list goes on. Coincidentally only huggies came up, but this is based on the most recent sales that store have come out with. You would go to the most recent and most helpful post you find, and print/shop from there.

IF you have 20 minutes:
On Sundays and Wednesdays, Krazy Coupon Lady updates the newest sales and coupon matchups. This includes a list of all the new sales from a store's weekly ad, as well as any past newspaper coupons, and current online coupns that match up. A symbol is placed next to the best stockpile prices.

Krazy Coupon Lady is based out of california, which determines the stores she keeps up with. This includes, all the drug stores we have around here: CVS, Riteaid, and Walgreens.
Superstores like Walmart, Target, Kmart, and Staples.
And these grocery stores: Albertsons, Carrs, Dominick's, Genuardi's, HEB, Kroger, Pavilions, Publix, Randalls, Safeway, Shop-Rite, Tom Thumb, Vons, Whole Foods, Winco.

By using the "Find My Store" tab on the home page, you can go straight to a list of all the recent article for that store. This pretty much means that the only store i keep up with myself is Winn Dixie. I go through the add that comes out on Wednesday (Publix and Winn Dixie are the only ones that don't come out of Sunday), and for each item on sale I skim my coupon binder and the print coupons page to find a match. I also make sure to check for any Winn Dixie coupons that line up with Publix sales, because Publix accepts competitor coupons.

For example, The Publix add came out yesterday (I am writing this on Thursday, May 23). So i would go to the article for that weekly ad: "Publix Coupon Deals: Week of 5/23" and skim the sales that follow. They look something like this:

Surf Laundry Detergent, 100 oz $7.99 Buy One Get One Free
Use $1.00/1 Surf Laundry Detergent from RP 4/7 (exp 6/2)
Final Price: $3.00 each, when you buy 2 

Ronzoni Healthy Harvest or Garden Delight Pasta, 9-16 oz $1.49 Buy One Get One Free
Use $1.00/2 Ronzoni Healthy Harvest Boxes from SS 4/28 (exp 6/1)
Final Price: $0.25 each, when you buy 2 

Kraft Anything Dressing, 16 oz $2.85
Buy One Get One Free
Use $0.25/1 Kraft Dip, Dressing or Recipe Mix from SS 4/21 (exp 5/20)
And use $1.00/2 – Kraft Salad Dressing, 16 oz, limit one coupon or offer per guest, Target Coupon – (target.com)
Final Price: $0.43 each, when you buy 2          
etc.

I typically check the stores I frequent either sunday or wednesday. I copy and paste any sales that interest me into a word document. And then when I am ready I print the word document and collect my coupons for the trip. Usually takes me a half hour/week tops. 

IF you have 2 hours throughout your week (does not have to be all at once)
then you may be interested in learning how to keep a full on coupon binder. I have a 4 in binder full of baseball card holder pages and sheet protectors. It can hold hundreds of coupons, sorted relatively by the aisles or sections they are typically grouped in at the store.

I learned everything I know from the book Pick Another Checkout Lane, Honey. This book is published by the two women who created the Krazy Coupon Lady Blog. If you're interested, the book sells on Amazon for about $12 new, $8 used, or less than $5 for kindle. I found it quite worth the money.

Like I said, you will need and hour or two throughout the week to keep the book up to date. I normally break this down into fifteen to thirty minutes tasks on various days, such as weeding out expired coupons one day, clipping my coupons while bekah takes a nap, or browsing the KCL blog now and again while I'm nursing.

I've been told I should give lessons. LOL. Honestly, the effort I put in pays for itself in ways like a year's supply of shampoo and conditioner for around 10-15% of retail price. And that's saying A LOT for me. :P

I hope this has been helpful. :) Good luck, krazy coupon hopeful. :P