Where to start?

I know there are thousands of people out there that say they want to coupon, tear off a couple coupons from their local grocery store and then see that it is only saving them a few cents they give up. So where do you start to save thousands of dollars every year on things that you would normally buy is the real question!

The answer to this really depends on the person and how much effort and time they are willing to put into coupon savings. Sure we all want to save thousands or get things for as close to free as possible but if you are already finding yourself lacking time clipping coupons, matching sales and spending time getting to the stores bright and early on the first day of the sales might not be a great option for you.

Here is the first thing that you need to decide, how much time are you willing to invest into using coupons to increase your savings? If your answer is none at all then you will save very little, if you can spend a moderate amount of time matching coupons to sales and coupon hunting then you can save quite a bit and if you have lots of spare time and are willing to spend as much time as it takes to get the most savings you can you can easily save thousands.

Once you have decided how much time to invest you can then start your task. Your first task that I would highly recommend would be to sign up at SmartCanucks.ca where they will post all of the weekly hot deals under the deals tab and you can simply match your coupons to those deals. I would also highly recommend signing up for save.ca, gocoupons.ca and brandsaver.ca these three sites will deliver the coupons that you have chosen right to your doorstep. Another thing that I did to start out was doing trades on smartcanucks to build my trade rating as well as getting some coupons that I could use. The users on that site are very friendly and are great to get you started, if you have any questions I can almost guarantee that someone there will have the answers.

A good way to start couponing to ensure that you don't get overwhelmed right away is to choose one aspect of your life and coupon for those items first. For some people it is health and beauty, others it is baby products, household cleaners or foods. By choosing one area this will give you a chance to get a feel for coupons, where you can find them, what stores accept printables or are very coupon friendly and which other stores are not as pleasant. Once you have successfully couponed for that area of your life and you feel comfortable with coupons you can then branch out into another area.

Where to find coupons is always another popular question. Before I really got into using coupons I thought the only ones that were available were in store tear pads and through emails. I never realized all of the different places that you can find coupons and I'm sure I have tossed hundreds of dollars in coupons away just not even knowing to look for them.
Some places you can find coupons include in store tear pads which are pads of coupons which are attached to the grocery store shelves, on a display board or at the cash registers. These are coupons that can be used at that store only sometimes but there are also other coupons that can be used at any store so if a product is cheaper at another store you can use them there as well. It is always recommended that you only take enough coupons that you will use and never all so if there is a full pad and you know you will use 10 it is fine to take them but never take a whole pad!
You can also find coupons attached to products either inside the packages, printed onto boxes, on peelie stickers attached to boxes and jars of products and behind labels. Most products will say on the outside packaging if there are coupons inside but sometimes you maybe surprised!
Many companies have mailing lists that you can be placed on or request coupons either monthly or yearly. A good example of this is Chapmans icecream. You can email Chapman's and they will mail out either a $3 or $5 coupon once per year per household. It is a great idea to contact companies with compliments for products that you truly do love. It is never a good idea to make false complaints or compliment companies just to receive coupons that you will not use.
Mail in rebates are another great place to get coupons. Many companies will offer promotions through out the year that if you purchase X amount of product and send in the receipt, mail in rebate form and UPC codes they will in return send money saving coupons or even free product coupons. One example of these would be the Pepsi Tostito promotion that was held in January for the Grey Cup. When you mailed in proof that you had spent X amount on specified products they sent a $20 coupon booklet which included 1 free 12 pack of Pepsi products, 1 free 2L Pepsi product, 2 free potato chips, 1 free Gatorade and 1 free 6 x 710ml Pepsi products. Offers vary from time to time and sometimes you may find old mail in rebate forms kicking around stores so before making purchases always check the dates on them to ensure they are still valid.
I listed a few websites above where you can choose your coupons and have them mailed right to your doorstep. These sites mailing times vary greatly, I have received my coupons in as little as 10 days but sometimes as long as 6 weeks so it is a huge variation.
Many companies have special offers on their facebook pages and websites that you can either request coupons which will be mailed right to your doorstep or you can print off money saving coupons. Often times these coupons will say "limit one per person" which means that you are only suppose to print one of these coupons. Other times they will say "limit one per transaction" which means you can use one coupon per shopping trip and another important detail is when they say "limit one per purchase" some cashiers argue that this means that you can only use one of these coupons for your entire shopping trip but this is not true. One per purchase simply means you can only use one coupon per product that you are purchasing, for example if you have 3 bottles of Heinz Ketchup and you have 3 $1 off coupons you can only use 1 $1 off coupon per bottle of Ketchup not 3 $1 off coupons.

It is very important in the beginning not to get discouraged by annoyed cashiers or rude comments as it is bound to happen and I promise you the first time that you have a loaded cart and pay very little out of pocket any attitude that you have ever received will be a thing of the past. Take things at a pace that you are comfortable with and if you have any questions ask. If you feel that a cashier is being unfair don't hesitate to ask for a manager and if you still feel it has not been resolved contacting head office is always encouraged. Customer service should be very friendly regardless of the number of coupons you are using as you are still a paying customer and the store will always be refunded 100% of the value of the coupon as well as a handling fee.

If you get discouraged give yourself some time, becoming a Coupon King or Queen does not happen over night. It takes time, planning and you are bound to make some mistakes, have some coupons refused or find that your shopping plan was derailed because of items being out of stock. It is ok to feel defeated, it is ok to make mistakes because it will teach you how you can better plan for the next time and how you can make your experience with coupons even better.

Share with me how you plan to start using coupons or how you started. Have you kept track of your total savings? Did you start with just one aspect of your life? What is one tip you would give to someone new using coupons?