WoodElves

A lot of people are amazed when I come home from the store with a lot of deals for a little amount of money. You don't have to be amazed. You can do it, too! I have only been couponing since last July. I didn't take a class or workshop. I learned by following the plethora of excellent frugal mom blogs and by trial and error. Yes, error - I still sometimes walk in the store with a coupon for the wrong size item or figure my math wrong beforehand, but I'm catching on.

This post is to point you in the right direction of where to find the resources I use, regardless of what part of the country you live in.


1. By far my favorite mom blog and #1 recommendation is www.moneysavingmom.com . This is a Christian mom who covers deals, coupons, and freebies available all over the country. Best of all, on the right side of her page, if you scroll down, you will see "Looking for deals at your local stores?" There are logos for grocery stores from all over. No matter where you live in the USA, you should be able to find grocery stores in your area. Click on them and you will find coupon/sale matchups for your area.

2. Go to the Frugal Map and click on your state to find listings of blogs that cover stores in your state.

3. If you have CVS, Rite Aid, Walgreens, or Target in your area (which I think covers almost everyone), Southern Savers has the most thorough coupon matchups for their weekly deals. She also covers almost every grocery store in the south.

4. If you live in the Tidewater area, my favorite blog is The Coupon Challenge (not to mention, how easy is it to remember the name "The Coupon Challenge" when recommending her blog to people!). She also has links to other Hampton Roads area frugal blogs.

5. If you are learning the ropes to CVS, Rite Aid or Walgreens, check out Southern Savers' Tutorials. She explains all you need to know about how to use CVS' Extra Care Bucks program, Rite Aid's Single Check Rebates and Walgreens' Register Rewards. While you're there, she also has guides to learning coupon lingo and plenty of other resources for new couponers.

6. To find online printable coupons, check out Coupons.com, RedPlum.com and SmartSource.com as well as manufacturers' websites and Facebook pages. Or go to MoneySavingMom's coupon database and type in whatever you're looking for (e.g., "popcorn") and you will get a list of every popcorn coupon currently available and where to find it.

7. Lastly, I save myself time and money by going on my local grocery stores' websites before I go to the store. Harris Teeter and Farm Fresh both offer online shopping and store pick up programs. Since you can do your shopping on their website, you can see all the prices and stock of the store before you even leave your home. I do a lot of price comparison this way. When I go grocery shopping, I can know exactly what I am getting, what coupons I will be using and how much I will be spending. I'm sure other grocery stores in the country have similar options (Kroger and Food Lion do not).