Couponing, without the crazy

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Is couponing for you?

According to a BabyCenter survey, more than 80 percent of moms use coupons to help with the family budget. Still, maybe you’re on the fence – skeptical that you can save enough to make all that clipping worth your time.

In some families, sure, time may be even scarcer than money and cupboard space too tight for stockpiling staples. But for many, a few pointers and a half hour a week of finding and organizing coupons can be enough to catch the fever of saving money on every trip to the store.

A small time investment can pay off: A Consumer Reports survey found that shoppers who used coupons saved an average of $678 a year, or more than 10 cents of every grocery dollar.

Clipping 101

Good old-fashioned Sunday newspaper inserts are still here, and still a useful place to get coupons. If your area has several papers, buy the one with the largest circulation for the best coupons. Also, the first Sunday of the month typically has the most coupon inserts. Holiday weekends (Valentine’s Day, Easter) typically have no inserts.

Since most coupons can only be used once, some people like to buy two or more copies of the Sunday paper, or they ask family to save unwanted coupons from theirs so they can stock up on good deals.

To keep your coupons in useable order, look for a small accordion file or wallet-size notebook with pockets. You can organize coupons by category – dog food, personal care products, dairy, frozen – or by expiration date.

You'll find two kinds of coupons in the paper: manufacturer's coupons, which you can use at pretty much any store, and store-specific coupons.

While you can't use two store coupons or two manufacturer's coupons on the same box of detergent, you can typically use one store coupon and one manufacturer's coupon on the same box. This is called "stacking coupons," and it's where you can really start to rack up savings. Use the two coupons on a box of detergent that's already on clearance, and you've hit pay dirt.

Some more couponing lingo that you'll run across:

Price matching: Some stores will match another store's price or discount if you bring in the ad or the other store's coupon.

Double coupons: Some stores will double the savings of any manufacturer's coupon you bring in (or up to a certain limit – say, 50 cents). Stores that do this will do it automatically – you don't need to ask at the register.

BOGO or B1G1: Buy one, get one free. Tip: If you have a $1-off coupon and a BOGO coupon for a particular carton of juice, you can often use them both: Get $1 off the first carton, get the second one free.

Beyond the Sunday paper: more great coupon sources

At the register. "Catalinas" are coupons you get with your receipt in a store, based on what you bought. Your grocery store might offer free milk if you buy four boxes of cereal. Once you pay for the cereal, you'll get a Catalina coupon at checkout for free milk on your next visit.

Online. You can print coupons on sites like Coupons.com, Redplum.com, and Smartsource.com. Also, if you "like" brands on Facebook or follow them on Twitter, that company will often load you up with coupons for its products. Registering on a brand's website has the same effect. Tip: You may want to set up a separate email account for this purpose, so your regular inbox doesn’t get flooded.

Store websites are another good place to print coupons. Also, if there's a great coupon you'd love to have multiples of, you can actually buy coupons for a dime or two from a clipping service, like The Coupon Clippers.

And don’t underestimate the power of a quick Google search. If you’ve got your eye on a skirt from a particular store, do a quick search for “coupon” or “coupon code” and the name of the store to see what pops up. Some sites like RetailMeNot and CouponCabin also pull together all the coupon codes they can find online into one searchable site.

In a daily email. We are officially in the age of the daily deal. Companies like Groupon and LivingSocial are the giants: Sign up and they send you a heavily discounted deal near where you live every day.

But there are countless spinoffs, including ones like Zulily aimed specifically at families and kids. Overwhelmed? Services like Yipit.com have popped up to aggregate deals from hundreds of sites for you. You choose what kinds of deals you’re interested in, and where, and how often you want an email and they’ll send you a list of what might interest you.

On your phone. If you have a smart phone, you can get paperless mobile coupons by signing up with a store or a brand you like to have coupons texted to you or by scanning a QR code on an ad for a product. Either way, you redeem the mobile coupons at the store the same way you would a paper coupon – just hand over your phone to the clerk, who will scan a bar code on your phone's screen.

Couponing apps like GeoQpons and MobileCoupons.com let you pull up on your phone coupons for businesses near where you’re standing at the moment.

Avoid common couponing pitfalls

Read the words, don't look at the picture. Sometimes a coupon will show a fancier version of a product. But it's what the coupon says it's for that counts.

Don't overbuy. Yes, it's smart to stock up when an item your family uses goes on sale. But keep in mind how much storage space you have, and remember that it probably won't be more than 12 weeks before that item is on sale again. So there's no need to buy more than three months' worth of anything.

Don't buy even one of something your family won't use. We don't care if it's a $4 box of dryer sheets for 50 cents. If you don't use dryer sheets, it's still a waste of money.

Don't hold tight to a mistake. If you buy something that's just taking up space in the cupboard or garage, donate it to a food bank, church, or homeless shelter.