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The new year is here and I’m hearing financial resolutions from all over the place. Some are about paying off debt. Some are about saving up for vacations. Others are about buckling down and getting a budget ready in preparation for the unexpected.
My new years goals this year don’t involve saving money, although that doesn’t mean I won’t be doing it.
Our family was hit by the government shutdown. Income was cut by 70% for the entire month of October, then we didn’t receive a paycheck until the very end of November once my husband’s contract pay was rebooted in the system. Talk about a stressful couple of months! Thankfully we had a small stockpile of food for emergencies and we had some money in savings. Things could have ended up worse had we not been prepared just that little bit.
All is well in our household now. Our finances are back in order. We’re settling back into old routines, but it is possible it could happen again or worse, so I better get prepared.
The Extraordinary Art of Couponing
I was ecstatic when Nicole McDonald asked me to review her new book, The Extraordinary Art of Couponing. Nicole is a couponing educator who teaches people how to save money through couponing, meal planning and being frugal. I’ve been wanting to attend one of her local classes here in the Omaha area, and this book just proves the quality I would receive there. This information is perfect to help me save up some essentials and start putting more money where I need to have it to make sure we are financially stable in case of an emergency.
The Extraordinary Art of Couponing covers everything you need to know to save money on groceries and more. Nicole addressed a lot of myths I had about couponing. I learned things about saving money I didn’t even know existed. Now I know it’s not as hard or time consuming as I once thought it was to use coupons in my everyday shopping.
Book Details
Here’s what The Extraordinary Art of Couponing covers in detail:
- What are the time requirements for couponing.
- What are the returns you should see if you are couponing.
- How to organize your coupons and time spent couponing.
- How to build a stockpile of the basics.
- Meal planning.
- Recipes.
- Food preservation.
- How to build your shopping list with coupons.
- Price matching.
- Stacking coupons.
- How to shop at drugstores for free.
- Where to find coupons.
- Advanced couponing, or extreme couponing.
- Common couponing lingo.
- How to start out so it’s not overwhelming.
- And how to be frugal in areas other than the grocery store.
This book covers it all in an easy to read format making it a simple read through. It’s well organized making it perfect to return to time and time again as you learn new money saving strategies.
My Favorite Parts
My two favorite parts of the book were how to organize coupons and the explanation of drugstore savings. One of the reasons I hated couponing before was because of how I was organizing them. I was using an accordion file similar to what my mom used. I just stopped taking it because it didn’t work for me. After reading Nicole’s book, I realized the binder method may be more my style. Though I’m not a heavy couponer so I’ll just have to experiment.
Drugstore savings isn’t for me, yet, but it’s impressive to see what can be done with it. Saving money or getting things for free using coupons and drugstore rewards is extremely detailed due to the rules and strategies. Nicole outlines it to make it easier to understand. While I’m not quite up for the challenge yet, I can see this being an area of savings I build up to as I start to hone my couponing skills.
Follow Nicole on Facebook and Twitter for more updates and money saving ideas!
Tell me in the comments your biggest question or obstacle with couponing. What you hope to learn from The Extraordinary Art of Couponing?
I desperately need to coupon but I get sooo lost and end up giving up. There are MANY things I don’t understand, not just one question I can ask. I hope that this book can help me get started and succeed!
Great review! I LOVE Nicole’s book and have learned so much already about staying organized. I need to put it into motion. I didn’t realize there are so many strategies for different stores. Pick it up, everyone!
The biggest obstacle with couponing is finding the time to go through the inserts and match with sales ads. I hope to learn to manage my time better and be able to meal plan so I can shop accordingly
I agree that takes alot of time to match up coupons and sales. If you live in Omaha, I post a weekly grocery list on my site that finds all the best deals and coupons for those deals.
My question would be, how do you shorten the amount of time it takes to clip, sort, & put away the coupons in your binder? My problem is I get the Sunday paper and 2 other mini papers with ads/coupons in them through the mail, but because I have a mobile 11 month old that requires constant supervision, they will stack up and I get to clipping them the day of or day before the ads expire. Then it starts all over again the following Sunday.
Great question Jessica! I address how to clip and sort quickly and efficiently in the book. That is my least favorite part of couponing. One tip is to organize your clipped coupons into their categories as you clip, instead of piling them up and sorting them later. This saves me a ton of time. If I get interrupted (I have three kids), I put the sorted coupons into the file folder for that category (I have binder method) and file them into the baseball card inserts when I get a moment. If you have the accordion file method, filing is super quick once you have the categories sorted.
I wonder if it is easy to get coupons…like, do I have to subscribe to a bunch of magazines and the newspaper?
Great question, I had the same concerns. Nicole outlines several ways to get coupons that I hadn’t even thought of. It’s not as hard as I thought it was. She does answer this question in her book.
Jessica – I subscribe to one paper and get the rest of my coupons from family and friends. Over 95% of coupons in the papers go unused, so there are alot out there. I have arrangements with most of my neighbors to pick up their Food Express (Wednesday paper delivered to everyone in Omaha) and I keep the coupons.
Another note, I get about 15 magazine subscriptions and don’t pay for a single one. Magazines make money off advertisements, not subscribers, so they are willing to offer some subscriptions free to look better to their advertisers. I teach that in my freebies class. 🙂
I have recently started couponing and love it, although I live in Utah and NOWHERE doubles coupons. Do you have any tips for me?
Congrats on your new couponing journey! In Omaha, we only have double coupons about six times a year and it’s a limit of 10 coupons, so you can’t really get alot of items.
If you follow sales, buy loss leaders regularly and pair sales with coupons, you can save a ton of money without having double coupons. When items are at rock bottom prices (75% off retail or more), I stock up a 3-4 month supply to get me through to the next sale. That way, I am never paying full retail for anything.
Saving 100% off your grocery bill (like in the show ‘Extreme Couponing’) is not realistic. However, 50-75% savings is doable, even without double coupons. That being said, couponing is like running a marathon. You start with baby steps and eventually run the big race. Keep couponing and it will get easier and you see bigger savings each time.
I think that’s my problem with couponing. I’m an instant gratification sort of person, lol. I’m going to give it a chance again and see what happens. If I give it time maybe I 1. won’t burn out and 2. will actually see results!
What I hope to gain from this book is how to cut down on time it takes to coupon as well as maybe shopping around for the best price. Couponing and price matching seems to take me hours! With 4 kiddos I can’t afford to use up that much time unless I ignored the kids or didn’t bathe lol
Well I’m totally guilty of cutting and then not using. It seems when I try to use them the store brand is cheaper or guess what I forgot them at home! lol I do get excited when I can use a coupon and the item is on sale but that doesn’t happen often b/c I make list of what I need not search the ads for whats on sale. Not sure if there’s much help for a person like me? 😉
You would be surprised! Nicole has a ton of great advice because it sounds like you’re in the same boat I am. Nicole teaches you where to find the coupons, how to find the sales and how to stock up to get the best price. It’s actually a lot easier than I thought, I was just taking the wrong approach to it.
I think my biggest challenge is that my options are limited as to which stores I can shop at…so I’m not convinced I can actually save a whole lot if I am limited to shopping at one or two particular stores.
How do you keep up with all the best deals and stay organized?
I think my greatest obstacle with couponing is learning how to acquire coupons actually save money by using them. I would love to learn from the book how to accumulate coupons and how to stack coupons with in-store discounts to save money. I have a new baby and every penny counts these days. I would love how to coupon effectively!
My biggest obstacle to couponing is that I live in a rural area where there are not a lot of places to shop. I would love to know how to expand my stockpile as it seems like I only accumulate certain items. Would love to have this book.
the biggest problem I have is finding deals that make things affordable such as matching sales with coupons before they run out of date
My biggest obstacle with couponing is organizing them to take to the store. No matter how well I think I did, once I get there it is total chaos! The other issue for me with couponing is that I get frustrated with checkers who don’t understand or know how to ring me up with coupons. Oh and also, I am jealous of the Midwest and East Coast because I read many coupon blogs and the deals they find are way better than the Northwest and they have grocery stores that double coupons all the time. We do not!
Organization is key to couponing. At one time, I had to shop with three kids under 4 1/2 years old, so I had to have my list and coupons ready to go. This book covers organization.
It is helpful to find a good checker at your store and use them as much as possible. I have a few I always go to for checkout.
My problem is that I can’t drive so it is really difficult to go from store to store. Sigh. kristiedonelson(at)gmail(dot)com Thank you!
My biggest obstacle is planning! I don’t and then it’s too late and I need the cheese, or what have you, from the store that day and I KNOW I have a coupon back home. But it’s not worth the gas to drive back for a $1 coupon!
My biggest obstacle is actually getting to the store! I will not go with my kids, since I cannot think straight with 2 littles talking and whatnot. So I have to wait until hubby is home, and then I am usually to tired to go out! 😉
I know what you mean, lol. I’ll take my kids to the store, but if I need to concentrate on couponing (especially as I’m learning to do it) the kiddos might not be the best shopping buddies.
I can totally relate. I had to shop with three little ones under 4 1/2 years old. I organized my shopping list by sections of the store, so I only went through each section one time and I pulled the coupons I planned to use prior to the trip. Oh, and I mostly visited the stores that had bakeries with goodies for the kids (a small reward for good behavior.)
Time and not being able to find enough coupons to cut! jessicapeeling@yahoo.com
Nicoles book has a TON of ideas on where to find coupons. She said she doesn’t even use 95% of the coupons from the paper, she finds them other places, like online, magazines and in the stores.
Although I am 49 years old, I’m fairly new to couponing. Right now I’m still in the stages of trying to figure it all out. I’ve decided for now to learn ONE store strategy & then I”ll tackle another. Right now I’m concentrating on learning the ropes of couponing at CVS. What I’d really like to learn is how to “stack” coupons. (like store coupons, circular inserts & online printed coupons) I know this week at CVS when I spend $30 on Cottonelle toilet paper (there are other products, this is just the one I’m choosing to spend my $30 on) I will get $10 back in Extra Care Bucks. I’m going to go through the coupons I have first before I go to see if I have some for Cottonelle that I can use for this purchase as well.
Nicole covers all of these techniques in her book! I’m still learning the basics too, and going to CVS to coupon still scares me, but Nicole lays out all the steps in her book, so I know when I’m ready I have a great resource.
Great strategy! CVS is my favorite store. One tip is to scan your CVS card multiple times at the coupon machine. Most people only scan it once, but often you can scan two or three with new coupons each visit.
My biggest obstacle is that I live in a small town with only 3 grocery stores and only one doubles coupons. Getting newspapers is also a challenge as only one place carries them and they are usually sold out quickly. I hope to learn how to stack coupons.
My biggest challenge is dedicating the time to finding appropriate coupons, and I hope to learn how to better stack them to get the best deals. Thanks for the giveaway!
I need helping finding a fast way to match up circulars with deals
Look for a local blogger who posts the store deals. I post the Omaha deals with coupon matchups weekly.
I like couponing but find it hard to find the time to get it all organized, it usually takes me about a hour to make the list with all the right sizes to make it easier to find at the store and clip all the coupons. Wish it could be quicker and I would do it more often, certainly like the money I save!
I have lots of tips for you in the book. Clipping and filing coupons is my least favorite part of couponing, but I have lots of ideas to make it quick and painless.
I struggle with finding the time and energy to cut coupons that I will actually use. I would love this book! I have a lot to learn!!
My biggest obstacle is staying organized. I can get organized, but then it falls to the wayside really fast & discourages me.
I would simply like to learn the basics for now, I have used coupons but haven’t managed to save much.
Is there a best way to keep my coupons organized? I’m overwhelmed by my disorganization of them.
It really depends on what makes sense to you. There is no right or wrong way to organize coupons and each of us is different. I have lots of organization ideas in the book.
I personally use two 2 1/2″ binders with baseball cards inserts and carry them in a tote to the store. Works great for me now. When I started I used a little accordion folder and loved it, but I have since outgrown that system.
My biggest obstacle is when the red plum and smart source dont print straight and when i cut a stack they are not lined up right it is such a pain in the butt to tap coupons.
My biggest obstacle in couponing is in finding the coupons, and the fact that there are only a few stores in my town!
I grew up in a small town so I totally get where you’re coming from with having only a few stores. If you’re in the same boat I was back then, then those stores also have higher prices than the big box stores in bigger cities. What we always did was travel out of town to the nearest bigger city and did some grocery shopping that would last. I don’t know your situation, but if that’s possible, I wonder if that would work for you to do more on the stocking up on basics route, then get your perishables locally?
My biggest obstacle is finding the time to clip and make a plan.
I think you answered your own question there. Making a plan will help you find the time. Nicole gives some great advice on how to plan things out and get organized so you can spend less time on couponing and still get the returns.
What is the best way to organize coupons? I feel so disorganized with all my coupons that it is overwhelming. I hope to learn all the shortcuts to organize and stay organized !
I can’t tell you the best way, and I don’t know if Nicole can either because we’re all different. However, she lists out several ways to organize your coupons so you can find the method that is best for you. She had some ideas in there that I had never heard of. I loved it! Tossing the accordion file as we speak because it didn’t work for me, but it was the only thing I knew, lol
i struggle with getting the energy to cut them out and find them : )
Don’t we all, lol. It’s so monotonous. I like to sit on the couch and clip while being lazy watching something on Netflix after the kids go to bed. It doesn’t seem so bad when David Tennant is there keeping me company.
Finding the time is the biggest obstacle!
Agreed. I’m on the run constantly, but Nicole shows how you can have huge returns in just 5 hours a week. She also gives the breakdown for spending lesser time, so you can kind of gauge the time you want to spend and the return you want to get to find a good balance for you. I think her steps to get organized will help you out as well.
I used to love couponing but I’ve fallen off the wagon after the birth of my second child. How do I find the time to clip and organize the coupons, then actually use them before they expire? I definitely need some sort of system.
Nicole might have some better advice on this one, but just from reading her book, I would suggest the binder method. I’ve seen so many people around here do it, and she describes how to do it to keep things organized, especially with expirations. I hope it works for you too!
I can not get organized! i try…
I’m one of those people who has to be told, step by step, how to do something. The first time was when I organized my basement when I thought I was going to be hopelessly disorganized for life…then with the help of an organizing website, I won an organizational challenge just by following their step by step guide! Couponing is a different kind of organization, Nicole does a great job of giving an easy to read, step by step method to fit your style and get you organized.
I struggle with finding coupons that match the products I buy and I hope this book will help me learn how to be an all around better couponer.
I always said the same thing. I typically shop the perimeter of the store (produce, meat, dairy) and avoid the aisles for the most part. I was shocked when I read that Nicole skips 95% of the coupons in the paper and finds her coupons other places. She gives some great ideas on where to find coupons for the things you buy, such as online, in magazines, etc. I know she’ll give you some great tips!
My biggest challenge is mapping everything out and staying to the list! I hope I can get better because we are soon to be on a much more limited budget!
I have yet to do this, but Nicole talks about how to create a shopping list, including meal planning, matching up the deals and coupons with it, etc, in her book. I can’t wait to sit down and try it all out next time we go for our big shopping trip!
Impluse purchases get me too. I have hard time passing up clearance. One thing that helped me is a list organized by the sections in my store, so I only go down each aisle one time (less chance to find more things to buy.) Plus, if you have made a meal plan and included all your breakfast, lunch and dinner foods, you can be confident that you are getting everything you need in one trip.
When I was on a tight budget, I stuck to my list of things we needed, and it truly cut our grocery bill significantly.
My biggest obsitcle is that I just don’t get how people save so much money with coupons. I would really love to start learning to coupon. I have four kids and my husband is the only one who works so saving money would be great since we live check to check now. Thank you.
My biggest problem seems to be getting the coupons, I’m on a limited budget and I don’t have a printer so getting multiple coupons to use on bogo deals and things like that are difficult. Also trying to understand the wording on certain coupons and difficult store policies are a problem an it’s be nice to have something to spell it out in easy to understand terms
Littlemamameow at gmail dot com
My biggest challenge of couponing is knowing if the deal would actually work…like today I followed what it said to do on this blog and I bought $30 worth of stuff from CVS in order to get my $10 kick back, but with the coupons I had to buy additional items to make it up $30. The cashier said that wouldn’t matter and the blog made it seem it matter, but it did.
I would like to know how to keep the coupons organized. So many of mine expire before they are used. Also, I live alone and would like to know if it would be worthwhile for just one person. In addition, I’d like to know how to use the internet for coupons. I don’ know the best websites to use.
i hope to learn how to combine coupons to get the best deals and where to find the best coupons
I’d say the biggest obstacle for the wife and I is time, maybe if there were 25 or 26 hours in a day, but we find our schedules are so full, to sit and collect or cut coupons just isn’t in the cards… simply put, no time..
My biggest obstacle is finding time to go through all the coupons and sale ads.
I want to learn the best way to utilize my coupons.
my biggest problem is keeping my coupons organized
I need help with couponing
I think my ADHD makes it very difficult. I get frustrated, and just end up with a mess on my kitchen table and countertops. I really do want to learn.
My biggest problem is not keeping track of expiration dates. I hope to learn how to organize my shopping trips.
My biggest obstacle to staying on top of couponing is finding coupons for more of the products that my family likes.
My biggest problem is finding the time to go through and cut out coupons.
I think the biggest frustration I have is organizing the coupons so that I can get the best use for the
My biggest issue is remembering to clip them 🙁 thank you for the chance
The coupons I do get cut out I usually end up forgetting about until they’re no longer good only getting maybe half of them used.
My biggest obstacle when it comes to couponing is that I don’t have a printer and usually I don’t have the money to go to the store to buy the Sunday paper.
it seems everytime i go to use coupons something wrong store not take printed {i just copied of 25 coupons }
It’s funny, I was just sitting here thinking about the savings that I get from couponing, but there are so many ways that people do it. I need to get more organized, that’s one of my goals this year by the way. I have too much going on, and I know that I need to manage my time couponing time better. Nice review Mary. 🙂
My biggest obstacle is finding coupons for healthy, organic products. I hope to learn good sources of these kinds of coupons.
my biggest obstacle is remembering to take my coupons with me when i go shopoing
and i hope to learn how to use coupons without having to take hours to complete a typical shopping session
I need more help with drugstore couponing!
Store cashiers who won’t accept the coupons.
My biggest problem is when the coupons don’t work, the cashiers get mean with me and they always have to call customer service. I get so frustrated. Why do I have so much trouble? Also, easier ways to price match?
I don’t have any coupon challenges, I’d just like to improve what I do.
My biggest obstacle is finding the time to match sales with coupons. Would love to read this book!
Thank you!
My biggest problem with couponing for me is that I just do not understand how to get things so cheap. I have read a lot about it but just do not get it. I am hoping that this book will help me understand how to coupon so that I can save money.
It seems store policy to double only once when using multiples of same coupon, sometimes I can get around it if different cents off on the coupons for the same item, but at times they will double more than one, for no reason! If they were consistent, I am sure it would not be in customers’ favor.
My biggest obstacle is finding coupons for healthy things! Everything usually is for unhealthy and processed foods!!
Finding the time is my biggest problem. Sorting coupons or even putting together a meal schedule and shopping list I can’t find the time to do.
My biggest obstacle is the time to cut them out and organize them and also trying to match up coupons and sales.
Finding coupons (other than online) as I live very rurally have no access to any local papers.
Our biggest obstacle is probably an odd one. We recently (within the past 6 months) bought a house in a cute neighborhood, and we were so excited to be receiving coupons every Saturday and Wednesday. However, that all changed within the past couple months.
There is an older couple that lives near us, and they are, well, jerks. Among other things, they’ve started stealing our coupons. We have no idea why they are stealing our coupons, or why they don’t like us. We used to try to wave or talk to them when they first moved in, but they would literally turn and go the opposite direction. Oh, well. Our other neighbors are friendly.
In any event, they used to just take them on Saturdays, as neither of us wake up SUPER early on Saturdays. We are up by 6 a.m. on Wednesdays, though, so we’d at least get our Wednesday coupons. Now they’ve started taking our Wednesday ones. We keep trying to wake up earlier and earlier to get them before they do, and sometimes we do succeed, but then they get up even earlier the following week! What’s crazy about this is that the people who live across the road from us never use their coupons, but I don’t like to take other people’s stuff. It’s the weirdest thing and probably not that big of a deal… but today is Saturday (and we don’t have any coupons), so it’s fresh in my mind!
I guess we should have a confrontation with them, but I hate conflict 🙁 and you would think they would behave better, being senior citizens and all.
My biggest issue is having the patience to piece it all together with the sales to make it all work =)
I need to learn how to organize better…I start out good then it all becomes too overwhelming and i only use a few coupons or the ones I need are at home…I would love some help…
My biggest obstacle is organizing my coupons.
I don’t ever get the coupons for things I actually use & need!
I do some couponing now, but I don’t save anywhere near as much as I would like. I also have difficulty with organization!! I would love some help! Thanks for the opportunity!
My biggest obstacle is convincing teenage cashiers to accept totally legitimate coupons. Enfamil still sends me coupons even though my twins are now 4 years old. One coupon was for $20 off a container of their product. I had an upcoming baby shower so I thought I would use it to get something for the mom to be. I selected an item that I thought would be fine because it matched the size and description but the cashier told me that she would not accept it because it would not scan. I explained that it was a check. I asked for the manager. Manager said sorry. Next week at the same store I tried to use the coupon again but was turned down. I tried a different mass marketer, same problem. Recently I had a coupon for $1 off a Bodycology product of 8 ounces or larger. It had come with a sample in the mail. I tried to use it on an item that was $3.99 and larger than 8 ounces, was turned down. Tried again at a different branch of the same store, same problem. The picture shows an apple scented product but neither store has the apple scent and they won’t let you use it on another scent even though the coupon states nothing about the fragrance. Asked for manager both times. Often times I get comments from cashiers that say things like, “we have a lot of people like you coming in here trying to steal our stuff.” I have been asked for my drivers id to use a coupon for barbeque sauce.
I’d like to know how you can save so much using coupons when the store brand is generally cheaper than the name brand?
My biggest problem is making the time and finding a way to stay organized that works for me.
Finding the time to keep organized
I only know the basics so I am eager to learn some new tricks since I am a single mommy!
I haven’t been able to find a good way to keep coupons organized.
I have problems with organization and I find it difficult to coupon without a smartphone or home internet service. I use an aircard and I can’t do wireless.
I know there are still ways and I really need to learn how to save and use coupons more.
ubrewme@yahoo.com
My biggest challenge is organization. I hope to learn how to do that in a way that makes it easier than it is now.
Biggest obstacle is the coupon rules in New York!
I used to do coupons like crazy!! I’ve just gotten busy and slack .I love saving money, it is a lot of work. Looking through flyers and printing coupons on the computer. I would love to learn how to keep it more streamline.
I love couponing. I love the feeling of finding the deals, but it takes so much time and with 3 kids and working 2 jobs I just can’t seem to find enough of it. I am hoping this book may show me some ways to do my couponing in less time! Thanks so much for the chance!