A friend of mine recently told me she wanted to get in control of her grocery budget but thought that couponing might be a little too much for her.  Our conversation got me thinking.  How can someone start couponing but not feel overwhelmed?  I think the answer is to start slow with baby steps.   If you are new to coupon shopping, here are 4 easy baby steps to coupon shopping. 

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Start by comparison shopping different stores.   Make a list of the things you need to buy and the things your family uses the most.  Check the store ads or the Coupon Sense shopping list (your first month is free!) to see where the items on your list can be found for the best price.  For example, if you know you need milk this week, look at the ads to see who has the best deal.  Do this for all the items on your list.

Baby Step Two

Once you’ve made your list, checked the ads, and determined where the best deals are,pick one or two stores that have the majority of the deals you need.  Did you think I was going to tell you to go to six different stores?  Nope? Running around to tons of stores isn’t necessary or effective. Sure, you might pay a little more here and there but the time and gas you save will make up for it, so just pick one or two stores to shop at.

Baby Step Three

The next step is to see if there are any printable, internet coupons for the items you are buying.  Just head here to do a quick search.  Type in the brand of the product you are buying and you will instantly see if there are internet coupons you can print.  When you find a coupon you need for your list, just click on the link and print it out.  (If you’ve never printed internet coupons you might need to install coupon printer software but it only takes a few seconds.)  You can generally print an internet coupon twice so be sure to go back to the link and click again to get both coupons.

Baby Step Four

Now that you have your shopping list, you know which stores to head to for the best deals, and you have some internet coupons, you are ready to go to the store and shop.   It’s really easy and when you get home you’ll find that with just a little effort, you saved a lot.

Do these four baby steps for 4 weeks and then you’ll be ready to move on to more advanced couponing like shopping at drug stores and getting multiple sets of coupons from newspapers.