New Goal - Be a Coupon Aficionado

So, I'm going to try and start to use coupons to get these crazy and outrageous deals I keep hearing people get. One woman managed to get 10 boxed of name brand cereal and actually had the store pay her back 9 cents! I've decided I need to get on this because paying $125-$200/mo for groceries is absurd. So far, I've found one blog that I think is very helpful, but since I'm just starting out, I'm not privy to all these good deals. The blog is Fabulessly Frugal and they have all the great tips and lists on what sales to go for and what coupon combinations to use and more. Granted it's based out of Idaho, so not everything applies to me, but if spending a little time each day going over their material is going to help me save anything, I'm thinking it could be worth it. So far this is what I've learned:

1. For online coupons - check websites like coupons.com on the first of each month to see all the new coupons that have been added. You can only print certain coupons up to 2 times, and they could expire at any time, so I'm thinking I may print out all FOOD/GROCERY related coupons twice and save them for when stores like Bel Air have good deals. ALSO, on the first of the next month, the coupons will either be replaced with new coupons, or they will roll-over and you will be able to print them out 2 more times.

2. Sunday Papers - I'm currently looking for a deal for the local Sacramento Bee so I can subscribe to either the F/S/Sun. paper only or just the Sunday paper to receive the coupon inserts that can only be found there. Many times stores will let you combine these manufacturer coupons for even better savings.

3. SAVE ALL COUPONS! Don't use them right away for an item that is full price. Apparently everything goes on sale once in a while, and if you have that coupon still, you'll manage to snag even better savings.

4. Get organized. Some places say once you print your online coupons, don't cut them out. Get a binder with the clear page protectors and put everything from that week or month in one page protector. Make a list of all the coupons in that section (organized whichever way is best for you to find them the fastest/easiest - ie alphabetically by brand, by category, etc). Or, clip the coupons and get an accordion organizer and group them in a similar fashion.

5. Stay on top of the deals. Retail stores such as Target and Wal-Mart put out their specials and adds every Sunday. BUT grocery stores start their new specials and adds every Wednesday, so be aware.

Since I've just recently started looking into this (I'm mean very recent, as in Monday, lol) and it's toward the end of the month, I don't have very many coupons saved up and many will expire in the next week. So my plan is to try and collect as many as I can so I have them when the good deals and sales present themselves. I'm also going to try and only buy groceries when I absolutely need to. IE eat everything in my cupboards until they are bare and I need to buy more. No more impulse buys or trips to the store for just one or two things. The cost of the gas used for that trip to the store is not worth the item(s) in questions. UNLESS it is something perishable such as milk, or dairy in general, etc.

I'm hoping I can stick with this. I'm not sure yet, but I'm going to try. My goal is never to buy anything for full price unless absolutely necessary.