How to Get Started With Extreme Couponing

If you are hoping to slash your spending on groceries and other essentials, then extreme couponing is one technique you might try.

Extreme couponing can allow you to get many items for free or close to it, meaning you give your credit cards much less of a workout when it comes to buying the boring basics you need. 

If you're hoping to pad your bank account by becoming an extreme couponer, you'll need to know how to get started though. As a former extreme couponer myself, I know it's more than just clipping a coupon. In fact, here are five steps you'll want to take to maximize your savings. 

1. Find a good site that lists deals (or save sales flyers) 

Extreme couponing is all about using coupons at strategic times to get items for almost no money out of pocket. In order to do that, though, you need to know when you can combine store and manufacturer coupons with sales in order to get the best deal. 

For example, you may want to use a coupon for toothpaste at a time when the store has it on sale and is also running a promotion where you get a $5 gift card if you buy a certain number of products made by that manufacturer. 

In order to be strategic about when you buy, you would need to know when that sale was. You can keep sales flyers and comb through them to do that or use a website like Slickdeals where users come together to share knowledge about what bargains are available at various locations in any given week. 

2. Assemble a binder or folder to keep your coupons 

If you're going to use coupons strategically, you'll need to have a lot of them around. And you may need to keep coupons for weeks until the right time comes to use them. This means you will need a system to keep them organized.

There are small accordion folders that some people use to keep their coupons, but if you are really going to be serious about extreme couponing, you'll likely want a binder with cardholders so you can keep more coupons, organize them by category, and flip through more easily to find them. 

3. Decide where you'll get your coupons 

Extreme couponing also requires you to collect a lot of coupons -- say, for example, five or six toothpaste coupons so you can get that aforementioned toothpaste deal multiple times so you can hit the target to get your gift card without having to spend much out of pocket. 

This means you'll need a good source or coupons. You can buy several copies of the Sunday paper where the coupon inserts are, or ask friends or family to save inserts for you. You can also buy coupons online from various websites that sell them in batches. Look into both options to decide which you'd prefer. 

4. Outline your goals 

Next, you'll need to decide what your goals are for extreme couponing. Do you just want to get deals on items your family needs, or is the goal to get as much stuff for free as possible that you can donate or resell at flea markets or garage sales? This will dictate how many stores you go to, how many coupons you need to buy, and what kinds of deals you want to do. 

5. Start shopping the sales 

Finally, once you have your plan in place, you're ready to become an extreme couponer. Just remember to be a polite shopper and if you're going to pay with a huge handful of coupons, warn the people who try to get in line behind you!