Couponing

So I'm not a pro couponer, but I'm certainly intrigued by it all. I tried to do it back in the day but never understood how 50 cents off a $5 box of cereal would be worth the time and effort to find and clip the coupon. With all the couponing craze I started to do my research a little bit and I found this awesome group on facebook catering to Vegas locals on how to coupon and they also post local deals around town that they find. I realized that to take advantage of awesome coupons you have to put in a little more work and effort than just clipping random coupons. I googled high and low and got the gist of it all, but I'm excited to attend a beginning couponers class in the near future to see how it really works.

The insomniac that I am, I was up looking at Sunday paper ads online for Target, Walmart, etc. to see what kind of deals were coming up, especially since back to school season is in full swing. I bought 1 Sunday paper at the beginning of the month and clipped a majority of the coupons from the inserts in the paper. I also looked on the Las Vegas Couponers facebook page to see any deals  going on that I missed as well as ask any questions I had about couponing and my end result was awesome in my opinion. For someone who hasn't couponed EVER in their life and tried it out today by just dipping my feet in the water I think I did pretty good!

This is what I walked out with:

*I got a box of 24 Crayola Crayons for 25 cents each at Walmart

* The Pantene shampoo and conditioner was on sale 3/$10 (which meant they were on sale for $3.33 each) BUT I had 3 coupons! You're allowed 1 manufacturer coupon per item but Target allows you to use their coupon in addition to that so, I had 1 manufacturer coupon that stated $3 off two pantene products, I had another one that said $1 off one pantene product, and I had a target coupon that said $1 off two pantene products. Long story short, it took $5 off the total making my purchase of 2-12.6 oz Pantene shampoos and 1-12.6 oz Pantene conditioner only $5 for all 3! If I had more coupons I could of saved more but I only bought 1 Sunday paper. boo.

*I always see that Target offers printable coupons on their site but I never realized how helpful they are. For example, I just got this PaperMate package of pens for FREE because there was a coupon for $1 off a PaperMate product and these package of pens cost $1!! yay! If you have more than one computer then you can print off more coupons and get more free pens! I only have one computer though. poop. lol

*I also printed a $5 off a Leapfrog item on the Target website since JAM loves their products. I strolled through their aisle and saw that some of their items were clearanced so I picked up this 3-in-1 solar system map for his tag reader for only $5!! If you own leapfrog items you know that's a steal! it was originally $15 but it was clearanced for $10...plus my $5 off target coupon made this only $5 yippie!!

Oh how I love saving money! I'm so excited to take this couponing class to learn the actual logistics of it all. If you checkout out my facebook page, you also saw how I found an awesome deal on glue sticks! 10 cents each at my local Walmart. Hopefully the trend continues for the rest of JAM's school supply shopping! I have less than a month left to gather it all! If you're a Las Vegas local, "Like" my page on Facebook because I'll be posting deals like these as I come across them and I know you wouldn't want to miss deals like these right?

If you're already a pro couponer, what tips or advice do you have for beginners like me?