If you are like me, and with the economy the way it is today, you are probably trying to save every red cent you can. Good news, without investing any money (if you already get a newspaper subscription)or very little money, you could pocket quite a bit at the grocery store every trip.

I am going to show you just how to do that. At first it will take some time but after you get into the habit of it, you will be so glad you did.

The first thing that you need to do is start collecting the coupons from the Sunday papers. In Colorado there are 2 main papers out there. The Denver Post and the Pueblo Chieftain. The coupons are almost the same, but there are always more in the Denver Post. Some local newspapers will also carry coupons. Be on the look out for those.

There are other ways of getting coupons to.

• Go to Ebay and buy the ones you want.
• Do a Google search for "free printable coupons".
• Write to companies and request coupons. (Sometimes these are the best ones)

The next thing you should do is buy a plastic shoe box, as they are the best for this method. Also you will want to get dividers. The cheapest way to do this is to buy the ones for notebooks and cut them down to fit into your box.

Label the tabs on your box for the way your store is set up for example:

• Air Fresheners
• Bread
• Baking Items
• Breakfast Items
• Butter and Milk
• Cake Mixes

You get the idea. always put them in alphebetical order because it will make it so much easier to find and file.

Clip your coupons. Yes all of them and even the rebate forms. If you get coupons from writing the Companies, alot of the times you will notice that what they send you are coupons for free items.

After clipping your coupons, organize them. get your friends and neighbors coupons if they won't use them, believe me you will be glad that you did.

Make sure that you save all of your local sales ads, these will be very important.

Now it is time to start saving.

1. Go through your sales ads and see what coupons you have that match sale items.
2. If you have multiple coupons for the same item pull them too. (Put these in the front of your box to use so you don't have to dig for them at the store, it is a real time saver.)
3. Write out your list and how many to buy so that your trip goes quicker

If you use food stamps, you can do this too, and you would be amazed how far you can stretch them.

See what days your grocery has double coupon day, these are the best.

Let me show you how this works.

Example 1:

Jane goes to the grocery on double coupon day and see that a box of cheerios are Buy one get One Free. The regular price of the Cheerios is $3.79 a box. Jane has 2 coupons for $0.50 off one box of Cheerios, and she also has a store coupon from the sale ad taking an aditional $0.50 off 1 box. So Jane has 3 coupons and 2 boxes of Cheerios (BOGO) on double coupon day. $3.79-$1.00 (double coupon #1)=$2.79-$1.00 (double coupon #2)=$1.79-$0.50(Store ad Coupon)=$1.29. That means that Jane paid just under $0.65 a box.

Sure beats paying retail.

Get into the habit and you can stock your cabinets, and only buy what is needed monthly saving even more. Imagine you could be like me and buy $350 in groceries and only paying $102.

Tips:

Look for items that are at a final markdown price that you will use fast or can be stored in the freezer and use your coupons for those items if you have them. They are great savers too.

Be sure to get your club card at stores that offer these free memberships. This will save you even more.

The more you learn to bargain hunt the more you can save for family vacations, home improvements and even Christmas.