Start a Coupon Group in Your Town

Are you a mom on a budget? Are you a dad in charge of grocery shopping and want to save more money on your food bill? Starting a coupon group in your town is an easy way to get access to more coupons for the grocery items you buy on a regular basis. And not only will you get more coupons, but more information about deals in your town and online.

Starting a Coupon Group

To start a coupon group, the first thing to do is start spreading the word among your network of friends, co-workers and family members. Start telling everyone that you would like to start a group to meet on a regular basis to share coupons and also information about shopping deals.You can also use Facebook to get in touch with people that may live in your general geographic area, but that you don't see every day. I'm sure you have heard that there is strength in numbers? When it comes to collecting the coupons, you use for your family, and sharing information about good deals, there are savings in numbers as well. Once you have an interested group of people that want to meet, you will need to find a place to hold your coupon group.

Meeting Location

Deciding on a location to meet will depend on where all the group members live. Try to pick a location central to everyone. If people are from various towns, pick the town that is centrally located. A coupon group can be held in a person's home, a library, a church, or a restaurant such as McDonalds or cafe that serves coffee, such as Starbucks, Dunkin Donuts or Panera Bread. Of course, it would be bad manners to go to such places and not purchase food or drink so at least some of the group members should purchase at least a coffee. If you find a place that has wireless access, it will work out well because people who find deals or special online sites can show others the site on a laptop so everyone can learn together. To prevent confusion, the group meetings should always be held in the same place.

The First Meeting

Once you have a place to meet, schedule the first meeting at a mutually convenient time. At the first meeting, discuss how often the group will meet. Weekly or monthly works well, but make sure it's not the last week of the month as that is when a lot of coupons expire, so they won't be of much use to people if they are short dated. Telephone numbers or email addresses should be exchanged at this first meeting in case questions arise in the future, or the group has to be canceled due to weather conditions and everyone needs to know that. Some coupon groups ask for a volunteer for each store in the area so that every time they meet, all deals at that store for the week will be covered and the information shared.

What to Bring to the Meeting

All group members should bring a bag of uncut coupons that they have already gone through and taken out what they need. Group members should also spread the word to others in their circle that they see on a regular basis that they are in this group and would appreciate friends and family members saving coupon fliers for them from the Sunday papers to share with their coupon group members. Then when each coupon group member arrives at the meeting, everyone can switch bags with another member to take home with them, and "share the wealth" so to speak. It is also a good idea to have a Master list of coupons that group members need on a regular basis, such as diaper coupons, or cat food coupons, etc. Those can be set aside in a special envelope and given to the correct person at the meeting. That is just an extra gesture to help members out so that the diaper coupons, for instance, aren't still uncut in a bag given to a retiree with no grandchildren and no use for the diaper coupons.

Each member should also bring a pair of scissors, and a pen and paper to write down deals other people mention. Or they can use their phone if they need to do this if they are more comfortable with that.

What to Do at Each Meeting

At each meeting, people should be prepared to share deals they have gotten with certain coupons, and if the deal is continuing that week. Any deals that haven't been mentioned that can be combined with store coupons for the current week should also be shared. Also, any online sources of deals or new coupons should be shared at each meeting. My favorite source for deals at local stores is couponmom.com, and using this website will make it easier for the reporters for each store to find deals.

Group members can go through the coupon fliers and cut out what they need. They should also plan to date of the next meeting.

Yes, there is strength and savings in numbers to be had when it comes to saving money with coupons. A coupon group is the best way to pool information, multiply your coupons and your knowledge.