Coupon Queen? You can be my baby mama!?

Since my post called stay at home mom easy cash flow gained a lot of attention and a large audience base I thought I'd venture into the never ending world of coupon-ing. With shows like Extreme Couponing and grocery prices escalating daily its no wonder people are looking to cut corners and save a few dollars anyway they can. The question is, is it really worth it? Well I did some research and a few test runs at the grocery store to determine if it is. What I found is it can make a HUGE difference if you do it right, but you can also find yourself getting caught up in it and buying or consider buying useless things or things that you have far to many things of...like in those she's extreme couponing. If you find yourself continually buying things that you already have enough of...that's not called couponing that's called being a hoarder. In a bit I will explain how to save money and not just by couponing. But first please look at this photo...if this is your house then you should probably stop buying household items for a while and just buy your food. p.s. You probably have a terrible OCD and hoarding problem if you have this much stuff and have to refill it constantly.
Now onto the point at hand...coupons. So over the last few weeks "I've been lightly couponing" I haven't gone hardcore like the folks you seen on extreme couponing. I'd go through a few coupon adds and combine them with the stores promotions and the stores own coupons. Yes, I did save money about $15-37.00 a trip depending on the amount of stuff I was buying. My best trip my total was $120.whatever cents and I paid $83.01I'm sure if I was hardcore I could buy more and spend less which is why next Friday I am going to try just that to see what I can buy for $100.00 with coupons...however unlike those extreme couponers I'm not going to buy items just because I have coupon for it. Rather, I am going to make a list of grocheys and household items I need and see what I can get on my list with coupons and 100...I will also tell you how long approximately it took for my husband and I to eat it all and if the time was well worth it. In the meantime here are some coupon sites/money saving sites and tips!

For online shopping:
retailmenot.com this website I have used since college simply type the store into the search, select the store and look at the coupon codes and promotions available to you. Sometimes they have printable coupons but I found that the printable coupons are more a seasonal option if anything.

Grocery store coupons!
Coupons.com Provides you with a vast array of manufacturer coupons typically not put in your local paper. Select them and print them out. Be careful though, if your having printer problems and send the coupons to the printer too many times you will reach a "print" limit and may not end up with anything. Check your stores policy, but most stores let you combine these with the coupons you find in the paper.
Savingstar.com-if you shop at a store that has a membership card or a drugstore that has a membership card you can probably start saving immediately. Savingstar is an online coupon program that uses your membership number to give you back coupon money. Rather than deducting it at the register, your "coupon money" goes into savingstar bank and is paid out to you via paypal, Amazon gift card or charity donation once you reach $5.00 while many may not see the usefulness of this because they aren't saving the money immediately, I find it to be a great idea. Think if you use this over the course of the year and get a payout at the end of the year twoards christmas...you could have 50.00$ extra you didn't have before. Perhaps you let it build up for a couple of years, it's a few extra dollars you never had before.
Smartsourcecoupons.com-This website is similar to coupons.com but with less coupons...click and print.
Zavers.com-is a coupon site similar to savingstar. You go online and if you have a membership number can load coupons onto your card immediately. However, unlike savingstar the deduction comes up at the register.
Your local store. Some stores that have the membership card policy also have a portion of their site where you can load they're own coupons/manufactures coupons onto your card...which are then deducted at the register. Most grochery stores that have the membership card policy will leg you combine one printed out coupon, one coupon from the newspaper with the ones you've loaded onto your card. HOWEVER, this is not always the case and every store is different. It has been my experience that if a store says they "double coupons" it's only up to a dollar, and it does not double coupons loaded onto your card. In addition, my local store (price chopper) has several coupons built into their flyer, which requires you to have the flyer to receive the discount. The store I go to also has a "coupon dispenser" that uses your membership card to print out coupons for both manufactures and department coupons...for the bakery or seafood department. Also it seems more and more stores are giving you more gallons of gas for every 50 or 100$ spent at there store. They also seem to do promotions when you buy 25.00 of this compananys items at a time you save 15cents per gallon on gas. Recently price chopper had a deal that for every 100$ you spent on gift cards they'd give you 40cents off per gallon at the pump! Lightbulb! Buy yourself a prepaid visa gift card and use it to buy your groceries and anything else you need. Build it up long enough and you'll have enough forma free tank of gas or use it weekly to take the edge of the pump! Do you have a coupon site or grochery money saving suggestion? I'd love to hear about it in the comments down below. Be sure to check back on Monday for more food saving tips and suggestions! Until then have a relaxing and enjoyable weekend!