Some Tips

1. Subscribe to the Sunday paper. I subscribe to the Daily Herald and get 5 copies each week. They have a Savvy Shopper special - 5 Sunday papers for only $16/month. It is well worth the money to buy the Sunday papers. You can also ask your friends, family and neighbors for their inserts.

2. If you really want to save money, you can't afford to be brand loyal or store loyal. I have friends that are quite picky with their brands and they do save money, but not nearly what they could.

3. Get rid of the mentality that "bigger is better". You're not necessarily going to get a better value by buying the bigger sizes. Many times, with sales and coupons, the smaller sizes are free or very cheap. Last year, there were $1 off All laundry detergent coupons with no size specifications. So I bought 20 trial size bottles and got 40 loads of laundry for free!

4. Coupons can (and should) be used on clearance and sale items.

5. Organize your coupons. There are many different methods (binder, coupon file, coupon box, envelopes). I use the Binder method. I cut all of my coupons each week and organize them by category. You can use baseball card holders or photo holders. Make sure your binder has a zipper that goes all the way around. Nothing like going to all that work to have your coupons fall out in the middle of the store...