Welcome to Saving Well Spending Less™!

Here you will find a great selection of grocery store matchups, online deals and hot coupon alerts, as well as our weekly shopping results and lots of information about how to start using coupons. We encourage you to join our active Facebook community or subscribe to our free eNewsletter to have our deals and matchups delivered directly to your inbox each day.

The LWSL Beginner’s Guide to Coupons

If you are brand new to using coupons, are terrified by the thought of clipping hundreds of coupons every week, or don’t even know where to begin, this series is for you.

Over the course of eight weeks, I break down the couponing process into easy-to-follow baby steps, complete with weekly assignments to get you started on your way to extreme coupon savings. By the end of the series, you will not only have a firm grasp on the fundamentals of extreme couponing, you will also know how to save megabucks at the drugstores and will have established a plentiful stockpile.

(Please note that all of these links will bring you to my sister blog Living Well Spending Less)

1. part one: how to start

2. part two: your first shopping list

3. part three: mastering the store

4. part four: building your stockpile

5. part five: walgreens

6. part six: cvs

7. part seven: rite-aid

8. part eight: taking it to the next level

You can also download the entire series as a free eBook:

The LWSL Beginner’s Guide to Coupons eBook

Affiliate links may be used in this post. Printing a coupon or ordering a product through this link may result in a commission, which helps pay for the cost of running this site and keeps the content free. Read my full disclosure policy here.

{ 24 comments… read them below or add one }

Debi March 11, 2011 at 10:08 pm

Love the site! Great job Ruth!

Kristin April 10, 2011 at 3:46 am

I love your website and I love your youtube videos I am just getting started and some of the best information I have gotten from you and wanted to encourage you to keep up the great work!!!

Cheryl Forrest April 12, 2011 at 8:25 am

I’m enjoying this website and have saved some, but I live in Seattle and Safeway doesn’t accept printed coupons. Is matching coupons the best way to shop at Safeway? Thanks and great job on the website!

Alisha April 12, 2011 at 1:11 pm: Hi Cheryl,
I do the majority of my grocery shopping @ Genuardi’s (a Safeway store). By using my Club Card, In-Ad coupons, and manufacturer’s coupons (you can “stack” an In-Ad Q w/ an MQ for really great savings!) , I always manage to save at least 50% on my total shopping trip.
I’m a little surprised to hear that your store does not accept printable Qs. I would speak to a manager and see if it’s a policy they are willing to reconsider. With the popularity of couponing and vast availability of printable Qs, I would think the store would benefit from them as well. Unfortunately, because printable Qs are easier to counterfeit, some stores can not accept them.
I hope this helps. Good luck!

Reply

Liesl Leuthold April 21, 2011 at 5:52 am

Hi Ruth, I enjoy both of your sites and have started your 8 week course and watched your you tube video as well.
I am stoked because I ordered my couponizer this evening and it will be here Saturday! I can’t wait to get it! I also started the hanging file organizer and have 2 weeks of Inserts from papers (I am getting 2 a week for now).

Thanks for all your tips!
Liesl (Seattle)

Ruth April 21, 2011 at 12:10 pm: That’s great Liesl! Thanks so much for sharing!

Reply

Jane April 21, 2011 at 9:58 pm

Just found your youtube videos and this site…. and I’m impressed. One question, in the Youtube video you talk about your instructions being in PDF form…. where is that?

Celeste April 26, 2011 at 10:28 am: Hi Jane,

Here’s a link to the PDF…hope it works.

https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0B6C-Gpe_eVDZYWY4ZDJhZGEtOTEzNi00YzM0LTg2OWQtODFjZjgxYzMyYzhm&hl=en&authkey=CJexl2Y&pli=1

Reply

Celeste April 26, 2011 at 10:33 am

Ruth,

I see the notes to the side say, CVS, one week a head…really…Can you explain that one a little more, please?

Thanks!
Celeste

Ruth April 26, 2011 at 10:40 am: Hi Celeste-
That just means that we try to post the upcoming CVS & Walgreen lists about a week before the ad starts. That way you can get a head-start on planning your shopping trip and printing your coupons. The posting schedule on the sidebar is just a best estimate….sometimes there are factors outside of our control that delay posting a list. Hope that helps!

Reply

Cheryl April 27, 2011 at 6:49 am

Hi Ruth,

I am new to all this. I live in Alaska and am trying to figure out if I am able to use the coupons. Thank you for all the info you have on your site it has helped me out a lot. I was wanting to know how it all worked.
Cheryl

Holly May 5, 2011 at 12:13 am

I can’t seem to be able to make this printable. Is there any way for that??

Ruth May 5, 2011 at 12:17 am: Sorry, I keep meaning to add the eBook link to this site. Here is the link to where you can find the whole series in PDF form:
http://www.livingwellspendingless.com/beginners-guide-to-coupons/guide/

Reply

Jessica May 5, 2011 at 9:57 am

I just want to thank you so much for helping me get started on saving money. I just moved to Orlando Florida so it was a little hard for me to know where to start shopping and saving money. Thank you so very much.

Sue Lewis May 8, 2011 at 12:59 am

I wish that I had found YOUR website when I first started couponing!!!

Sophie May 16, 2011 at 12:33 am

I just started clipping coupons but this week I realized most coupons said l coupon per item. Help me plz:(

Ruth May 16, 2011 at 2:56 am: Hi Sophie!
Most coupons do say limit 1 coupon per purchase (or item). All that means is that if you are buying (for example) 4 boxes of cereal you can’t use just one coupon that says $1 off and expect to use the same coupon for all 4 boxes, you would have to have FOUR coupons to matchup to the 4 boxes. It is not saying that you can only use one coupon in your entire transaction. Hope that helps!

Marissa (I help Ruth do the matchups at Rite-Aid and Safeway)

Reply
Ruth May 17, 2011 at 9:17 am: You can use 1 manufacturer’s coupon per item purchased, but you can generally use multiple coupons in a transaction so long as you are buying that number of items.

Reply

Dee May 18, 2011 at 12:37 am

Hello:) I am new to the world of coupons. My question is, I have a coupon that will save me $1.00 on two pure life water. There is a sell at Smith’s that is selling the product for $2.99. Now does that mean it’ll take a $1.00 off both water cases or just in the total amt? I know this is a stupid question but I’m still so fresh. Help:) Thank you.

Natalie July 30, 2011 at 6:32 am: $1 off the total amount so you would normally pay $5.98 for two waters with the coupon you will only pay $4.98 for both

Reply

Natalie July 30, 2011 at 6:36 am

I’ve been couponing for a about a month now and just started really trying to take advantage of the drugstore sales and reward programs. Here’s my question though: At Walgreens, CVS, or Rite Aid are you allowed to use your rewards on items that will then give you more rewards? For example… I buy two packages of toilet paper that gives me a printed reward of $3 off my next trip. On a different trip to that store I want to buy some body wash that will give me a reward of $1 when I purchase it. Will using the $3 reward from the previous trip affect me getting the $1 reward? This might be a silly question but thanks for answering!

lasean August 21, 2011 at 3:53 am: Hope this helps clarify things, I would like for you to know that in each drug store things go a little different ex. in walgreens you have to do different transactions to receive a Register Reward (RR) on the same item. for ex if you bought a Pert Plus and it was 3.99 and gave you back a 3.00 (RR) you would have to end that transaction if you wanted to get another Pert Plus and receive another (RR) for the second Pert Plus. Another example if you had a Pert Plus and Revlon Nail polish that gave you 3.00 (RR) on both you would receive both, and this is how you could get the other two free is you use those same two rewards on the next Pert Plus and Revlon Nail polish, you will use the Pert Plus reward for the nail polish and the nail polish reward you would use for the Pert Plus, if you have a dollar off coupon then these items have just become free and you will pay taxes on the items and you will then receive another set of (RR) for those same items and that is how you work a deal. It is so much fun to save money. Sorry this is so lengthy.

Reply

marissa July 31, 2011 at 3:00 am