Getting your coupons...

First thing you need is coupons.  There are a few ways to go about this.

One is to check with your local papers and ask if they have a special subscription for couponers.  Around here I pay $20 a month and I get the daily paper Tuesday through Saturday, and then 5 Sunday papers.  You may wonder why I get 5. The reason is because the more papers you get... the more coupon inserts you get... meaning when there is a sale instead of getting one item for free or cheap, you can get 5.  You could also ask your neighbors or friends if they have any coupon inserts from their paper they are going to throw away.  Or maybe even ask the person who delivers the paper in your area and see what they do with their extras.

The second way to get coupons is to dumpster dive.  Yes I have indeed dumpster dived... well sorta.  Rexburg has recycle bins in the walmart parking lot. So one is full of newpapers and I can reach in with my feet firmly planted on the ground.  So I guess I have really dumpster reached.

The third is printable coupons from the internet.  There are many sites that you can print coupons from.  My favorites are...
www.coupons.com
www.smartsource.com
www.redplum.com
www.bettycrocker.com

The main benefit of getting the sunday papers is the Twice the Value coupons for Albertsons.  Albertsons is the main store I shop at because of these coupons they put in the paper.  It gives you the availability to double any coupon that is 1.00 and under up to 1.00.  For example if you have a .50 coupon it becomes 1.00 off that item.  If you have a 1.00 coupon it becomes 2.00 off that item.  More on that later.

This is the first and most essential step in becoming a coupon master.  I will post what to do with the coupons once you have them next post.