If you want to know How to Save Money shopping, check out the tips. Here I want to give you a little pep talk before you dive into couponing with both feet.

One of the most common things that can happen to new couponers is that they jump into it and then after a bit, they realize that this is way more work than they had thought and they just give it all up.

It’s what I call Frugal Burnout and I know it personally which is why I want to make sure you know this one thing.

COUPONING IS WORK!

One thing that I had to learn early on in becoming an expert couponer was that it really does take a fair amount of work.

In fact, at the time I was spending my day’s homeschooling and homemaking. My kids were getting older and didn’t need my help as often, and they were doing a lot to help me around the house.

When I made the decision to start using coupons to save money, my husband had just been laid off and we were learning how to live on very little. I knew that I had to take this couponing thing seriously, so I began to treat it like a job.

As with any job, you are only going to get out of it what you put in. I remember those first few weeks putting what I had learned into practice. It seemed like I would spend hours on end making our meager $50 weekly budget work.

It got easier each week. And before long I was able to map out my shopping trips in less than two hours. Considering the amount I was saving, I figured I was making anywhere from $50-$100 an hour at my new “job” and that made the sacrifice in time worth it to me.

I want to tell you upfront that couponing is not a magic trick that will have you carrying bags of free stuff into your home. You will get lots of free stuff through couponing, but it does take work and time.

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