Yes, couponing is labor and time intensive, but it can save untold amounts of money.  Faithful Provisions Kelly Hancock explains why.

Everybody’s in on couponing now, and if you’re not you know you should be. Long gone is the taboo of cutting up the Sunday circular, but there’s lots more to it than that; it’s practically a life science. In the name of helping busy families save money, we asked Kelly Hancock, founder of Faithful Provisions, to help families get in on the game. Turn the page for Hancock’s answers to our couponing queries!

NP: Please describe how Faithful Provisions works.

KH: Faithful Provisions (faithfulprovisions.com) is a daily resource that helps readers save money in every area of spending. Readers can sign up (it’s free!) to receive a daily e-mail filled with different deals, coupons and informative articles on ways to save. Some of our readers’ favorite posts are our store deals and coupon match-ups. We do all the work for you! For example, if you shop at Kroger, we look through the sale ad, tell you what the best deals are for that week, and then we do the coupon match-ups so that you can save the most money! We even have a Weekly Meal Plan post on Sundays with ideas on what to cook with what you find on sale. On the Nashville Provisions (nashvilleprovisions.com) site, we focus on local free events (including consignment sales) and great deals for the Nashville reader. We also compile all the daily deal sites for the Nashville area (Groupon, Sharing Spree, Eversave, Plum District and more) and blast those out via e-mail every day. You don’t have to go looking for those deals, we find them and put them together for you! You just look through our e-mail to see what interests you, and you’ll save money!


NP: Lots of busy moms say they just don’t have time to coupon although they DO want to save money on groceries. How much time does it take to get started with Faithful Provisions (getting started seems to be the most time intensive part) and then to keep it going?

KH: I agree — couponing can be very time intensive. In fact, when it comes to saving money on your grocery bill, I always recommend that you don’t even start with couponing. To save money, it’s critical to begin with meal planning and stocking ahead. First, master those skills, and then you can add to your savings by incorporating couponing. These savings strategies build on each other.
    The process of getting organized, along with the learning curve when starting something new (like meal planning, stocking ahead and couponing), will naturally take some time. However, once you start doing it, your time will go down incrementally. In my book, Saving Savvy: Smart and Easy Ways to Cut Your Spending in Half and Raise Your Standard of Living … and Giving! I offer savings ideas for people who have more time to spend and those who have less time to spend. We are all unique, with different schedules and different demands on our time.


NP: What about the naysayers who insist couponing makes them buy things they don’t want? Can they I just stick to a food budget and save without all the stockpiling?

KH: Yes, most certainly. One of the biggest snares in couponing is purchasing an item just because it’s a good deal. You have to ask yourself some questions, such as, “Just because it’s a good deal, do I need it? Is it healthy?”
    There is a lot of money to be saved in simply sticking to a budget, and doing that by meal planning and stockpiling. You don’t have to coupon to begin using those savings strategies. Your favorite cereal may be on sale BOGO (Buy One, Get One) and you may not have any coupons to match with it, but just purchasing it at a 50 percent savings, you are saving money on an item you know your family will eat and enjoy. So buy several boxes when it goes on sale, enough to get you through until it goes on sale again. Knowing the sales cycles on your frequently purchased items is part of the learning curve.


NP: Couponing seems like a science when you get right down to it. Why doesn’t everyone use coupons?!

KH: It is a science! But people are probably mostly put off by how time consuming it really is. An avid couponer usually has more time to put toward couponing. The truth is that time is money. When you put a lot of time into couponing, you will save more money. However, you can still find ways to save that fit with how much time you do have.
    What you have to look at is how much time is worth the amount that you are saving. For example, if I spend 20 hours a week couponing, and I save $100 a week, then it’s as though I just made $5 an hour at this 20-hour-a-week job. Then it is a personal judgment call: Is it worth it for you? If you are a stay-at-home mom and you can spend 20 hours a week working from home, still with your kids, dressed however you want, working whatever hours you want, then it might be. That’s the key. The key is knowing what your time is worth.


NP: Is it true that you spend about $40 - $50 a week on your family’s groceries?

KH: My budget has gone up a little bit since I was able to say that, plus we’ve had another child. Today, I have less time to coupon because I am homeschooling my kids and running Faithful Provisions. When I was only spending $40 a week, I had more time to dedicate to couponing. I had one small child at home and no other responsibilities. For me, at that stage of my life, it was worth the time I put into it. At this season in my life, we have increased our budget somewhat, especially now that we have two children. Although I’m still using coupons, I am placing a heavier emphasis on meal planning and stocking ahead as my primary savings tools, and I still save TONS!


NP: On your website, you have all the local stores listed and organized with coupons and tutorials — it’s amazing — and it actually seems kind of fun. Can families coupon together? Do you think children can help with it?

KH: Most definitely, and I encourage couponing to be a family thing. It’s a life-long skill to teach your children the benefits of saving money, and well worth the time you spend educating them. My daughter will frequently sit with me, and we look at the weekly ads together to determine what is on sale and what we will buy. I show her how to make choices according to our budget options. She learns that we don’t just buy because we want it. We buy because we need it and it fits within our budget. When we are careful with our choices, looking at our needs first, there is room for some of our wants as well.
    Her job is to cut out the coupons that we are using each week. She is learning things like fine motor skills along with those financial skills of being a good money manager even at age 6.


NP: If I shop at different stores to get the best deals around town, am I not spending a lot of gas money? Isn’t it easier to buy bulk at Costco or Sam’s?

KH: Going to multiple stores depends on what you need, what is on sale and the geography. My decision is based on what I need, what the stock-ahead items are and how much time I have. The trick is in planning your trip according to where you are going to be during the week, and if it will it be convenient and worth your time.
    I know that many shoppers think of warehouse and wholesale clubs when they think of buying in bulk. But you don’t have to be a member of a club to buy in bulk. Bulk buying is something you can do at your local grocery store on a weekly basis. For example, when your grocery is running a “10 for $10” sale on toothpaste, meaning it is only $1 per tube, then buy 10 tubes! Sure, that’s 10 extra dollars you’re spending that week, but what a deal! This is much better than buying toothpaste one at a time, when it is at regular price, and paying around $3 per tube for it.

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