Couponing for Beginners

Couponing is a potentially lucrative hobby, but it's also a complicated one. Varying store policies, myriad sources, agonizing busywork and difficult-to-digest rules and restrictions tend to muck things up.

Writing at Ultimate Coupons, Alison breaks the hobby down to its simplest attributes, offering up a "lazy girl's guide to couponing."

Among her tips:

• Let someone else do the work. Find couponers who are so proud of their efforts that they blog about all their amazing finds, then take advantage of their deals. The offers will work just as well for you, with almost none of the commitment.
  
• Put the scissors away. Save time by just yanking out whole pages of coupon inserts rather than precisely cutting out each offer. Since you won't use many of the coupons that catch your eye, save the cutting for when it's absolutely necessary.
  
• Multi-task to power through the drudgery. Alison says she purges expired coupons for car trips in which her husband is driving. Sorting through old coupons isn't exciting, but it's more interesting than staring out the window.

If you're a couponer, what tricks do you use to make the hobby easier and more enjoyable?

The Lazy Girl's Guide to Couponing [Ultimate Coupons]

from Phil Villarreal @ The Consumerist