There are many websites and books devoted to teaching you the art of extreme couponing. I am currently reading The Coupon Mom's Guide to Cutting Your Grocery Bills in Half by Stephanie Nelson who is the owner and creator of couponmom.com and will next be reading Pick Another Checkout Lane, Honey by Joanie Demer and Heather Wheeler who are the owners and creators of thekrazycouponlady.com and who have been featured on TLC's Extreme Couponing. Both of these websites are dedicated to teaching you the art of couponing as well as provide an online forum for coupon finds and deals.
There are also many coupon sites such as coupons.com, smartsource.com, redplum.com, coolsavings.com, shopathome.com, printable-grocery-coupon.com, Nifty Thrifty Savings, among many others. You can also get manufacturer's coupons if you like a particular brand from their website such as Huggies, Pedigree, Purina, Scotch Brand, Aquafresh, Arm & Hammer, Frenchs, Swiffer, Campbell's, Pillsbury, Dove, Fisher Price, Hasbro, Kellogg's, Neutrogena, Listerine, Yoplait, and Tylenol or coupons directly from the stores you shop at such as Target, Walmart, and CVS. Don't forget about store loyalty cards like the CVS Extra Care Card or the Kroger Plus card. These cards can be used for additional in-store savings and many can have e-coupons downloaded to them that will be taken off your purchase when swiped at the register. There are also sites that give you daily "steals" like Living Social, Groupon, and MamaPedia, and for the moms there's Zulily and Baby Steals. You have to be careful with the steals websites since you may end up spending money on something that you would not have otherwise purchased. All of these sites are free to use. Remember, any coupon printed off of the internet must have a scannable barcode and, for many stores, must say Manufacturer's Coupon somewhere on the face of it.
I also use some of the coupons off of Inbox Dollars. With Inbox Dollars, you get 10 cents for every coupon redeemed and once you feel you've earned enough, you can request a check (you get a $5 bonus for using my link to sign up). Then there's Swag Bucks. With Swag Bucks, you can earn 10 Swag Bucks for every coupon that is redeemed from their site. Swag Bucks can be redeemed for everything from Amazon gift cards to an xbox 360 gaming console. (again, get extra Swag Bucks by using my link to sign up).
I am just getting started on my "extreme" coupon journey. I have been utilizing coupons for quite some time, just not at this rate. I am currently putting together and sorting my coupon binder and have started paying attention to store sales in order to try to match up coupons with sales for maximum savings. The savings that you get out of it correlates with the time you put into it. If you just clip coupons, you will get savings at the face value of the coupon. If you take the time to research the store sales, manufacturer's offers, and when your current coupons will expire to try to utilize all three at once then you will have a much greater savings potential. I'm not saying spend 6 hours a day scouring through circulars and websites to prepare for a shopping trip like the people featured on Extreme Couponing do, but careful meal planning and paying attention to store sales could help you save big.
Last note, do not throw away your expired coupons or coupons that you won't use! These can be sent to troops overseas for military families to utilize. In order to participate, you can send your coupons that you won't use or that are up to two months expired to a certain base. Check out the Overseas Coupon Program for more information and how to do it. This is a great way to support our troops and military families currently serving our country.
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