Coupon Classes: Materials For Doing Your Own

Here is the information that I promised you all on how to do your own coupon class. Now keep in mind, I've only done the one myself. I'm definitely not an expert by any means. But at least this will give you a starting point. Yes, please feel free to use the materials. But if you do, I ask that you credit them at some point in your packets/presentation as having come from Coupon Geek. I only ask that as it took me soo many hours to put these together. :)

Here is the order of how I set up my couponing packet:

1) Cover Sheet - Just a nice little welcome and an explanation of who you are, ex. listing your name/website, for future reference. I put a picture of my blog button so they might be familiar with my blog when they went there.

2) Coupon Lingo - I wrote up an extensive list HERE and shared it with them. I did not go over it in the class but did explain it was in there in case they needed to refer to it while I was talking. I made sure to explain what a catalina, Register Reward and ECB was right away, though.

3) Where To Find Coupons - This is so important for new couponers. They usually have no idea where to start. This will give them a few ideas of where to look for coupons. I have a list HERE you can use.

4) How To Organize Coupons - Now they've found their coupons, help them organize them. I wrote the top 3 ways HERE. Visual aids are so useful in this part. You can use an inexpensive shoe box w/ lid from say Target for $1.99 for the coupon box. I happened to have a zippered binder from when I tried that method so I could show them. And the coupon insert method is just an expanding file you can get for $3-5. I got a cute designer one at Target for $5. And the little ones are around $3 at Target. I actually bought an extra for a giveaway. If you wanted to have fun, you could fill an organizer with inserts for a giveaway!

5) Walgreens 101, CVS 101 & Stacking Coupons - Now that their coupons are all organized, teach them how to use them with deals and sales to make the most of those coupons. I wrote this info up HERE. I also did a quick walk-through on Jewel, since that's where most of our area shops. I talked about how you can use coupons with the "Spend 25, Get $10" to make great deals and how sometimes the $25 you need to spend is pre-sale prices and not on the sale prices. This segment is by far the most important one to have visual aids for. In my write-up I gave examples of toothpaste, soap, etc. and I actually brought some with to hold up with a coupon while I explained the steps. I'd highly recommend bringing a Register Reward, CVS Extra Care Buck, Catalinas and Store Coupons to show examples of. Find an example of a Store and Manufacturer's coupon that they could stack. It really does make it easier. If you really want to help, bring the latest sales ad and show them a few deals they could get that week.

6) 31 Ways To Save On Your Grocery Budget - I put this in my packet in case they decided that couponing just wasn't for them. That way, they can still work on reducing their grocery budgets. I have these written up HERE. (Note: I only gave the header of each and refered them to my site for the details of each one. It would have taken up way too much paper to write it all out. Also, please note, these are my own work and not something I simply found online and copied into a posting.)

7) Resources - This was the last page in my packet. It listed several websites/blogs that I recommended in helping them find deals & coupons. This is a personal preference of your own favorites.

Overall, the best advice I can give you is to just be yourself. While speaking in public can be a very nervous experience, you will find partway through just how easy it is to speak about couponing, if it's already something you are pretty good at now. I had so much fun at mine that I completely forgot I was talking in front of people. When mine was over, I handed out a bunch of freebies I collected. These were just things I picked up for free or cheap with my coupons.

In the end, your class shouldn't break your wallet. So if you wanted to do one for FREE, keep that in mind. I was lucky enough that since I did mine for free, the library made the photocopies for me. They also picked up cookies, water and $1 coupon organizers for everyone from Michael's. (You could make your own cookies and watch for a good deal on water/coffee.) I picked up pens for FREE at Staples. I already had my visual aids. I did do two giveaways, along with the freebies. Overall, I really didn't spend a lot. I just gave of my time and knowledge. My class ran about 1.5 hours and then we chatted for awhile afterwards, so I'd figure about two hours.

Good luck to all of you! If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to email me at coupongeek at live dot com. I should have some free time tomorrow to answer them and I am also going to email the Word Document I used to those of you that requested it. Thanks for being so patient with me while I put this posting together! I had to get a few postings up for the references.

UPDATE: Yes, by all means, if any of you just reading this would like the Word Document I used, I would be more than glad to email it to you, too! :) Just send me an email to coupongeek at live dot com.