Because they don’t tell you everything on reality television we are here to reveal the secrets of Extreme Couponing. TLC’s Extreme Couponing is really not about education it is more about entertainment. Our goal is to educate you and empower you to save money for your family.

We have been talking about how one of the myths of couponing is that coupons are only for processed foods, junk food or food my family does not eat. I also told you we were featured in the New York Times Magazine and many of the people writing in the comments accused us of only eating  junk foods. All of this brought me to the conclusion that some people just need to be educated in the way we save money and still eat healthy. This week I am going to talk about another way you can coupon and still eat healthy, don’t focus on food.

Maybe couponing for food is overwhelming to you? Maybe you like to only eat organic foods? (We have a coupon for that!) Organic food coupons. Maybe you are on a gluten free diet? (We have a post coming for Gluten Free Coupons). Maybe you have food allergies and don’t have many food options? DO NOT FOCUS ON FOOD!

Focus on Personal Care Products

Price Point - You can get many personal care products to free! Yes FREE! See that picture above? Those are all products that I got for free using coupons. I did not get them all in one shopping trip. I did it one week at a time. You are not going to be able to get all your personal care products for free so it is important to know the right price points. Knowing the price points helps you know when you should wait for a product to be free and keeps you from paying too much for a product that you can typically get for less.

Shop the Drug stores – The main place to focus if you are after personal care products are the drug stores. So check the site for  CVS coupon deals, Walgreens coupon deals, and Rite Aid coupon deals.

Build a Stockpile – When you can get a good price on a personal care product buy a few of them. No need to clear the shelves. Just get enough to last for 3-6 months, which probably won’t be much. Personal care products tend to last for a long time. Much longer than food does.

Take a Break - The nice thing about personal care products is that once you have 10 tubes of toothpaste you really do not need anymore. So you can STOP stockpiling toothpaste for more than a year! Once you have built up a little stockpile of personal care products feel free to take a break and just use the products you already have.

Maintenance Mode – When I first started couponing I hit the drug stores once a week or once every two weeks slowly building up my stockpile. I did this for less than a year before I found that I had a well rounded stockpile of products and I did not need to buy any more. So I went into maintenance mode. Now I just buy a few things here and there when my stockpile gets low. For example when my toothpaste gets down to 3 tubes I keep an eye out for a free toothpaste deal.

Learn more about eating healthy and still saving money!

Look for the following topics…

• Eating Healthy and Saving Money Introduction <<—- Read about it now
• Coupons for Organic Foods <<—- Read about it now
• Eating Healthy and Saving Money <<—- Read about it now
• 5 Easy Ways to Prepare and Preserve Produce <<—- Read about it now
• More Ideas for Preserving Produce <<—- Read about it now
• Saving Money on Meat <<—- Read about it now
• Don’t Be Brand Specific <<—- Read about it now
• Focus on Personal Care Products  {This Post}
• I Admit, Sometimes I Eat Junk Food {Coming}

• Read more tips to answer your couponing questions or get more Extreme Couponing Education tips.
• Get a quick start on Extreme Couponing done right with our coupon class on DVD!