With coupons, the key is combining your coupon with a sale price. Then you get the item you need for an ultra-low price, perhaps even for free. But how will you know that the price is an ultra-low price? Is it the right time to play your coupon?

To know, you need to keep a price list. You can use a notebook, or Excel, or another system that works for you. Make a column for the name of the item and a column for price per unit. It's up to you how specific you want to be. For example, toilet paper. Your price list could be as simple as:

Item	Price
Toilet paper	$.52/double roll

or as detailed as:

Item	Brand	Price	Store	Date
Toilet paper	Charmin	$.52/double roll	Walgreens	11/08/08

You can also keep track of the normal prices at your stores for items you purchase regularly. By tracking the normal prices and your low prices, you'll be able to spot a deal when it comes and know to stock up.

If the deal is a great one, you want to purchase 2-3 months worth of the item. If it's an earth-shattering deal, you may want to pick up even more. By buying more at the ultra-low price, you won't run out and you can wait for the next great sale.

Your assignment for this week is to start a price list and get prices for at least ten items you use on a regular basis.

Now that you have your coupons, you've got to figure out a way to make sense of them all. Clearly it's not helpful to have the perfect coupon if you don't realize it or can't find it when you need it.

To start out, I suggest getting one of those small envelopes with lots of dividers in it so you have 10-15 different sections. Each of these sections should be labeled with a category. How you divide things is up to you. Some examples might be, "Paper goods", "Toothbrushes/toothpaste", "Cleaning products", or "Hair care". You can have as many or as few categories as you like. All that matters is that you can find the coupon you need when the time comes.

As your coupon collection grows, you may need to expand to a different system. Some people like boxes with dividers for different categories. Many people use 3-ring binders with either photo or baseball card pages for holding the coupons. Another method of filing a large coupon collection is alphabetical by manufacturer. So instead of Kleenex being under "Paper goods", it would be under "K".

Your assignment is to organize your Sunday coupons in whatever way you prefer. Then you're ready for Lesson 3.

The key to getting free items at Walgreens (and many other stores) is simple.

Coupons.

Yes, coupons. You know, those little booklets you have to toss aside to read the Sunday comics. They're a gold mine. It's worth getting two copies of the paper, in fact. Maybe even more if there are lots of coupons for products your family uses in a particular week's inserts.

Now, if you've looked at a coupon insert, you're probably thinking to yourself, "How is this going to make anything free? $1 off this, 50cents off that....how could this really make a difference?"

The key is in the timing. Think of your coupons like your hand in a card game. It can be tough to spot from the beginning what's a good card and what's a great card. But when the time comes, if you have the right card to play, you win. Coupons are the same way-you just have to learn when to play them. So when the item is the lowest price it's going to be before the coupon expires, that's when you want to play it.

Walgreens often runs sales & promotions where items hit a very low price. When you play your coupon during the promotion, you win.

Your assignment for this week is to get at least two copies of the coupon inserts from the largest paper in your area this Sunday. Once you have done this, proceed to step 2:clipping and organizing your coupons.