Get Some Coupons!
• The Sunday newspaper is a great source of coupons. Buy the newspaper with the largest circulation in order to get the best coupons. You can sometimes get them cheaper by buying a double pack.
• Pursue the Internet. There are many great online printable coupons to be found!
• Check the store circulars & brochures. There are many varieties of coupons that you can find in the store.
Organize your coupons!
• Envelopes. You can start by clipping and putting them all in an envelope or check file. But, once you’ve been couponing for a few weeks you will need something bigger.
• File by insert. With this method you just file your inserts by date in a box and use an online coupon database to find the coupon you need. This method doesn’t require much work but you might miss out on unadvertised deals by not having all of your coupons with you at the store.
• Coupon Binder. With this method you would clip all of your coupons and file them in baseball card holders in a three-ring binder. With this method you can carry your binder to the store and have all your coupons with you while you shop. You can see my coupon binder here!
Know your store’s coupon policy!
• Loyalty Cards. If your store offers a loyalty card then make sure to get one. Some stores only give the sale prices to card-holders. Loyalty cards are Free!
• Double/Triple coupons. Double/triple coupons is when the store will take your 50¢ coupon and double it making it $1. This is done automatically at the register, you do not have to do anything to take part in this promotion. First, find out if your store doubles/triples coupons. If they do then find out the maximum double/triple value and how many they will double/triple.
• Stacking coupons. Some stores will allow you to use one store coupon (the discount is provided by the store) and one manufacturer coupon (the discount is provided by the manufacturer) per item.
• Internet coupons. Find out if your store accepts Internet coupons.
• Competitor coupons. Some stores will accept competitors coupons.
• Expired coupons. Some stores will accept expired coupons!
Make a plan!
• Weekly Ads. Read the weekly store ads to see what is on sale and which stores have the best prices on the items you need. If you don’t get the weekly ads delivered you can usually view them on the store’s website.
• Coupon Matchups. See if you can match coupons to the sale items to get an even better deal! Some websites do this for you.
• Pricematch. Some stores, like Walmart, will pricematch. This means that if grapes are on sale for 99¢/lb at Harris Teeter, you can take the ad to Walmart and at checkout tell the cashier that you would like to pricematch the grapes. Show them the ad and they will sell you the grapes for 99¢/lb versus their higher price.
• Make a List! Don’t go to the store without a list. Lists remind you what you came for and keep you from buying items you don’t need.
• Rainchecks. If your store is out of the sale item, get a raincheck! Go to customer service and ask for a raincheck for the item you wanted. They will fill out a piece of paper with the item details and price. Then you can come back another day (usually no more than 30 days) and buy that item at the sale price by giving the cashier the raincheck. This also gives you more time to gather coupons for the item! You can still use a coupon if you are using a raincheck.
Don’t be fooled!
• 10/$10 promotions. You do not have to buy 10 items to get the $1 price! The only exception to this rule is if the ad states that you must! Those times are rare and are usually for items that are buy x get y free, final price 2/$5, etc.
• Rock-bottom prices. Don’t go out and use your coupon immediately! If you use that 25¢ off toilet paper right away when it’s not on sale you aren’t reaching your saving potential! Wait until toilet paper goes on sale for $1 then use the coupon. If your store triples coupons then you could get the toilet paper for only 25¢! Matching sales with coupons is getting a great price. Combining sales plus coupons plus another promotion (rebates, double coupons, store coupons) is getting the best price!
• “One per Purchase.” I’ve heard this so many times! Most coupons say “one coupon per purchase” somewhere in the fine print. Cashiers will try to tell you that that means you can only use one coupon per transaction/day. This is NOT true! One per purchase means that you can only use one coupon per item purchased! So if you are buying 10 items and have 10 coupons then you can use them all!
• Leave the kids at home! Shopping with kids will distract you and cause you to buy items not on your list!
• Make a Pricebook. Start paying attention to prices and keep a list of items you regularly buy with the best and regular prices for those items. This will help you when you see that canned veggies are on “sale” for 10/$10 but the regular price is actually 99¢!
• Limits. Stores will sometimes put limits on the item to make you think it’s a great price! If cereal is just on sale 2/$4 you might not even notice it. But if it’s on sale 2/$4, limit 2! then you will likely think it’s a great price since they had to put a limit on it!
• Shop early. If you have couponers in your area then it’s best to get to the store as early in the sale as you can!
• “Bigger is better.” The cost per unit of the bigger box of cereal may be less than the smaller one but with coupons and sales the smaller box is likely a better deal.
• Watch the cashier. When checking out pay close attention to the price screen to make sure everything rings up at the correct price. Also, make sure that the cashier scans all of your coupons. Coupons sometimes stick together or get dropped or the cashier will scan the coupon but not realize that it didn’t go through. Kindly point out that they missed one and they will correct it.
• Check your receipt. BEFORE leaving the store look over your receipt to make sure everything rang up correctly and all of your coupons were scanned. If there is a problem take it to customer service immediately so they can fix it. If you leave the store and come back at another time then it might not be fixable. If the cashier missed a coupon and you notice right away it’s easy to see the mistake. But, if you come back later after several other coupons have been added to the cashier’s stack or the stack is gone then there is no way to prove that they missed a coupon.
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