Here you will find all the best coupon advice, tips and how to make the most of all your coupons! You know how you always hear about people getting $300 of items and only paying $90 (or something along those lines)? Well this is how they do it! As I get the tips/posts I will place them here as well as it's own individual post! Click the title (the large font above the article) to be brought to the full post.
There are two different kinds of coupons you can use. There are store coupons and manufacturer coupons. Store coupons come from the grocery store ads and are normally labeled with store name at the. Manufacturer coupons will say manufacturer coupon at the top of the coupon.
Save 40% off Your Groceries
#1 Make sure you get the Sunday paper: The newspaper!? That's from the 1990s, right? Yes, while itâ's rather outdated, the Sunday paper still has some great coupons. Make sure that you get the Sunday paper each and every week. By doing so, you're going to get loads of coupons. You're going to get the Smart Source, as well as Red Plum publications. You're going to want to mark the date on these.
#2 Sign up for CouponMom: CouponMom.com is a 100% free resource tool and you're going to love it. You're going to want to sign up and create an account. Once you get in, you're going to want to find your grocery store that you shop at. Each week, they update the list with the best deals at your local store.
Basically, what they are going to do is take the sale items and throw a
coupon on top of it, giving the maximized savings. For example, let's say that bread is on sale for $1. There's a $0.55 coupon in your paper. You take that coupon and apply it on top of the $1. Your bread is now $0.45. Before that, if it wasn't on sale, it would have been $1.99.
#3 Search for printable coupons online: Before you start your grocery shopping, it's important that you make a list. You're going to find that the Sunday paper isn't always going to have all the coupons that you want. Instead, you're going to want to search for items as well online. Use Google's most recent results search engine.
Let's say that you wanted Cheez It. Search for Cheez It printable coupons. Sometimes you're going to find a deal, while other times, you won't find anything at all. The reason why you're going to want to use the most result results is because it's going to show you what's fresh, rather than outdated and expired.
#4 Search out eBay: If you have patience, you can
search out coupons on eBay for either products, or your local store. Check it out to see what's up. It will generally take you about 3-5 days to get your coupons in the mail. Make sure that you try out this technique as well.
#5 Get deal help on forums: There are a few grocery forums that I love such as AFullCup.com, as well as a few others. People on there will post specific deals on message boards telling you how you can get the best deals on products. Be sure to read these as well on a weekly basis.
#6 Check the store paper: Every grocery store has a newspaper with their ad. Check this out because you will find that on occasions that they have coupons, as well as special offers right in there. Some stores even have great coupons for those that have their credit card or club card. I would advise that you sign up for things like this.
By following these 6 steps, you should be able to save each and every time. As you can see, it's going to take a little bit of work, but if it's worth saving 40%+ in the long haul, do it!
Coupon Stacking
What is coupon stacking?
Most stores allow you to use their own store coupons AND a manufacturer's coupon one the same product. For instance, if you have a $1.00/1 Target Herbal Essences coupon and a $2.00/1 manufacturer's coupon (from the newspaper or other source), you will be able to save a total of $3.00 on a bottle of Herbal Essences and probably get it FREE or very close.
Stores that allow coupon stacking and where to find their coupon:
Target - you can find most Target coupons on their
website. You might also receive Target coupons in the mail or get them in your Sunday newspaper inserts. These will always have the Target logo and say Target Store Coupon.
Walgreen's - you will find these in their weekly flyer, on their
website or in their monthly coupon booklet (found in the front of the store by the weekly flyer)
CVS - you will find these on there
website (these will say CVS Pharmacy coupon -“ be aware that there are also manufacturer's coupon on their website), clip-free coupons (these are usually good for a whole month and will automatically be deducted with your purchase) and at the price scanners in-store (just scan your CVS card before you shop to print out CVS coupons).
Other local grocery stores - you will usually find these in their weekly sales flyer.
Expired Coupons - Can I do anything with them? So I was doing some research trying to figure out where to send my expired coupons. I came across this site called
Grocery Saving Tips who has a list of military bases of where to send your old coupons. They must be manufactured and keep in mind that these bases can only use them for up to 6 months after they expired. Since Michelle keeps this list updated regularly, please go to her page
HERE to see it.
- We've been taught to buy in bulk or to buy the larger quantity item, but with couponing it is often times the opposite.
- The generic brand is not always the cheaper price.
- 10/$10 - you usually don't have to buy 10 to get the sale price.
- Start small.
- Don't clear the shelf of all the items and don't take all the blinkies.
- Don't follow the picture on the coupon; read the fine print.
- Keep the kids at home and consider shopping late.
WALGREENS TIPS
- Check out at the cosmetics counter, and if anyone comes behind you let them go first, so you do not hold up the line.
- One thing to remember about Walgreens RR (register reward) is you can not use a "chap stick RR" to pay for another chap stick and have another RR print. BUT you can use a "toothpaste RR" to pay for chap stick and have another RR print.
- Also remember that Walgreens has a coupon item ratio rule, you can only use as many coupons as you have items. They count RR as coupons. So if I was only buying 4 items ( all of which had manufacture coupons which meant my item coupon ratio was already 4 to 4) I wanted to pay with a RR I would need to ad a filler item something cheap like a pencil. This would then make my coupon ration 5 ( 4 manufacturer coupons and 1 register reward) and my item ratio 5. I then could pay with my coupons and RR with no problem. An instore coupon does NOT count as a coupon in this ratio - just as a sale price.
- Also remember that only one RR per product will print per transaction. For example If wanted to buy 3 bottles of Aussie shampoo. In order to have 2 RR print for each one I had to buy them in 3 transactions. My store is happy to let me go thru the line more than once - but some store will limit you.
- You can not pay for sales tax with a RR
Comments