Couponing 101: The Basics

A manufacturer’s coupon is a piece of paper with a discount for a specified product printed on it. The coupon can be used at most stores that carry the specified product. To receive your discount you must purchase the product and give the cashier the coupon. The cashier will scan the coupon and the coupon amount will be deducted from your purchase. You then pay for the remainder of the purchase.

Coupons may only be used once. You may not buy ten boxes of cereal and scan the coupon for $1 off cereal ten times. The store will only be reimbursed for the single coupon you scanned – they will then lose $9 for the nine additional times you scanned the coupon.

You may use one coupon per indicated items purchased. If you have two coupons to save $1 on one box of cereal, you can buy two boxes and use both coupons. The coupon will say “one coupon per purchase.” This means you may not use both $1 coupons on one box. If you purchase two boxes then you may use two coupons.

You may not use two coupons on one item. You may not buy one package of diapers and use ten coupons on it. You may only use one of your coupons on the diapers. You may, however, use one store coupon and one manufacturer coupon on one item.

Coupons may not be copied. Copying coupons is illegal. You can however obtain multiples of coupons in legal ways. You can buy multiple papers or order multiples from a clipping service.

Read the wording of the coupon and ignore the picture! Manufacturer’s usually put a picture of their most expensive product on the coupon to make you think that is what you have to buy. If you actually read the terms of the coupon, it will usually say “save on ANY brand xyz product.” That means you can buy even the least expensive product and still save with the coupon!

You can use a coupon on an item that is on sale or clearance too! Occassionally I will have a store clerk tell me otherwise, but it is usually cleared up with a chat with a manager or a call to corporate.

If a product rings up higher than advertised or they miss one of your coupons, let them know! I always read over my receipt before I leave the store to make sure everything is correct. Any mistakes over $1 are pointed out to customer service. $1 may not seem like much, but let me put it in perspective. I visit roughly 3 stores per week. If each store overcharges me “just $1″ at each visit then I am being overcharged $156 per year. It is usually more than $1 though, and rarely takes more than a minute at customer service.

Stand up for yourself! If you are using coupons correctly then shop with confidence. Many times the cashiers are just misinformed. Be calm and confident when you explain why you CAN use the coupon. If the cashier still doesn’t accept it, ask nicely to speak to a manager. It is your money and you should not feel bad about being a smart shopper!

There are no stupid questions! If you have any questions, feel free to ask! I would be happy to answer!


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. I find that a good rule of thumb is to purchase one newspaper per family member.
* Ask your friends and family for coupons. If they get a newspaper but usually throw out the coupons then they’ll probably be happy to give them to you.
* Peruse the Internet. There are many great online printable coupons to be found! You can find a list of Internet printable sites here!
* Use a clipping service. If there is a great coupon that you would like to have multiples of then you might consider ordering the coupons from a clipping service like The Coupon Clippers.
* Check the store. There are many varieties of coupons that you can find in the store. See a list here.

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. Couponing 101 provides weekly coupon matchups for CVS, Walgreens, Albertson’s, Brookshire’s, and Kroger.
* Pricematch. Some stores, like Walmart, will pricematch. This means that if grapes are on sale for 99¢/lb at Kroger, 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.” 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.

Build your stockpile!

* Start slowly. Don’t buy a ton of everything as soon as you get started or you will blow your budget! A stockpile takes time. Set aside a part of your weekly grocery money for stockpiling and do what you can with what you have.
* Buy for the future. If an item goes on sale for a great price (or free!) then buy more than you need for just the week. Typically sales go in 12 week cycles so you only need to buy enough for 12 weeks. So, if you eat 1 box of cereal per week then when you find cereal at a rock-bottom price then you should buy 12 boxes. This way you have cheap cereal that will last you until you can buy it at a rock-bottom price again.
* Know how much you use. Start paying attention to how many bottles of shampoo, packs of diapers, boxes of cereal, etc. you use. This will help you to have a better idea of how much you should buy and to not go overboard! If you only eat 1 box of cereal a month then there is really no need to buy more than a few boxes or they will just go to waste.
* Donate it. Every couponer will eventually go overboard and buy too much of something. If there is no way you will use it before it expires then consider donating the item to a shelter or food pantry."