Coupon 101 Getting Started

The coupons:

The first thing you have to do is start buying at least 2 Sunday papers. I buy up to 10 at a time depending on what coupons will be in that weeks paper. I'll explain why in a bit. The price of Sundays paper just went up to $1.75 making it $17.50 for 10 papers. I am quite sure (depending on that weeks coupons) you can make that back in coupons from those papers if not more. You can also get coupon inserts from family and friends. Swap coupons from them too. You can also buy specific coupons or whole inserts on ebay for a lot less. I am going to start buying them on ebay to cut cost.


The website I use gives you a heads up list on what inserts will come out that week and what coupons will be in them. Some weeks there won't be any insert so no need to buy a paper. Other weeks you can check. If there are a lot of good coupons that you will use, then buy more papers/coupons. If the coupons aren't so great, don't buy that many that week

Once you have your coupons, keep the inserts whole (do not clip coupons) I have a couple expandable files that i keep mine in. There are 3 different inserts Red Plum (RP) Smart Source (SS) and Proctor & Gamble (PG) On the edge of each insert is their date. Write that date with marker on the front of your insert for ease of finding it. Then file them.

You want to do this because all coupon sites/blogs/databases list coupon by date and insert name.

Example: $4 off Gillette fusion proglide razor PG 7-31

So when you know that razor is on sale somewhere, you just fund it in your file by located your PG &-31 insert and clipping the razor coupon out of it. This way you will only clip what you need when you need it.

There are also printable online coupons. SS and RP have their own websites. Coupons.com is another but there are others too.
If you love or use a product a lot, sign up on their website for special offers and newsletters. I made a yahoo account for coupon use only and I just use that email address. you will be flooded a bit with coupon of the month or other offers but i promise it's worth it.

You can usually only print out 2 coupons per IP address of your pc. But see, we had 3 now 4 pc's and they are all linked to the same printer so i can now get 8 of any internet coupon. I suggest using a friends pc or work or anywhere you can if you want a certain something.

There are also Catalina coupons, these are the coupons that print out from a little machine at check out when your receipt is printed out. I just got 2 free bags of dog food thanks to these. The coupon was actually for a free 3.5lb bag of beneful up to a $6.21 (i think) value. Most of the time they are $1.00 off etc. Most people just throw these away or don't even take them :(

Also make sure you sign up for your store(s) customer cards if they have them and sign your card up online to that stores website because you can get additional savings and coupons uploaded to your card.

(e-coupons) They will also email you and mail you special coupons and offers.

If you want to look at their circular and don't have a paper one, you can find them on their website.

Find a website or blog that maps out sales and coupons for your grocery store(s) do a google search with your store(s) name and blog and you should be able to find one that way. I use southernsavers.com I really like the way this site is set up so to get started you should check it out yourself to see what i mean. Almost every site has a getting started guide so check that out too. Southernsavers lists southern grocery stores but they also list CVS, Walgreens, Rite Aid and some dept stores, clothing stores and others that are the same deals across the country (pretty much) Such as Gap, Old navy, Walmart, etc. Once you find a

site(s) that you like, sign up with them, like them on FB etc so you can be alerted to special deals or new posts.

Here is an example of how these sites map it out for you. This is from southersavers.com

　

Domino Sugar, 4 lb, $2.50
-.40/1 Domino sugar product, 2 lb +
printable
-.50/1 Domino granulated sugar, 4-5 lb, RP 6/26
(makes it $1.50)

It lists the sale of the item and shows you where to find the matching coupon and how much that coupon is worth

Why you need so many coupons:

To stock up! When there is a good sale, you want to stock up at that price as much as you can. If an item is on sale for a buy 1 get 1 free (B1G1) most stores ring up each item separate and because of that you can use 2 coupons. This week Fiber One yogurt 4pks were on sale B1G1 @ $2.39 Making them $1.20 each I had a few .50/1 and a few $1/2 (50 cents off 1 and $1 off 2) Most stores double 50 cents coupons I'll touch on that later. So if you use the .50/1 it makes the yogurt 20 cents each. Use the $1/2 it makes each yogurt 70 cents

At that price, you may want to buy 4pks so you would need 4 coupons. If you wanted to buy 8pks, you'd need 8 coupons.

Note: Check store coupon policies (I'll talk about that in a bit) also check expiration dates. You don't want to buy more than you can use before it expires.

Buying in bulk from Costco or sam's is NOT, I repeat NOT a bargain if you look at the above example. Granted in some instances it will be cheaper, in most cases it is NOT. When you buy smaller sizes or single products you get to match a sale with a coupon. If you bought (4) 4pks of the yogurt from above example, the total (if using .50/1) would be 80 cents. A case of (4) 4pks in bulk would cost you so much more.

I get dish soap for free all the time because of this buying small idea.
The small bottle goes on sale for $1 all the time, at all stores I will wait for sale and 50 cent coupon and it will double to $1 making it FREE. Sometimes I have to use the 25 cent one and it doubles to 50 cents so i pay 50 cents and it goes on sale at drugstores for 98 or 89 cents all the time so 50 cent or 25 cent it will still only cost 48, 73, 39 or 64 cents. the large or bulk bottle at it's cheapest would end up around $1.50 more or less. (1 large bottle is approx the amount of 2 sm. bottles)

So here's what I do. I check southersavers and I make my list from there. Then I clip my coupons. I have a small expandable file I put my clipped coupons in and I bring that to the stores with me. I have the tabs labeled as CVS, Walgreens, Ingles, Bi-Lo etc, by store then I have a the tabs in the back labeled cold, dry, household, personal (health/beauty) So I file my clipped coupons by store and go shopping :)

The Stores

Grocery stores:

Most stores except drug stores double coupons. up to 50 cents. One of mine (Bi-LO doubles up to 60 cent so that's $1.20 off. Most grocery stores have a triple coupon month or special time so that's $1.50 off. K-Mart does a double up to $2 every (I don't know how long) so that's $4 off. Harris Teeter does triple coupons and super doubles (they double a coupon up to $1.98)

One of my grocery stores (Ingles) will only double (3) 50 cent coupons for every $10 spent and they will only double 2 coupons of the same item per transaction.

Bi-Lo does not have these restrictions.

Don't forget to read up on your stores coupon policies!!!


Drug stores:

I could go on for days about them lol I profit from shopping at these stores all the time. Off the shelf, CVS, walgreens, Rite Aid's prices are very expensive. I never used to shop at them at all. But after learning to coupon and taking advantage of their rewards programs, I shop at them daily lol Again, you need to know all of their store policies.

CVS

With CVS you need to sign up/have their Extra Care card. Because you need your card to get sale prices, the sales are limited. It will tell you limit 1 per household or limit 6 per household. (this is their main rule as far as policy goes)

CVS has what are called Extra Care Bucks (ECB) They print out at the bottom of your receipt. Alot of times it will be the same amount as what you pay so in essence, it's free. If you use a coupon to buy that one item and then they give you a ECB for the original value, you just profited. If you buy 1 item, CVS will let you use a coupon and as many ECB's till you are only left with tax.

Example: If an item is on sale for $5 with $5 EBC back, You can use a coupon $1off and $4 in ECB's (whether it's one ECB or a combo of 3 ECB with a combined value of $4) bringing your total down to tax only and then you'll get the $5 ECB back. Again...profit

I wear contacts. Multi purpose solution goes on sale all the time for $7.99 with $7.99 ECB I get it for free all the time

Revlon nail polish has been on sale this week $4.99 with $3 EBC limit 6. I have $1 off coupons So I bought one I paid $3.99 + tax I got $ECB back then I went back and bought another. I used $1off coupon and the $3 ECB making it 99 cents + tax and got $3 ECB.

CVS will also give you a rain check for sale price and EBC

CVS also has a coupon kiosk, you scan your card when you walk in and it will print you out special coupons. Even FREEBIES, this week I got a FREE box of 20 fabric bandaids and a FREE Carmelo bar

WALGREENS

Oh boy do I love walgreens. They don't have a customer card. Most of their sales will just say limit 1 (meaning one per transaction) Walgreens has Register rewards (RR) It is a catalina coupon, it prints out AFTER your receipt from it's own machine like at the grocery store. Pay attention to not leave leave before it prints out. My daughters school is near Walgreens so I go there as many times as I can afford to a week. Walgreens will only let you use 1 coupon per item whether it's a coupon or RR (unlike cvs) So you need to buy what is called a filler item (get to that in a bit) Walgreens will not allow you to use an RR that you got from a Gillette Fusion Razor on a Gillette Fusion razor (get to that in a bit too) Walgreens (at least mine) will give you a rain check for sale price but not for RR (this sucks and I am going to complain about it)

Ok Gillette Fusion razors the starter Kit go on sale all the time (at all 3 drugstores) for $9.99 with $4 RR. PG puts out a $4 off coupon pretty much every month. When PG has this coupon I will buy 10 Sunday papers lol 3 people in my house use this razor. I try to always have RR to start out with (this is called rolling over) So Razor $9.99 with $4 RR I will use $4 off coupon and now it's $5.99 Since I only have 1 item, I can only use 1 coupon and that's where a filler item comes in. Walgreens will always have some cheap 10 cent item so if I have 1 or 2 RR's, I need to buy 1 or 2 filler items if I want to use them on razor. So add 20 cents making it $6.19 and then I hope to have 2 RR's that equal as close to $6.19 as possible. If I had a $3RR and a $2 RR that would bring the total for razor and 2 filler items down to $1.19 + tax and you get $4 RR back. You could not use that $4 RR to roll over on another razor (unlike CVS) because it is the same item. Now at $1.19 per razor starter kit (1 razor 2 cartridges) I look at this as $1.19 for 2 cartridges if you did this 4 times, it would be approx $5 + for 8 cartridges and if you bought an 8 pack of cartridges, it would be around $16 so by doing it this way, I am saving a lot of money on razor cartridges...again bulk is not always cheaper.

Walgreens also runs the same sale on multi purpose solution as CVS so if you wear contacts, be on the look out for that sale. I have been getting contact solution for free for a few years now.

RITE AID

I am not as familiar with Rit Aid but here is what I do know. They have several programs to atke advantage of. They have a single check rebate (SCR) same as RR and ECB but they send you a check in the mail and you have to enter your receipt online. They have a card now and you can earn points and when you earn so many points, you will get 10% off the entire store for 1 year. It is really a good thing. I don't shop their because the turn around on rolling over isn't instant and I don't have the cash to pay out and wait a month for it's return. They also have online videos you can watch to earn rite aid store coupons. I suggest you check this out for your self. Southernsavers.com has all the info on rite aid.

I am pretty sure all 3 drugstores will combine a store coupon with a manufacturers coupon.

Making smaller transactions will have you spending less out of pocket.

Thanks to these drugstores I save a TON of money on household, personal care, cosmetics etc. Such as: razors, shampoo, make-up, toilet paper, paper towel, soap, laundry detergent, toothpaste, floss, mouth wash etc.

I also get to try so many products that I wouldn't have been able to afford otherwise. Some of them i fell in love with like my EOS lip balm :)

I happen to use a lot of aluminum foil and (ziploc) bags to save me in cleaning. You'll read about that in future blogs. It can be costly to do that so Walgreens has foil on sale (with in store circular coupon) all the time for 69 or 79 cents. The storage bags sm, lg and folding are 99 cents. I use these as filler items so I am actually buying something I will use. I also use mac & cheese as a filler when they have their 69 cent a box sale. In my next post you will see this put to work.

Links

southernsavers.com

hotcouponworld.com is a coupon database you can use to find a coupon for something that is not on sale or not listed on southernsavers.

vocalpoint.com Sign up to receive great coupons, lots of free samples with coupons and other great stuff

iheartcvs.com

So I know, this is a lot of info. I am sure I left stuff out too. I suggest a few things, go to southersavers.com and check out her getting started info and check out her site. Find a site with your stores (grocery) and buy the damn Sunday paper already. If you are just getting started you are going to see sale that has a matching coupon from June, but you may not have it...too late for that one but you'll be current soon enough once you start saving them. At first it will all be overwhelming and you won't be saving so much. Start small and save your self a few bucks and as you get more into it, it will become easier and you will start seeing bigger savings.

I worked really hard to get this much anticipated post up. I wanted to make sure I had as many facts as I could and that they were all right. I may have left stuff out. I may not have communicated them in a way you understand. I am sorry for that. I am still an amateur of sorts myself so please follow up with southersavers.com.

This week has been busy for me as some of you know. So I am sorry I haven't posted. I have been working on this post and as you can see it's a lot of info. I started my weekly shopping on Monday and I have pics and details on all transactions. That will be my next post.