Couponing for Beginners

Couponing for Beginners

Step 1: How to get coupons!

• The Sunday newspaper is a great source of coupons. Buy the newspaper with the largest circulation in order to get the best coupons. 
• The Mail. In some areas coupons will come in the mail instead of in the Sunday paper. Pay attention to what comes with your junk mail.
• 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.
• Look online. There are many great online printable coupons to be found! If you are looking for a coupon for a certain product just do a search online to see if you can find one.
• Check the store. There are many different kinds of coupons that you can find in the store. There are often coupon books and "blinkies" aka the machines that spit out coupons

Step 2: Organize your coupons!

• Envelopes. You can start by cutting and putting them all in an envelope. But you will need to move to something bigger after awhile. I often use envelopes to put the coupons into I will be using at a certain store so they are not all over my purse.
• File by insert. You can get an accordion file or filing inserts to store your coupons. With this method you just file your inserts by date. The only downfall to this is that you won't have all your coupons with you as you would if you had a coupon binder and might miss out on a great unadvertised deal. This is one I have gone too though.
• Coupon Binder. With this method you would clip all of your coupons and file them in baseball card holders in a three-ring binder. You can get organizer tabs to separate your coupons by things such as beverages, frozen foods, etc. I first started with this but accumulated so many coupons a binder wasn't big enough.
• Make an Excel Worksheet. To know what coupons you have, how much they are worth, and when they expire, make an Excel worksheet of the coupons you have. If you go with the idea of waiting to clip/cut until needed make sure you have a section that tells you what ad the coupon is in!

Step 3: 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!
• Coupons added to your Loyalty Cards. There are websites out there that will allow you to add coupons right on to your stores loyalty card! All you have to do at the register is scan your card or enter your phone number and the coupons will be used. No cutting involved!
• 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. My Vons will double coupons but only up to a $1. Meaning that if I have a $0.50 coupon they will take another $0.50 off. It is a $0.35 coupon they will take another $0.35 cents off. BUT if it is for $0.75 they will only take off another $0.25, making the total value only up to a $1. PLUS they will only double the first of a like coupon. Meaning that if I have 2 coupons for $0.50 off yogurt, only one of the coupons will be doubled.
• Stacking coupons. Some stores will allow you to use one store coupon and one manufacturer coupon 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!

Step 4: 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. 
• Price match. Some stores, like Walmart, will pricematch. This means that if peaches are on sale for 79¢/lb at Vons, you can take the ad to Walmart and at checkout tell the cashier that you would like to pricematch the peaches. Show them the ad and they will sell you the peaches for 79¢/lb versus their higher price. Call your local store to see if they price match!
• Make a List! Don’t go to the store without a list. Having a list will help you remember what you were going to the store for.
• 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 30-90 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.

Information to know!

• 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!
• 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!
• 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 you notice an error go to the customer service desk and KINDLY let them know. They are usually more than happy to fix it for you.