Around the Kitchen Table 1
Couponing Tips
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. FYI: There are three major coupon
manufacturers: Smart Source (SS), Red Plum (RP), and Proctor & Gamble (P&G). SS
and RP are usually in the Sunday newspaper weekly; whereas P&G usually comes out in
the Sunday newspaper at the end of the month.

Order extra coupon booklets. At this time, Red Plum is the only coupon manufacturer
that will allow you to receive the coupon booklets weekly through the mail. You can sign
up by visiting the following link: (http://www.valassis.com/about-us/contact-us.aspx)

Ask your friends and family for coupons. If they get a newspaper but usually throw out
the coupons or have clipped the coupons they need then they’ll probably be happy to give
them to you.

Printable Internet Coupons. (IP’s) There are many great online printable coupons to be
found! Some of the legitimate sources for online coupons are:

Coupons.com (www.coupons.com)

Smartsource (www.smartsource.com)

Redplum (www.redplum.com)

P&G (http://www.pgeveryday.com/tag/coupon)

Target Coupons (www.coupons.target.com)

Pillsbury (www.pillsbury.com/coupons)

Betty Crocker (http://www.bettycrocker.com/coupons-promotions/coupons/default)

Eat Better America (http://www.livebetteramerica.com/coupons/)

Box Tops 4 Education (https://www.boxtops4education.com/savings-andpromotions/coupons)


Very Best Baking (http://www.verybestbaking.com/Coupons-Promotions.aspx)

Wal-Mart (http://coupons.Wal-Mart.com/)
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.” You can also purchase coupons on eBay if you need a lot of coupons
and don’t want to buy multiple newspapers to get them.
Around the Kitchen Table 2
Couponing Tips

Check the store. There are many varieties of coupons that are available in stores.

Blinkies: Pull these coupons from the “blinking” machines at the grocery store. These
are usually located in the grocery aisles.

Peelies: Coupons that are stuck to the actual product.

Tearpads: Pads of coupons typically found on special displays at the store, tear off
one or two or three…

Soda tags: Coupons that hang on the neck of a two liter soda bottle. These types of
coupons can be product specific but not always. So don’t pass the coupons up just
because you don’t care for that particular product.
Organize Your Coupons

Envelopes. You can start by clipping and putting them all in an envelope or check file.
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.
Check out the following website to get an idea of how to build your very own coupon
binder: (http://www.weusecoupons.com/upload/binders-unbound/76645-laurascouponing-refunding-hints-tips-plus-coupon-binder-how.html).
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. Doubling or tripling coupons is when the store will take your 50¢
coupon and double it to make it worth $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
Around the Kitchen Table 3
Couponing Tips
doubles or triples coupons. If they do, find out the maximum double/triple value and how
many they will double/triple.
Some good examples of stores that double/triple coupons are:

Kroger (up to 50¢) and they also have e-coupons that you can add to your Kroger
plus card online through the Kroger website.

H.G. Hills (up to 50¢) every day.

Publix (up to 50¢) and they also have e-coupons you can add to an account you
create online through the Publix website. Once you have added the coupons to the
account you created online, you can then use the online coupons in the store simply
by entering your phone number in the debit card machine at checkout.

Harris Teeter (up to 99¢ with a 20 coupon limit daily) and they also have online
coupons called zvr’s that you load to your Harris Teeter card online that will allow
you to stack a manufacturer’s coupon and store coupon for double the savings!
Periodically HT will have special coupon events like double coupons up to $2
(Wowza!) and triple coupons up to 75¢. There is a double couponing up to $2 event
that started today, 2/19/14! (I’m super excited!!)

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.

Printable coupons. Find out if your store accepts printable coupons. Most stores accept
these now. There is sometimes a daily limit of how many IP’s stores will accept per
customer. So, check your store’s coupon policy first.

Competitor coupons. Some stores will accept competitors’ coupons. I know Publix and
Harris Teeter accept competitor coupons at this time. They will usually only accept
coupons for stores they are in direct competition with though. So check with each
individual store to find out which competitor they will accept.
Make a Plan

Coupon Matchups. There are several wonderful websites out there that do all the
coupon matchup work for you! YES, I SAID ALL THE WORK FOR YOU!
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Couponing Tips
A few good examples of online coupon websites are:

We Use Coupons (www.weusecoupons.com) This is my personal favorite! They also
have very good coupon tutorials called “Virtual Coupon Classes” under the Coupon
Resources link on the website’s home page. Check it out! (That’s how I learned all
that I know.)

Southern Savers (www.southernsavers.com). A general website for saving money
and coupon matchups.

Kroger Krazy (www.krogerkrazy.com). She has deals she puts together specific to
Kroger.

Wild for Wags (www.wildforwags.com). This website is dedicated to all the great
Walgreens deals out there.

I Heart Publix (www.iheartpublix.com) I really like this website for deals specific to
Publix since the Publix forum on We Use Coupons is not that great in my opinion.

I Heart CVS (www.iheartcvs.com). This website is good but I really prefer the CVS
forum on weusecoupons.com. Kylie who runs the forum on WUC is amazing.

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.

Price Match. Some stores, like Wal-Mart, will price match. This means that if grapes are
on sale for 99¢/lb at Kroger, you can take the ad to Wal-Mart and at checkout tell the
cashier that you would like to price match 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
Around the Kitchen Table 5
Couponing Tips

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 your toilet paper coupon could be worth three times as much! Matching
sales with coupons is getting a great price. Combining sales plus coupons plus another
promotion (rebates, double coupons, and 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!

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 on sale for 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 when combining coupons with sales, the smaller box is likely the 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
Around the Kitchen Table 6
Couponing Tips
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 portion 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. If you eat one 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.