You have heard of coupons.  You know they save you money. But that is where your knowledge of coupons stops.  I am here to open your eyes to the wonderful world of coupons.  Once you understand how they work you will wonder how you ever shopped before coupons!

The easiest place to find coupons in in your Sunday newspaper.  Tucked among the adds you will find booklets of coupons.  There are three main distributors of coupons.  Smart Source (SS), Red Plum (RP) and Proctor & Gamble (P&G).  Most of the time you will find 1 SS and 1 RP in your paper.  Once a month you will find the P&G.  On occasion you will find multiple booklets from the same distributor. Pictured above is 2 SS from the same Sunday.

See the date on the front?  Upper right hand side. January 2011.  This is where you will find the P&G date.

The rest of the papers have the date printed on the ‘spine’ of the booklet.  Small print I know but now you know where to find the date.  Why do you want to know the date?  When you are looking for a specific coupon I, and other coupon matching sites, will call out a coupon like this.

3/1/11 RP

You will know to go to the March 1 Red Plum add and the coupon you are looking for will be in that flyer.  **note that not ALL coupons are found in ALL flyers across the country.  A lot are but some manufactures will put a coupon in a certain region versus other regions for reasons only known to them.

Also printed on the spine is what newspapers have distributed that particular flier in your region.

Now onto the coupons itsself.

This coupon is for $1 off (2) packages of Barilla Plus.  But I want you to take note of the first 5 digits of the bar code.  Ignore the 5 all the way of the left. Look at the next five.  76808.

Both the Barilla Plus and the regular Barilla have the same first five digits. 76808.  The Barilla Plus is more expensive. They WANT you to purchase the more expensive.  They even call it out on the coupon and put a picture on the coupon.  But they have coded it for other barilla products as well. Isn’t marketing great?!

Yes, you will be getting $1 off when you purchase 2 of the Barilla Plus BUT you will also get $1 off the regular Barilla pasta when you purchase 2 of the REGULAR.  Just because of the first 5 digits.  This is true about 98% of the time. So don’t be overly surprised if every once and a while you get a ‘beep” and a clerk refusing your coupon becuase of the picture on the front. Don’t make a big stink about it.  Just take back your coupon and ask the to take the item off your bill.  That is, if you don’t want to purchase that product with out the coupon.  You can always try again later with another clerk who will over ride the beep that happens about 2% of the time.

Also printed on the coupon is the amout it is worth.  Also the experation date.  In the same box that says “manufacturer’s coupon” some times you will see “DND” or Do Not Duplicate.  These coupons will NOT double at stores that automatically double coupons.

That is another penny pinching bit of information to know.  Know what the doubling coupon policy of your store.  Some stores do not double.  They feel there regular prices are low enough that they do no need to double coupons.  I know my walmart will not double coupons.  Some stores will double up to $.50.  The double on these looks like this:

• $.25/1 = $.50/1
• $.30/1 = $.60/1
• $.35/1 = $.70/1
• ETC.

BUT if your store will double up to $.99 your doubles will look like this:

• $.55/1 = $1.10/1
• $.75/1 = $1.50/1
• $1/1 =  $1/1  That is right.   They will not double a $1 coupon because it is over $.99

Also know how many of the same coupon they will double.  Some stores do not have a limit of how many like coupons they will double.  My grocery store will only double 1 of the same coupon.  The additional coupons will be given face value.  So if I had:

• $.50/1
• $.50/1
• $.50/1

I would recieve:

• $1/1
• $.50/1
• $.50/1  But only if I didn’t do multiple transations.  If I did 3 seperate transactions I would be getting all of them at $1/1.  In this scinario at my store ,it all depends on how badly I want the item, how much time I have and how much effort I want to put out to pinch that penny!

Also note how many items are called out on the coupon.  This one is $1 on 2 Dole items.  Keep in mind you do not need to buy strawberries and blueberries as listed.  They just need to be ANY Dole item with the 71202 bar code.

This is an example of a printable coupon.  One of my favorite places to find these is at coupons.com.  Note the big box of scribble scrabble on the left.  This is another layer of security that coupon compnies are putting on the printable coupons.  This does not show up on all coupons but is showing up more and more.  There is a LOT of internet coupon fraud out there.  Some stores do not even take internet coupons because of this.  Check with you store to see what their policy is on internet printable coupons.

Lets talk about stacking coupons.

Stacking coupons is a term used for when you use more than one type of coupon on a particular item.  You are paring together a manufacture coupon with an instore coupon.  BJ’s is a great example of this. This is from their website about couponing:

Can I use coupons?
Absolutely! BJ’s accepts all manufacturers’ coupons — including the ones that come in your Sunday newspaper — giving you additional savings on top of our everyday low prices. Plus, we offer BJ’s Members-only coupons throughout the year. After all, saving you money is what BJ’s is all about.

You can get your exclusive BJ’s coupons:

• Online. Members, you can access and print in-Club coupons once you register with an online account on BJs.com. Register by clicking on “Sign In/Register” at the top of any BJs.com page.
• In BJ’s Journal, a BJ’s Member magazine
• Through special-offer mailings
• In BJ’s in-Club coupon flyers
• Via email. If you are registered on BJs.com, you can sign in to your online account and select “Email Options” to subscribe to BJ’s emails and receive weekly updates on BJs.com Instant Coupons.

What are the guidelines for using more than one coupon?

When purchasing a multi-pack of “individual for sale” packaged items, which is a set of items that could be sold individually (each item has a barcode) shrink-wrapped and sold together, Members can combine one BJ’s-issued coupon with manufacturers’ coupons. However, you cannot exceed the actual retail price in the total value of coupons.

Examples of a multi-pack:

• Three-pack of toothpaste
• Two-pack of salad dressing
• Three-pack of taco kits

Examples of products that are NOT multi-packs:

• Box of cereal containing two bags (the bags cannot be sold individually)
• Case of water
• Case of soda
• Case of motor oil

Members may also use one BJ’s coupon and one manufacturer’s coupon on a single item.

I am going to be stacking on the Aveeno baby.  It is a 2 pack.  So I can use this in club coupon PLUS 2 manufacturer coupons.

I am looking for an Aveeno coupon with the first 5 digits of  38137.

I found 2 with the same first 5 digits.  I will clip 2 of the $2 off and end my savings with a total of $6 off the double pack of Aveeno baby.

This brings me to “Where did you get the second coupon?”  I had a second paper.  There is no rule that says you are not allowed to purchase more than one paper on a Sunday!  I recommend buying newspapers in sets of 2.  In addition to stacking coupons at big box stores it is good to have multiple coupons on hand for when your grocery store runs a buy one get one free sale (B1G1F).  When they have these sales you are allowed to use 2 coupons.  You are purchasing 2 products, they are just running a special that one of the is free.  So because you are taking 2 products out of the store you are allowed to use 2 coupons.  How is this for a fun scenario:

• Store has apple sauce B1G1F ($2.50 each)
• Store doubles coupons up to $.99
• You have 2 coupons for $.50/1 of the sale applesauce
• Coupons are worth $2 total.
• $2.50 + FREE – $2 coupons (doubled) = $.50 for 2 jars of applesauce that would have cost you $5 if they weren’t on sale B1G1F AND you had 2 coupons.  SCORE!!!!!  This is why I love coupons.

In my area a Sunday newspaper is $1.50.  I can count on there being at least $100 (often times much more) in each paper.  So for $3 I can get HUNDREDS of dollars of coupons each week.  That is a great rate of return for my pennies!

So this should get you started in the world of couponing.  It takes a little bit of knowledge and a little bit of paying attention to details but it can pay off royally in the end.

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