Alright everyone…. Buckle up because I am writing my fourth and MOST IMPORTANT post about coupons.  The rules.  If you have missed my previous posts on couponing and want to catch up, you can go HERE, HERE and HERE.

The rules for using coupons are the most important part of the whole coupon process.  You know the verse in the Bible that says, the Truth shall set you free?  It’s the same with coupons….only the Rules will set you free.  Sort of.  Okay, that’s a terrible illustration.  But.  When you know the rules of how to use coupons, there’s a confidence that comes along with that.  First of all, it opens your eyes to what the possibilities are and second, it helps you know that what you are doing is correct and so it takes away any possible guilt you might feel for getting things for free.  I’ve heard people say that sometimes they feel bad because they feel like they’re stealing from the store when they get things for free or super cheap.  And you’re NOT!  Nobody is losing any money when you use coupons.  In fact, when coupons are used and accepted appropriately, EVERYBODY wins as we learned in one of the earlier posts.  So…are you ready??

Rule #1: You may use a coupon for each item that you are buying.  “Per purchase” means PER ITEM.

This is the rule that changed my life forever.  Literally!  When you read the wording on a coupon it generally always (with some exceptions) states that you may use one coupon per purchase.  I always assumed that it meant per transaction…but it doesn’t.  Each item you buy is considered a purchase.  If you are purchasing 10 bottles of lotion, you may use a coupon for EACH bottle…so you may use 10 coupons.  And you can use them all in one transaction.  Isn’t that exciting??

Rule #2: You may usually use a $ off coupon for each item you are purchasing- Even on a free item.

Now- I have to say that this is a rule that is not always followed at the store depending on where you are shopping.  I know for a fact that Fred Meyer won’t let you do this… However- generally speaking, when a store is having a buy one get one free sale  you may use a $ off coupon for both items.  Because you are purchasing 2 items.  So you should be able to use 2 coupons.  Let’s do an example.  Say Albertsons is having a sale on All laundry soap.  The bottles sell for $6 and they are having a buy one get one free sale.  So you would pay $6 for the “first” bottle and get the second for free.  But, since you are purchasing 2 bottles, you may use 2 $1 off 1 bottle All coupons….which will take off $2 from your total.  Which means that you will pay $4 for 2 bottles instead of $6.

Now, here’s the tricky part- Like I said, not every store will do this.  Fred Meyer for example.  But I do know that Albertsons has recently changed it’s policy to include this issue and they say that you can do this as long as your coupons don’t exceed the value of the item you’re paying for.  So in our example above if you had 2 coupons for $4 off each bottle, that would mean that you’ve taken $8 off your total, which is higher than the $6 that you’ve paid for the first bottle.  Confused yet?

Rule #3: Stacking-  You may use a store coupon AND a manufacturer coupon for ONE item…but never 2 manufacturer coupons on the same item.

In my post about different types of coupons, remember how I talked about the difference between store and manufacturer coupons.  The beauty of these differences is that you can use them together!  So, if Rite Aid has a coupon in their ad for $1 off of a razor, and in the paper there is a manufacturer coupon for $2 off that same razor, you can buy 1 razor and get a total of $3 off.  Whoo Hoo!  But- you could not use 2 of the $2 off razor coupons for 1 item.  Nor could you use a manufacturer coupon for $2 and a different manufacturer coupon for $1 off  one 1 item.  Make sense?

Rule #4: You can usually use a Buy One Get One Free coupon with a Buy One Get One Free sale and get BOTH items free.

Did you get that??  Let me explain how this works.  If a store is offering a BOGO sale, the store is paying for one of your items.  Let’s say shampoo.  The store is paying for one of your bottles of Herbal Essence shampoo.  But if you have a manufacturer BOGO coupon for Herbal Essence shampoo, the manufacturer is paying for one of your bottles.  So, the store is paying for one and the manufacturer is paying for one.  When you take them both up on their offers at the same time, you get the item for free!  BOGO is my favorite!  To be honest, personally I have not tried this at any store except Rite Aid.  The Rite Aid coupon policy specifically states that you can do this…so I have felt confident enough to do this with the policy backing me up.  Other stores and/or checkers may interpret this differently and you may have to do a buy one get two free kind of thing.  But the reality is, this should work.

Rule #5: If you have a BOGO coupon OR a coupon that says buy X item and get Y item free, you may use that coupon AND a coupon for the first item.

A while back, Albertsons had a great promo on Ziploc bags…I won’t go into all of it, but here’s an example.  For each transaction let’s say I bought 2 boxes of ziploc bags, I used 1 BOGO coupon and 1 $.50 off coupon.  When you have a BOGO coupon, that coupon “sticks” to the second item that is “free”.  So the item that you are buying in order to get the free one can also have a coupon… remember, it’s one coupon per purchase.  You are purchasing 2 items, you can have 2 coupons.  This is also the case when you have a coupon that states something like, Buy Mission tortilla chips, get a dip for free.  The coupon is for the dip because it makes the dip free.  And if you have a coupon for $1 off of mission chips, you can use that as well.

This is a difficult coupon concept to both understand as well as for checkers to understand sometimes.  I had a particular instance at Albertsons where the checker was not going to let me do this.  I knew I was right and I (calmly and quietly) asked her to call a manager over to verify the situation.  It took some time to get it cleared up, but in the end I won because I was right.  =)

Rule #6: “Rolling the Cat”

“Cat” is short for catalina.  This rule is one of the ways you can get some of the best deals.  Like we learned in the last post, a catalina coupon is the coupon that prints after you pay for your transaction and certain items trigger the catalina to print.  So say the promo is that if you buy 4 boxes of Kellogs cereal you get a $4 off catalina coupon.  You can purchase 4 boxes of cereal (and use your manufacturer coupons), pay whatever $ for them and receive a $4 off coupon with your receipt.  Then you may go back and get another 4 boxes of cereal, use your manufacturer coupons AND the $4 off catalina coupon and get another $4 off coupon with your receipt.  You can do this over and over again.  Can you say, really cheap cereal??

Rule #7: Double coupons

I think I may have touched on this in my post about different coupons, but I’m blanking a bit on what I said.  But even if I already said it, it’s worth repeating.  Double coupons or “Twice the Value” coupons are put out by the store…the only stores that have them in our area are Safeway and Albertsons.  Safeway has them in every ad and they will double the amount of any manufacturer coupon up to $.50 up to 4 coupons per transaction.  Albertsons had double coupons that are generally only good from Sunday to Tuesday and will double the amount of any manufacturer coupon up to $1 and you can use 3 coupons per transaction.  A few things to note about double coupons:

*They are considered a store coupon.  So just like manufacturer coupons, you may only have 1 store coupon per item so you cannot use a double coupon and a store coupon on one item.

*Some coupons state “do not double” on the top.  What that is saying is that the manufacturer will not reimburse any more $ to the store than what is stated.  But it is up to the store whether or not to double that coupon.  Alberstons now will double coupons that say “do not double”.  Not certain about Safeway.

*At Albertsons if you have a coupon that is higher than $1, they will not double it.  They also will only double it up to the amount of the product.  So, if a product is $1.50 and you have a $1 off coupon and a double, they will only double up to $.50 so that you get the item for free.

*At Albertsons, the double coupons are each marked with a #1, #2 or #3.  Make sure that you do not cut them apart and accidently hand them 2 #3′s for example.  The register will beep and won’t take it.  For my own convenience, I do not cut them apart any more.

I could go on an on about double coupons as I have been doing a lot of researching on this subject in recent weeks.  But I’ll leave it at that for now.  I know that this post has a LOT of information in it.  If anyone has any specific questions, please leave a comment and I’ll either answer in the comment section, or if there’s a lot of questions, maybe do a question/answer post for my next one in the series.

Welcome to the 3rd post in my couponing 101 series!  If you missed the first ones, you can go HERE for the Why post and HERE for the Misconceptions post.  Go ahead, you can go catch up and I’ll wait right here for you to come back… Okay- now that you’ve read the Why post and banished all your Misconceptions about using coupons, we’re ready to dive into the basics of using them!

The first thing that I want to point out-  what I do is called “Extreme Couponing”.  This not- I repeat NOT what you probably used to think using coupons meant.  Most of you (if you’re like me) probably think of using coupons as clipping the coupons from the paper of those items that your family would normally buy and then taking those coupons (if you can even remember) with you to the store and buying those items in order to get a little bit off the retail price and maybe ending up saving $10-$15 off your grocery bill….If you’re lucky.  This is not what we’re doing here.  Extreme couponing is an entirely different ball game!  The two goals that I teach in my class are as follows:

1. When you buy items with coupons, you goal should be to be paying less for that item than you would if you went to Grocery Outlet or Winco to do your shopping.  Otherwise, we’re just wasting our time, aren’t we?

2. When you are able to buy an item for 75% off of retail price OR MORE, you want to STOCKPILE that item…meaning buy as much as your family will need/use in the next weeks/months until the next sale.  This way you will NEVER have to pay full price for anything.  For example: Say Heinz Ketchup goes on sale for $1.00 and you have a $1 off one bottle of Heinz Ketchup coupon.  Do the math- that means FREE KETCHUP!  So, if ketchup goes on sale like this 2x per year, how many bottles of ketchup should you buy?  Well, if your family goes through 1 bottle per month, then you should buy at least 6 bottles in order to get you through to the next time that you can get it for free.  Make sense?

I know that scenario probably brings up a lot of questions…some of them may be answered in this post, some may not….but hang in there cause eventually I’ll answer them!

Before we jump into what just happened in that scenario, let’s first talk about the different types of coupons and what they do:

This photo is a picture of a manufacturer coupon.  A manufacturer coupon should be considered cash in your pocket.  They are put out my the manufacturer of the products and most commonly found in boo inside newspapers.  When a manufacturer coupon is used at a store, it is then sent back to the manufacturer and the store is reimbursed for the amount of the coupon plus an $.08 handling fee…which doesn’t sound like a lot, but it can really add up.  Therefore, the store is actually making MORE money when people use coupons than when people don’t.  =)  The reason that manufacturers put out coupons for their products is because they want to intice you to buy, try and like their products.  It’s a form of advertising and they WANT their coupons to be used.  Some important things to note about a manufacturer coupon are the words, “manufacturer coupon”, the expiration date (a general rule is that you may not use a coupon that has passed the expiration date) and the bar codes.  See how it has 2 sets of bar codes?  That is the biggest indicator that it is in fact a manufacturer coupon.

A second type of manufacturer coupon is an internet printable coupon.  These are coupons that you are able to print right from your computer from various coupon printing sources.  Usually you are able to print 2 coupons per computer and each coupon has it’s own set of numbers and bar codes.  Word of warning- DO NOT make copies of these coupons.  Since each coupon has a unique number on it, when the store sends in the coupons to be reimbursed, the same number will only be counted and reimbursed one time…so if the store has been given copies, they will not be reimbursed for those copies.  Which means that you have stolen from the store.  It is also illegal and coupon fraud…so don’t do it.  Friends don’t let friends photocopy coupons.  =)

Alright- This is a photo of a store coupon.  A store coupon is a coupon put out by the store and generally found in the weekly fliers that each store puts out.  The goal of the store putting out these coupons is that they are trying to get business in their store. (Duh) You can tell a store coupon by the expiration date (usually they are only good for one week), the store logo and the bar code.  You will notice the difference between this bar code and the manufacturer’s bar code.  On a store coupon, there is only ONE bar code.

Another type of store coupon is called a double coupon.  Or “doubles” or “doublers” or “twice the value” coupons.  The photo above is a picture of the double coupons from Albertsons.  Each store has a bit different rules when it comes to double coupons.  But the basic idea is that the store will double the amount of any manufacturer coupon up to a certain dollar amount.  Word to the wise- when using the double coupons, you may use only 3 double coupons (or 4 at safeway) per transaction.  At Albertsons, the coupons are numbered #1, #2 and #3.  If you are doubling 3 coupons at Albertsons, they must be a 1, 2 and 3 coupon….they will make a fuss if you try and use 2 #3 coupons for example.  I never cut mine apart now for this reason…it’s too easy to get them mixed up.

The final type of coupon that I will talk about are called catalina coupons, otherwise known as “cats”.  These coupons are the kind that come out of the machine and the cashier will hand you with your receipt.  There are certain types of promotions that go on throughout the year in different grocery (or other) stores that have a list of products that when you buy either a certain number or a certain dollar amount of those specific products, you will get a catalina coupon.  Sometimes a catalina coupon will look exactly like a manufacturer coupon…with a $ off a certain product.  But most of the time when you have these promotions in the store, when you buy those products, you will get a catalina coupon with a certain $ amount off of your next purchase.  And your next purchase could be anything in the store with a few exclusions!

So, now that you know what the different types of coupons are, here is a list of places that you are likely to find coupons.  And once you start training your eye to see them, you notice that they are EVERYWHERE!

Newspaper inserts

Online

Inside product packages- I can’t tell you how many times I’ve gotten something for really cheap or free and opened it to find more coupons inside!

In the mail

Back of receipts

In the store- There are ‘blinkies” (the little boxes that blink that spit out coupons located in aisles at the grocery store. “Tearpads” (also loacated in aisles, but they’re like a notepad and you tear the coupons off) Coupon booklets- found at either customer service or displays throughout the store. “Hang tags”- Just like it sounds, if the product has a neck, it might be wearing a necklace with a coupon. and “Peelies” – stuck on to a product in the store.  For these last two items, it is a very controversial subject as to whether or not you can remove that coupon without buying the product…some people think that it’s okay, others do not.  I would suggest that you do not…mostly because if you look at it from the other person’s point of view…it would be really frustrating to buy a product and not have the opportunity to use the coupon that was supposed to be there because someone was there before me taking off all the coupons…but that’s my opinion…It just doesn’t seem to follow the “Golden Rule” to me.

Magazines

Loaded on to your store loyality card

Ebay or other coupon clipping service-  Did you know that you can “buy” coupons on Ebay?  Technically, you are not buying the coupon, but paying for the person’s time to cut them and sort them and mail them to you.  This is an excellent way to be able to get a large amount of a coupon for stockpiling without having to buy 20 Sunday papers.  They are fairly inexpensive and I’ve “bought” coupons off of Ebay several times with great results!

Stay tuned for the next in the 101 series…the RULES.

I know it’s be a LONG time since I’ve done my first Couponing 101 post.  I intentionally put it off for a while, but have come to the decision that it is time to continue.  If you haven’t read my first Couponing 101 post, you can go HERE to read it.

Today’s post is not primarily going to be written by me.  I found a great article about coupon misconceptions on a coupon site called WeUseCoupons that I thought was very informative and will be posting that.  I thought that it was so good that I have added it to my own coupon class!  The truth is that even in my limited time using coupons, I have heard almost every one of these “reasons” why people don’t want to try coupons.  Heck, I thought many of these reasons myself before I started.  On one hand, I do not feel at all like I need to talk anyone in to using coupons that is not interested…Whether or not you choose to use coupons is totally up to you.  It may work for your family and it may not.  And I think that my sister in law Shelley hit the nail on the head when she made the observation that when a person is coming up with reason after reason why such and such is not going to work for them, then that’s definitely a sign that they’re not ready or interested in doing it.  However, for those people who are somewhat interested in learning how to use coupons,  I thought it might be wise to address some of these misconceptions.  Just in case there are those who are interested but have these nagging things keeping them from jumping in.  In addition to this article, there was a post written by Frugal Living NW today that was on how to save money on “real” food.  You can find that article HERE.

So without further adieu, here are the top 10 coupon misconceptions.

Debunking the top 10 coupon myths

Written by “Moonflower”

via WeUseCoupons.com

I think most coupon myths get started by people who don’t understand coupons. It’s sad because it really discourages people who are looking to cut back on one of the leading household bills – your groceries. I hope that I can explain some myths that I have heard over the years and clear some things up.

Myth #1 You can’t save money if a store doesn’t double coupons.

Although the grocery stores in my area double coupons, I know several people who’s stores don’t double or even triple coupons in their area, but they manage to save just as much as everyone else. A couple of my favorite stores to shop at are CVS and Walgreens, who don’t double coupons, but have some fantastic store deals. Often times I find I save more at those stores who don’t double coupons than the stores that do.

Myth #2 Coupons are only for unhealthy, processed, junk food.

There are just as many coupons for good healthy foods as there is for processed foods. Yoplait and Dannon put out coupons regularly for yogurt. You want salad? Dole and Fresh Express love to help you save $1 on bagged salad and Kraft, Ken’s and Paul Newman would never let you go with out dressing for your salad. I personally like stocking up on the frozen veggies rather than canned (which have more salt) and Birds Eye and Green Giant seem more than happy to help you do so. Tyson and Perdue even help you save money on fresh chicken. There are so many other coupons for foods, which I believe are healthy, like good whole grain breads, peanut butter, 100% juices, along with protein and nutrition bars and drinks. Remember, just because your using coupons, you still choose what you eat.

Myth #3 Coupons are for poor people.

Actually, statistics show that middle aged, middle class people who have some sort of collage background are the most likely to use coupons. In fact, people who make below $25,000 are the least likely to use coupons. Even so, when was it such a bad embarrassing thing to save money?

Myth #4 Shopping at discount stores will save you money.

It’s been my experience; stores like Family Dollar and Dollar General are just as expensive as other stores. The difference in them is they don’t have the store deals and sales like other stores. As far as true dollar stores (where everything is a dollar), I personally stopped shopping in them when I started couponing years ago. The reason being, I couldn’t go in there without spending $40 or $50. Those dollars add up fast! Now, I do not doubt that there are some good deals to be had in there, however most of the things I found I could get cheaper or even free elsewhere.

Myth #5 Don’t clip coupons for products you won’t use.

Why not? For one, there are a lot of things I thought I would never buy or use. However, I’ve found that when a deal comes along and I end up getting the product so cheap or even free – I have no problem using most things. In addition, if your friend has a dog and you have a cat, wouldn’t it be nice to swap coupons so you both get more of what you need?

Myth #6 It’s cheaper to buy the store brand product than to buy a name brand product with a coupon.

It is true that store brand is cheaper than name brand. However, store brand is not cheaper than name brand one sale with a coupon. Most of the time I don’t even look at the store brand price cause I know with the sale and my coupons, the name brand is going to be cheaper – or at least the same. For instance, recently I went to Kroger to buy 10 jars of Peter Pan Peanut Butter that was on sale 10/$10. I had 10 $1 coupons, which allowed me to get all 10 jars free. I know that no store brand is going to be cheaper than free – so why look. That’s a silly (but true) example. A better one might be the price of my store brand bread, which is around $1.29. However, Sara Lee Soft & Smooth Bread is on sale for $1.49 and I have $1 coupons, making the bread $.49 cents each. I know there isn’t any bread cheaper than that. (Now, if you are new to coupons, I wouldn’t suggest not looking until you got familiar with your store prices.) Anyways, my point is, in my experience, store sale + coupon = cheaper than store brand.

Myth #7 It’s not worth it to shop at multiple stores.

It can be worth it to shop at multiple stores, depending on how far you have to drive. I am fortunate that the four main stores I shop at are all practically on the same block and 5 minutes from home. You do have to consider your time and gas when choosing to travel to a store for a deal, but it can be worth it if your going to get $80 worth of stuff for $20.

Myth #8 Only use coupons for products you normally buy.

I’ve been couponing for so long I don’t even know what I normally buy anymore. This is due to one of the biggest coupon strategies, which is to not be brand loyal. Usually, I find the case to be I buy products that I would never dream of paying for normally, if that makes sense. By combining store sales, coupons and rebates I get things so cheap or even free, I can’t imagine paying full price for most of the items, I buy.

Myth #9 People who use coupons spend more than people who don’t use coupons.

If you use coupons the correct way, that is, by combining sales and coupons together than you won’t spend more. However, if you are just blindly going to the store and purchasing anything and everything you have a coupon for, especially if the product is not on sale, then yes, of course going to spend more. When I am standing in line and the person in front of me is paying for their cart of groceries that come to $175 dollars for their family of four and when my turn comes, my total is $39, I really don’t see how I am spending more. In addition, I think this idea came about from an article I read awhile back stating that people who use coupons spend more on luxury items. So, people who don’t use coupons never ever buy luxury items?

Myth #10 You can’t save money by spending money.

Well, it depends on how much your spending and what your spending it on. If my store is having a sale on meat for buy one package get one free – it’s worth it to spend a little extra and stock up on meat for a while. If I go over my budget a little that month, I will make up for it in the next month’s buy not having to buy as much meat

So.. I hope I have “debunked” a few of the myths out there..

Please feel free to comment any coupon questions you may have!  I promise that I won’t take so long for the next 101 post!