Sales and Coupons

When to use your coupons?

• This is the ultimate question! Just because a coupon came in the newspaper that week does not mean you need to run right out and use it. WAIT! Patience is a virtue when being a couponer. Wait for a real sale and then use the coupon to get the lowest possible price for the product. Stores know which coupons are coming out each week and will drop the price of an item only slightly hoping everyone will come in and use the new coupons. Most coupons will actually be used 3-4 weeks after they first come out.
• Buy in quantity - If you can get ten bottles of ketchup for $.05 each then do it. How long will that ketchup last? Well for us probably 6 months as we have a ketchup lover in the house but for you maybe a year. For a whole year you will not need to purchase any ketchup which could result in a $20 plus savings depending on brand. All those savings add up over time into much larger dollar amounts.
• BOGO (Buy One Get One) free sales. - If you have two coupons you can use both!
• When your store raises the doubling coupon policy for a week or even in the case of Super Fresh they will occasionally have $1 double sales. Most stores double up to .99 meaning the largest amount you can get is $1.98.

A few coupon rules for the road.

• Most stores allow you to “stack” coupons. This means you can use a store coupon and a manufacturer’s coupons together. Store coupons are usually found in their weekly adds and will not have the words manufacturer coupon on the top. I did run into trouble at Target trying to do this but it really depends on the coupon education of the cashier and the management of the store.
• Limit One per Purchase printed on a coupon means one per item. If you have 11 coupons and purchase 11 items even if they are the exact same item you are fine. If the coupon says one per transaction then you must split your order up into separate transactions to use more than one.
• Not all stores accept internet coupons (IPs). Call your local store ahead of time to verify they will accept these coupons. Acme near us will accept them for any number of items while Safeway right across the street will only accept one per like item. DO NOT try and photo copy your IP’s, they are bar coded and each have a unique code and will not work. This is coupon fraud!
• BOGO sales - you can use a coupon off 2 such as .75/2 on a BOGO sale. The coupon requires you to get two, not actually pay for two. This usually makes for some super deals!
• Printing internet coupons - I have found the best way to ensure a coupon will scan is to print it in black and white on draft mode. Most stores will not accept IP coupons if they do not scan. Target coupons print so small that they NEVER scan printed in various ways for me. I have given up on them as it is so disappointing to get to the cashier with all these great deals only for them to reject my coupons because they will not scan. Normal size IP’s have not had any problems but I have lost the ability to stack in Target.