I want you to sit back and imagine going into a store and shopping for a few necessities. Now think about going to the check out line and when you arrive to the register pulling out a handful of coupons instead of cash, and walking out without paying a dime. Sounds nice, right?
If you use coupons to their full potential, this scenario can be real for you.
In this article, I want to introduce you to couponing to save the most money. I will be going over how to find the best coupons and how to match them to the lowest prices. This will be a nice step by step tutorial for those who are new to couponing and would like to start saving some serious cash at the store. I started couponing in 2011, and I have yet to stop. It's so nice to walk out of a store getting super cheap stuff and even free many times.
What You Need:
- Printer that atleast prints in black & white.
- Sunday Newspaper with coupon inserts.
- Store Reward Cards/ Store Apps/ Digital Coupons
- An hour of time each week.
- Store Ads. You can find most ads on the store website.
As a coupon user, I print coupons and cut from paper coupon inserts. So having a working printer is imperative. Many people like using their phones these days, so I would suggest a wireless printer like the one I recently purchased. It's the All In One Wireless Printer. This is perfect for printing from not only your PC but your phone and tablet too!! I call this a couponers printer. This is a wireless printer and it really helps you print more coupons than you would normally be able to do, since you can print from multiple devices.
Some of the highest value coupons are printable, so keep this in mind. You don't have to own a computer to print coupons anymore!
I also suggest the Sunday newspaper because it contains the coupon inserts within the store ad section. These inserts typically consist of RedPlum (RP), Proctor & Gamble (P&G) and Smart Source (SS). You can also find coupon inserts in the pink Yes! Bags that you may find on the driveway during the week.
Store Reward Cards
Store reward cards are very important to have. If you don't have any, you can get them for free from your local stores or you can go to their websites to get them. I have listed a few links to the reward card applications at some stores near me, below:
You can also find apps for many stores as well. Simply go to your app store or play store on your phone and type your favorite stores in your search bar. It's that simple. Having the apps on your phone are a great saving tool because sometimes they have coupons you can use through your phone. I have also received free cash to use as specials from places like CVS.
Digital Coupons
You definitely sign up for the following digital coupon programs. The great thing about these coupons is you can use these plus a paper coupon so you get double the savings. Many people don't even know about this. They hear about the programs but never really look into them. I was like that for a very long time.
Ibotta and Checkout 51 are like rebate apps. If you buy something from a certain store, you just look for it in the app, redeem it and upload the picture of your receipt. The app does the rest. Once they approve the amount, you will have that extra cash deposited into your account. When you reach $20, you will be able to cash out to Paypal, Gift Cards and other options are available.
Savingstar is more like a coupon, in fact alot of coupons you print have the same face value as the coupons in the Savingstar app. Basically you can link your store reward cards to your Savingstar account. You then pick out the coupons you want to use, and scan your rewards card at your store. If you purchase the items you chose in the Savingstar app, then you will get that money credited to your account as well. Some stores prefer you upload the receipt. You will need to enter your zipcode in the SavingStar app to see what stores link to cards and which prefer receipts in your area.
Let's move on to the time it takes to coupon. If you can spare an hour a week, you will be on your way to saving money. It really doesnt take long to get your coupons in order for your shopping trip. Finding the coupons is the easiest part. Matching them to store ads can be tricky to some people.
You will need to check out your weekly store ads. These are typically new on Wednesdays and Sundays. Some stores will also have a store ad preview for you the day before, so you can be the first in the store when the sale starts to grab all the deals. A great site to find the store ads would be Flipp. I come here often for my store ads. It's very handy, and sometimes they even match coupons for you!
How To Find Coupons Online?
You may wonder where you can find coupons online, and I want to share with you one of the greatest inventions I have found yet! The COUPON DATABASE. I use the Hip2Save Coupon Database. This database lets you search for coupons by brand, type of food, type of coupon and by store. It is probably the greatest invention for coupon users. You can find these all over the internet. Simply go to google and type "Coupon Database". It's that simple.
How To Match A Coupon
This is the final part of the article. I guess I can't even call it an article. It's like a mini-article. This is where I tell you how to match a coupon. So let's say we need to stock up on some cereal. Some people may have a certain brand they prefer, but for us, we go for what we can find the cheapest. Unfortunately, we do have a preferred store that we shop at, and that is Bi-lo. I prefer Bi-lo because they double coupons up to $0.60. That means a $0.60 coupon will be $1.20 off. A $0.50 coupon will be $1.00 off. You get the drift. Not only this perk, but they also participate in Ibotta.
Oh and they accept store coupons from other stores such as Publix. If you are familiar with Publix, they always have a ton of coupons. And I love, love, love giving Bi-lo my Publix coupons.
Since my explanations are complete on my preferred store, let me get back to finding cheap cereal to stock up on.
- I need cereal, so I go to my Bi-lo store ad and look for the cereal they have on sale.
- There are quite a few cereals so this is where I start checking for coupons so I can ignore the ones without.
- The brands on sale are as follows: Cheerios, $1.99; Frosted Flakes, $1.99; Froot Loops, $1.99; Cookie Crisp, $1.99; Corn Flakes, $1.99; Apple Jacks, $1.99
- As you see I listed the prices next to each item. These are typically about $3.99, but they are on sale Buy One Get One Free. So they will ring up half price.
- Now I will go to my coupon database, and look up each brand. i want to pay about $1.00 per box, so I look for a coupon that will get me close to that amount.
- I find that Cheerios have 2 coupons. They have a coupon for $1/2 General Mills Cheerios, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, or Lucky Charms printable and it can be stacked with $1/2 General Mills Cheerios, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Lucky Charms, Reese's Puffs, Chex, Cocoa Puffs, or Trix (SavingStar Deposit). So if we buy two boxes of Cheerios they will ring up as $3.99 for 2. Then subtract the $1 for the paper coupon and you will pay $2.99 for both boxes of cereal. But if you add the SavingStar deposit, you will get back $1.00, so it will be like paying $0.99 per box!
So that's how you do it. I checked the other cereals as well, and I found that there was a coupon for Corn flakes $0.50/1 Kellogg's Corn Flakes Cereal printable, this would make them $0.99. However, the best deal I found was on the Apple Jacks. Check out the final deal scenario, and you can actually get this deal this week.
Apple Jacks, $1.99
$1/1 Kellogg's Apple Jacks Cereal printable [9-oz.+]
$0.50/1 Kellogg's Apple Jacks Cereal (SavingStar Deposit) [8.7-oz.+]
Final Price- $0.49
This wraps up my little article on how to coupon to save the most money. If you learned something from me, please comment below so I know how I did. If I confused me more, let me know lol, I can try again!
Tags
Coupon 101