Couponing 101

Coupon Lingo

SS - Smart Source Insert
RP - Red Plum Insert
P&G - Procter & Gamble Insert
GM - General Mills Insert
MFR - Manufacturer Coupon
SC - Store Coupon
B1G1 or BOGO - Buy One, Get One
WYB - When You Buy
MIR - Mail in Rebate
FAR - Free After Rebate
OOP - Out of Pocket
WFC - Weekly Flyer Coupon
YMMV - Your Mileage May Vary
IE - Internet Explorer
FF - Firefox
WAGS - Walgreens
RR - Register Reward (Wags)
IVC - Instant Value Coupon (Wags)
ECB - Extra Care Bucks (CVS)
$0.50/2 - $0.50 off two items
2/$1 - two items for $1
$1/1 (4/17 SS) x6/30 - $1/1 Coupon from the April 17th Smart Source Insert that expires June 30th
MM - Money Maker

~Karen


Where to find coupons

Newspaper Inserts:

Every Sunday your newspaper comes full of advertisements and coupon inserts. The four inserts that can be found are:

  •  RP – Red Plum
  • SS – Smart Source
  • P&G – Proctor and Gamble
  • GM – General Mills

I will be posting a list of upcoming coupon inserts each week so that you can see what to expect each Sunday.

Internet Printable (IP) Coupons:

Through websites such as coupons.com, redplum.com, smartsource.com, and couponnetwork.com, you are able to print out additional manufacturer coupons to use in stores.  You can also sometimes find internet coupons on companies' specific websites.  The coupons can be printed in black & white or color. I recommend setting your printer to black ink only, unless your local store gives you trouble. Check with customer service to verify that black & white IPs are accepted. While the colored coupons look more "official", colored ink costs more, so why waste the money that you are trying to save by printing that coupon?

Most online coupon sites will limit you to two prints per coupon available per computer used. For example, if you have 2 computers, you can get 4 copies of each coupon, 3 computers = 6 copies and so on. It is considered fraud and is illegal to photocopy the coupons!!  When people redeem photocopied coupons, the barcode still scans, however the store will not be reimbursed by the company.  The store then loses that money which is why they are becoming more hesitant to accept IPs. Please keep in mind that the store has the right to refuse any IP. If this occurs, simply ask for them to void the item and give you back your coupon.



Other Great Places:

When you are walking around the store, keep on the lookout for:

  • peelies – coupons that are stuck on a product
  • blinkies – coupons that are in the blinking machines near a product
  • hangtags – coupons either hanging on or around a product
  • tearpads – a notepad style display of coupons where you tear off a coupon from the pad

Magazines are also great places to find coupons. There is a couponing magazine called “All You” which has loads of coupons in each issue. It can be found at Walmart or by subscription. You can also find tearpads at select gas stations.


Catalinas:

The machines located next to the register are called Catalina Machines. They print out coupons for money off OYNO (on your next order) or for cents off a specific product. The coupon can be triggered by purchasing products that are part of a catalina deal or randomly based on the products you purchased. When you get a random coupon, it is most likely because you purchased the competitor’s product of that coupon. For example, you bought Colgate toothpaste and a catalina prints for cents off a tube of Crest toothpaste.


Store Coupons:


Coupons that have a specific store logo on them can typically only be redeemed at that store. Target and Walgreens are two stores that regularly have store coupons. Target store coupons, like the example above, can be found online at here or sometimes in the Sunday inserts. Walgreens store coupons can be found in the weekly sales ad, as well as in the monthly coupon book found at the front of the store. Grocery stores will occasionally place store coupons in the weekly sales ad or mail them to your house.

Stacking:

When you have a store coupon and a manufacturer’s coupon, you can stack the two coupons on one product to get an even better deal! For example, Zyrtec is on sale at Target, and you have the above $4/1 Target store coupon, as well as a manufacturer’s coupon for Zyrtec from the Sunday insert, you can purchase ONE Zyrtec and use BOTH coupons! However, you cannot use 2 manufacturer’s coupons on one product, even if the coupons look different and are for the same item.

~Karen


Walgreens 101

Since Walgreens is said to be the hardest store to master, I figured a Walgreens 101 would be beneficial to all. It is the one store that I get “paid to shop” in almost 100% of the time. Learning how to shop at Walgreens makes learning any other store WAY easier!

In Ad Coupons:


Walgreens weekly sales circular has “in-ad” coupons, like those pictured above. These are store coupons that typically state the price and size of the item and a limit to the number you can buy. Walgreens coupon policy allows you to use a store coupon in addition to one manufacturer’s coupon for one item. Walgreens also has a monthly coupon book that contains Instant Value Coupons (IVC). You can find this in the front of the store with the weekly circular.

Register Reward Program:



Walgreens has a Catalina program called Register Rewards. A Register Reward is a coupon that prints after you make a qualifying purchase, as shown above. It is typically good for $X off of your next transaction at Walgreens. Pictured below is what the ad will look like in the Walgreens circular. When you buy the advertised item, after paying, you will receive a coupon (Register Reward) to use on your next purchase. You can make this a “money maker” buy using manufacturer coupons as well.


Here is a Money Making Scenario for the ad pictured:

Stayfree Maxi Pads $2.99
Buy 1, Earn a $3 Register Reward
Use $1/1 (3/27 RP) x or https://www.stayfree.com/special.jsp
Final Price: $1.99 OOP, receive $3.00 RR

So you end up with a $1.01 MM!!

Register Rewards expire 2 weeks from their issue date. You can only receive ONE Register Reward for each advertised Register Reward sale. What I mean by that is that if you purchase TWO Stayfree maxi pads in ONE transaction, you will only receive ONE Register Reward. So if you want more than 1 of a particular Register Reward sale, you must purchase them in separate transactions! If you plan to do two transactions to purchase two Stayfree maxi pads, another detail that you CANNOT forget is, you CANNOT use the Register Reward earned from the first transaction to pay for the second, you will not receive another Register Reward. In order to prevent making errors when using your RR, write on each RR what product it was from.

Rules to remember when using Register Rewards (using Stayfree as an example):

  1. If you want multiple of one RR deal, you must purchase them in separate transactions
  2. You cannot use a Stayfree RR to purchase another Stayfree product and receive a second RR. You will only receive 1 RR instead of 2.
  3. RRs are manufacturer coupons! (you will understand why I point this out as you read on)

Order is Key:

Here is what we have found is the best order to hand the cashier your coupons. This way will allow for any possible overage:

  1. Manufacturer coupons
  2. Walgreens in-ad coupons
  3. Register Rewards

This order works especially well in a scenario like this:

Buy 2 Dentyne Gum $1 each (normal price)
Use B1G1 coupon (subtracts $1)
Use 2/$1 Dentyne in-ad coupon (subtracts $1)
Final Price: 2 for FREE

Here’s what it would look like if you gave them the in-ad coupon first:

Buy 2 Dentyne Gum $1 each (normal price)
Use 2/$1 Dentyne in-ad coupon (subtracts $1)
Use B1G1 coupon (subtracts $0.50)
Final Price: $0.50 +tax OOP

Number of Coupons to Number of Items:

Walgreens policy states that you cannot use more manufacturer coupons than the number of items you are purchasing. Please note that I said manufacturer coupons. Store coupons do not count in the number of coupons to number of items. Register Rewards are manufacturer coupons and do count toward your number of coupons (remember RR Rule #3?)

In order to balance out the number of coupons to the number of items, a filler is sometimes needed. A filler is a small item that is usually less than $0.50, such as pencils or candy. You can also choose to purchase other items that you need which you don’t have a manufacturer coupon for. Most times, a filler item is used to have the least OOP, but there are times that it is more beneficial to buy items that you need and don’t have coupons for in place of the filler.

Below are three different scenarios to help explain:

Scenario 1:
Buy 1 Stayfree Maxi Pads $2.99
Buy 1 Filler item (let’s say it costs $0.50)
Use $1/1 (3/27 RP)
Use $2 RR from previous transaction
Final Price: $0.49 + tax OOP, receive $3.00 RR (still ends up being a MM!)
Item/Coupon count: 2 items, 2 manufacturer coupons

Scenario 2:
Buy 1 Stayfree Maxi Pads $2.99
Buy 1 Charmin Basic Bathroom Tissue $3.49 (normal price)
Use $1/1 (3/27 RP)
Use $1/1 from the P&G Brandsaver Booklet (received in the mail)
Use $2.99 Charmin in-ad coupon (will subtract $0.50)
Final Price: $3.98 + tax OOP, receive $3.00 RR
Item/Coupon count: 2 items, 2 manufacturer coupons, 1 store coupon

Scenario 3:
Buy 1 Stayfree Maxi Pads $2.99
Use $1/1 (3/27 RP)
Use $1 RR from previous transaction
Final Price: $0.99 + tax OOP, receive $3.00 RR
Item/Coupon count: 1 item, 2 manufacturer coupons

The first two scenarios are correct. The first scenario uses a filler in order to use a RR from a previous transaction. The second scenario has an item that uses a store coupon. Since the store coupon does not count toward the coupon count, a filler is not needed. The third scenario is wrong. You have more manufacturer coupons than items, so a filler would be needed in order for the transaction to be correct.

~Karen

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