I did a Publix run today for a few sale items and spent just over $8 for $35 worth of groceries. For those that haven't jumped on the couponing wagon... this is a small example of how couponing is incredibly worth the time!
I started couponing this past fall, following some tips from a co-worker and friend of mine who always seemed to find great deals on things. The conversation came about when I asked her where I could find the best deals on Lean Cuisines, because she always had them around for lunch, and I had just figured out this was my best option for lunch at work. She explained to me a few basics I had never considered, and these tips have worked to reshape my entire shopping process. I looked into a website my friend recommended, Southern Savers, and learned even more about "steals and deals" and how to get them. This web venture actually led to my freebie-finding habit, as well!
For those that are interested in couponing and extreme sale-shopping, I want to pass along the things I've learned in the hope that it might help encourage you to start. The key to couponing is to match coupons with sales, so some of the following tips deal with the sales, and others focus on the coupons themselves.
**Important note: before I start dishing out the tips, you need to consider your own personal level of "brand loyalty." Are you attached to the brands you already buy, because of their quality or features or just for tradition's sake? How attached are you to these brands? Are you willing to switch brands to save? With what items will you be willing to make exceptions to your brand loyalties? This is very different for each individual. In most areas, I am not at all brand-loyal and will buy whatever brand is the best deal. However, I have my few brand loyalties that I won't budge on--laundry detergent and toilet paper are the first to come to mind. I had other brand loyalties but have broken (or expanded) some of them, thanks to trying new products I found at a great deal. For instance, instead of using only Garnier Fructis shampoo (which I did for years), I now rotate that with Herbal Essences, Dove, and Pantene, and I stock up when each is on sale. Obviously, giving up brand loyalties will give you more opportunities to save, but only you can decide where your limits are with this.
Okay, on to the good stuff!
- First of all, grocery and drug stores run on something known as a six-week cycle. Every week, each store will change prices on a variety of items; some things will go on sale, but some other prices will be raised significantly to compensate for that. The smart shopper's goal is to hit each item when it's at its lowest price. Stock up when you find it--buy enough to last you six weeks, then hit it again when it gets back down to that low price. If you really want to save, don't make a grocery list based only on what you don't have in the cupboard at the moment. Make a list based on what is cheapest for the week, then make those items work together for you. If an item you need is not on sale this week, try your best to make do until it does go on sale--then stock up.
- Keep in mind that smart stores will "balance" their losses on sale items by raising prices on complementary items. My favorite example: often, stores will run insane deals on pasta. But watch the prices on pasta sauce when that pasta is on sale. A smart grocery chain will hike the prices up on the sauce, because so many people will be rushing in to buy the pasta and think, "Well, I'll pick up the sauce while I'm here, and I'll have what I need to make dinner." For this reason, it is smart to shop multiple stores to hit each item you need at its low price for the week (following along with the example, Ingles may have pasta on sale while Publix is running a deal on the sauce). Some stores will price-match sales, but I find that more time-consuming than running to separate stores. Give it a shot, and you may actually discover a new store you'll love; I used to be an Ingles/Walmart grocery shopper, but I discovered Publix thanks to sale-shopping and have fallen completely in love with it.
~ On the Walmart note, I have to insert this here. I always believed Walmart had the lowest prices. In fact, when I started couponing, the little voice inside my head kept asking, "Are you sure you wouldn't get a better deal at Walmart?" Well, last year Jenny at Southern Savers did an experiment testing "SuperCenter" prices against two leading grocery stores' prices (she said "SuperCenter" to be politically correct, but she quoted the slogan "Always Low Prices"). She calculated the cost of buying one of everything on her sale list at Publix, along with coupons, then figured out what those same items would cost at Walmart, also with coupons. Publix was roughly $57 cheaper. She did the same test with Kroger vs. Walmart and hypothetically saved $40 at Kroger. Moral of the story? For me, this means that I need to keep shopping grocery store sales as much as I can; but if I need something immediately, if it's not on sale anywhere this week, and if I don't have a coupon that would double elsewhere, I can feel free to shop Walmart for what will probably be one of the lowest prices around.
- Many stores offer sales for members only, so you should get a member card for any store that has one. My keyring is ridiculously full, but I can take advantage of any sale at Piggly Wiggly, Ingles, Food Lion, Bloom, CVS, Petsmart, Petco, Bi-Lo, and OfficeMax! (FYI: Publix, Walgreens, and Rite Aid do not have member cards.)
- While you're looking at the sale fliers for various stores, keep in mind that some advertised deals are not really deals. Sometimes it's the store trying to hype up a small discount for business. Thus, it's smart to have an idea of what you're willing to pay for any item. Jenny at Southern Savers recommends creating a "Buy-Price List" that lists the price you'll pay for each item you normally buy. I don't have one of these, per se, but I've gotten familiar with what the "normal" prices are for my routine purchases, and I try not to buy anything unless it's at least half off.
Okay, now to the actual couponing...
- Subscribe to the Sunday paper in your area. I don't read the paper, but I subscribe to Sunday papers for the coupons. You can always pick up the paper in a store on a weekly basis, but it's generally cheaper to subscribe (and it saves time and gas mileage). The Sunday paper will also have sale papers for drugstores and some grocery stores; these often have store coupons to clip as well (specifically Rite Aid and Walgreens in my area).
- Subscribe to All You magazine. This is a monthly publication that is full of coupons, in addition to recipes and other cute home-type articles that make it a friendly, light read. The only retail location to purchase All You is Walmart, where it sells for about $2.50 an issue. Buy a subscription on Amazon instead and save; choose a year subscription at $1.50 each, or 2 years at $1.40 each. The last issue I received had just over $70 worth of coupons--clearly, it pays for itself.
- Clip and save every coupon you find. I learned this the hard way. At first, I only clipped those coupons I was thinking of buying in the next week or two. Then a great deal would come along after I'd thrown out the extra coupons, and I wouldn't have the coupon I needed to get the deal. This has happened to me so many times that now I clip coupons for every single thing I could ever need in any situation. (The only things I don't clip are those things that pertain to babies or senior citizens, because at the moment, I am not a caregiver to either.) If you don't believe me, keep reading and I'll give you some examples of why you should do this. Note: your brand loyalties will affect which coupons you clip. If you only use Gain detergent and absolutely have no plans ever to change that, you don't need to bother clipping coupons for other brands.
- Organize your coupons. I started out with four origami envelopes--one for groceries, one for health/beauty items, one for fast food, and one for "other." I outgrew these envelopes in a month or so and graduated to an accordion-style plastic organizer with eleven tabs: general grocery, canned, breakfast, snack/dessert, frozen, refrigerated, paper/cleaning, health/meds, beauty/hygiene, fast food, and other (which includes pet supplies and random home items like batteries and lightbulbs). This works for me, for now. My friend who got me into couponing uses a three-ring binder with sectioned page protectors. I can't do that, because I like to carry my coupons with me in my purse or shopping tote (so I'll have it if I need it). Find what works for you, then if you outgrow it, upgrade. Also, try organizing by different factors. I originally organized mine by type within each category--i.e. within refrigerated is dairy, milk, produce, etc.--but I recently switched to organizing by expiration date so the coupons I need to use soon are the first ones I see. Again, figure out what works for you; it will probably take some trial-and-error to get there.
- Here comes the most important part: match coupons with sales. This can be confusing at first, but it makes so much sense when you see what a difference it can make in your grocery bill. When you go through the store sales and find your good deals for the week, narrow that list down by matching the sales with the coupons you have. This is where brand loyalties come into play in a big way.
- Many grocery stores double coupons; use this to your advantage. This just means that the store will double the face value of the coupon up to a certain amount. Most stores that have member cards available will only double coupons for customers who have member cards.
~ Harris Teeter and Bloom double coupons up to 99 cents. A 99 cent coupon becomes $1.98 off! They will only double 20 coupons per customer per day.
~ Bi-Lo doubles coupons up to 60 cents.
~ Publix, Kroger, and Harveys double coupons up to 50 cents.
~ Ingles has a weird coupon policy. For every $10 you spend before coupons, Ingles will double 3 coupons up to 50 cents. (Spend $20 before coupons and they'll double 6... etc.)
~ Food Lion and Piggly Wiggly don't double coupons normally; check your local store to be sure.
~ Winn Dixie has a few stores that double coupons, but none in my state; check your store.
***Keep an eye out for "Super Doubles" or "Triples" events at some stores. "Super Doubles" will double larger amounts than normal (e.g. up to $1.99), and "Triples" will triple the face value of coupons (usually following the same rules as normal at the store--e.g. Harris Teeter will triple 20 coupons up to 99 cents, but Ingles will only triple 3 coupons up to 50 cents for every $10 spent before coupons).
Sale story #1: Basic couponing and store comparison
I'm looking for pasta sauce in this week's sales...
- Publix has 45oz Ragu on sale B1G1 (buy one, get one free). At most grocery stores, B1G1 just means half price--you don't usually have to buy 2 to get the sale price! So my Ragu that would normally be $3.19 just went down to $1.59.
- Bi-Lo has 15-24oz Bertolli on sale B1G1. The regular price is $2.89, so the sale price is $1.44.
You're probably looking at this and thinking Publix has the better deal because the Ragu is 45oz--possibly twice the size of the Bertolli. But I haven't looked at my coupons yet.
- I have a coupon for 30 cents off Ragu. Publix doubles coupons up to 50 cents, so the price comes down to 99 cents.
- I have a coupon for 60 cents off Bertolli, and Bi-Lo doubles coupons up to 60 cents, so the price comes down to 24 cents.
So, I can buy 45oz Ragu for 99 cents, or 15-24oz Bertolli for 24 cents. Looking at the price per ounce, Bertolli at Bi-Lo is the winner here. I'm not brand-loyal with my pasta sauce, so I'm buying the Bertolli... and saving $2.65--that's 92% off. If I have another coupon, I should go ahead and stock up while I can get it that cheap!
I get excited just seeing the phrase "92% off"! See how easy that was? And all I had to do to get that deal was to clip the coupon (which came in the paper a month ago) and be sure to use my Bi-Lo Bonuscard. If I hadn't clipped that coupon a month ago, I would be kicking myself now! Even if I wasn't a fan of pasta (which is completely hypothetical, because I LOVE pasta), I could head over to Bertolli's website for some non-pasta recipes that use the sauce I bought.
Now let's talk about store coupons...
Many stores offer store coupons that can be "stacked" with manufacturers' coupons. That means you can use both a manufacturer's coupon and a store coupon on the same item for extra savings! Some of these are available in-store, some are mailed, others are printable online, and some are even available through your mobile phone. Wherever you find them, they can be marked as store coupons in several ways--
1) Some will literally say "Store Coupon"
2) Many include the name of the store--"Rite Aid Coupon"
3) Others (like those from Publix's Advantage Buy papers) may just have no barcode and say "redeem at Publix"
Buyer, beware: some coupons will have the name of a specific store printed on them but will also say "Manufacturer Coupon"; do not get these confused with store coupons. This happens a lot with Target printables and Publix Advantage Buys.
Some stores will accept "competitor coupons," which means they will take store coupons from different stores. This is very much dependent upon location; I use Food Lion coupons at the Bi-Lo near my home all the time, but I tried it at another Bi-Lo in the next town and failed. Also, some stores will accept only certain competitors' coupons; others will be denied as not being competitors. (I cannot use Harveys coupons in my state because there are no Harveys stores here!) Always check with your store location about its coupon policy before making your couponing plans.
Sale story #2: Incorporating store coupons
I need to buy deodorant for my husband. This opens up my shopping options to grocery and drug stores.
- Publix has Sure for Men on sale for $2.49.
~ There was a $1.50 coupon for this product in the paper a month and a half ago.
~ There is also a $1 store coupon available for this product in the Green Advantage Buy paper.
~ If I have both these coupons, Sure for Men is FREE at Publix this week (100% off).
- Bi-Lo has Ban for $2.
~ I have a 40 cent coupon from last week's paper, which will double at Bi-Lo.
~ I can get Ban for $1.20 at Bi-Lo (40% off).
- Old Spice is $4 at Rite Aid.
~ I have a $2 off 2 Old Spice coupon from the paper a few weeks ago.
~ Rite-Aid is offering a $2 Single Check Rebate (SCR) when you buy 2 Old Spice products.
~ I would pay $6 out of pocket now for 2 Old Spice deodorants and receive a check in the mail for $2 a month later. Total cost per deodorant, all things considered: $2 (50% off).
Clearly, FREE is the best deal here, thanks to Publix's store coupon. However, this is one of those areas where brand loyalty is a big player. My husband will only use Old Spice, so I will end up buying the most expensive of the three options. But if you consider the everyday price of all of these items, and the per-ounce price, the savings on Old Spice are not bad.
Okay, I sneaked in Rite Aid's Single Check Rebate (SCR) on that one without explaining it first, but it fit so well into the buying scenario that I couldn't help it. So, now I need to explain a few "cashback" programs various stores offer.
Rite Aid Single Check Rebate (SCR)
This program sounds complicated, but it is incredibly easy to redeem rebates.
- Rite Aid has a selection of items each week that earn you a rebate (SCR) when you purchase them. These are listed in the weekly circular. Limits per customer are also listed for each SCR offer.
- You don't need a coupon or form or card to take with you when you shop; just buy the items and save the receipt.
- Before the end of the month, go to Rite Aid's website and sign up for the SCR program. Then grab your receipt and enter a few key pieces of information from it into the website (store #, register #, transaction #, and date) and the system will locate that transaction and automatically tally up the items you purchased that are eligible for SCR. Your check will arrive in the mail shortly. To illustrate SCR, I'm going to use an example from last week's sale: $1 SCR on Gillette shave gel (priced at $1.99). So if I buy the shave gel, I'll get $1 back. But wait, I have coupons, too! So here's the plan:
- Gillette shave gel $1.99
- $1 coupon on Gillette shave gel (clipped a month ago)
- Coupon for FREE Gillette body wash when you buy Gillette shave gel (clipped two weeks ago)
- Pay 99 cents out of pocket for shave gel and body wash
- Get $1 SCR in the mail a month later
I just got one free shave gel and one free body wash. Hooray!
CVS ExtraCare Bucks
CVS's reward program is called ExtraCare Bucks (ECB's) and is easy to use, once you figure it all out.
- To use CVS's moneymaker program, you have to have an ExtraCare card. You can pick one up in-store or sign up online and request to have one sent to you. It's free and very much worth the few minutes it will take to get a card. - Got a card? Good. Now, like SCR, ECB's are awarded when you buy certain items (listed in the weekly circular, along with limits per customer).
- With ECB's, you don't have to keep track of the receipt or go online; your rewards are printed at the bottom of your receipt as soon as you pay for the items.
- ECB's are only redeemable for merchandise at CVS and cannot be exchanged for cash. (Very occasionally, an ECB will be valid only for a certain type of product, usually associated with the product you bought to get the ECB's--e.g. buy Olay cosmetics and get $4 ECB to spend on your next Olay purchase.)
- ECB's are redeemable instantly, which means as soon as you get the receipt with ECB's at the bottom, you can turn around and use them to pay for a second transaction. We call this "chaining."
Here's a basic example of how ECB's work.
- Oral-B toothbrushes are $4 and earn an instant $4 ECB (when you buy 1)
- I have a coupon for 75 cents off
- I pay $3.25 out of pocket and get $4 ECB back (essentially earning myself 75 cents)
Now, I have $4 in ECB that I can use. I could save them to pay for next week's shopping trip, or I could make my money stretch a little further today.
- I can earn $5 ECB when I buy 4 Kellogg's cereals (which are $2.50 each)
- I have two coupons for $1.50 off 2 Kellogg's cereals (printed online)
- I buy 4 cereals and use 2 $1.50 coupons, bringing my total from $10 to $7
- I use the $4 ECB I earned buying the toothbrush earlier
- I pay $3 out of pocket and get $5 ECB back
For those of you keeping score at home, right now I've spent $6.25 out of pocket for $14 worth of merchandise, and I still have another $5 ECB I can spend.
- Gillette Fusion Razors are $8.99 and earn $4 ECB
- I have a coupon for $4 off a Gillette product
- I use the $5 ECB I just earned buying the cereal
- I pay nothing and earn another $4 ECB
Now, I can keep going with this until I've reached the purchase limit on all the ECB-earning items, or I can buy something else I want (that's on sale but doesn't earn ECB's) and end it there.
- Altoids are B1G1 at $1.99 (but earn no ECB's)
- I buy 4 tins of Altoids
- I'm only at $3.98, and I have $4 ECB to spend--CVS will not let me use ECB's that are more than the value of my order, so I have to buy a small "filler item" to make the order at least $4. I'll grab a 50-cent bag of chocolate covered peanuts or something similar.
- Now I can use my $4 ECB and pay just under 50 cents out of pocket
Final score: I bought a toothbrush, 4 cereals, a razor, 4 Altoids, and a treat for me, valued at about $31.50. I spent less than $7 out of pocket.
**Note: in my experience, CVS employees in particular are used to people doing this kind of thing and will gladly cooperate with your multiple transactions. I kept apologizing for taking up their time the first few times I tried chaining, and at 3 different CVS locations, the cashiers were all very gracious and said they loved seeing how much some people were able to save.
Walgreens Register Rewards
Walgreens' reward program, Register Rewards (RR), works a lot like CVS's ECB program.
- The perk of RR is that you don't have to have a card. Anyone can take advantage of RR deals.
- As per the norm, RR's are awarded when you buy certain items (listed in the weekly circular); I haven't ever seen limits per customer on RR's. (This is probably because it's not connected with a card like ECB's, or mailed to an address like SCR's. If they don't track it, they can't limit it.)
- Like ECB's, RR's are printed when you pay for your items and can be used immediately on your next transaction.
- Also like ECB's, RR's are only redeemable for Walgreens merchandise (and there might be one in a blue moon that is only redeemable for a certain type of item). As long as there's no line, you can do multiple transactions and chain RR's. (If there's a line, they ask me to wait--store policy at my local stores.)
Using RR's:
- Colgate toothpaste is $3.99 this week with an instant $4 RR
- I have a $1 coupon for Colgate (toothpaste coupons are very common both online and in the paper)
- I spend $2.99 out of pocket and get $4 RR--essentially, I just got paid $1 to buy this toothpaste. (It's store credit, of course, but it's $1 I didn't have before!)
Now I've got $4 RR to spend. Let's chain to get some more deals.
- When I buy $10 worth of Revlon cosmetics or beauty tools (all of which are on sale 40% off), I can get $5 RR. (That $10 is before coupons, which works to our advantage!)
- I have $1 and $2 coupons (clipped from the paper, from different weeks) for Revlon.
- I'm going to search through the Revlon stuff for any two items that add to $10 in sale-price value. I'll use my $1 and $2 coupons. (Keep in mind that I can only use one coupon per item--so it's to my advantage to find two items that add to $10 rather than one more expensive item, so I can use both coupons.)
- My total comes to $7. I have my $4 RR from before, so I use that and spend $3 out of pocket. I get $5 RR back in my pocket.
I could keep going forever with the long list of RR deals for the week, transaction after transaction, and just keep paying for things with the RR's I keep getting. But I'm sure you get the drift by now of how that would go. Let's throw in a non-RR sale to finish this shopping trip off.
- Excedrin 20-24ct products are B1G1. (Unfortunately, we're at a drugstore, so that doesn't mean half-price; we actually have to buy 2 to get the sale price. We can do it, though!)
- I have a $1 Excedrin Complete coupons I printed online.
- I also have two $2 store coupons for Excedrin Menstrual Complete. (Walgreens does a monthly coupon booklet in the store, and I picked up two of them. FYI, two is considered the polite number of in-store coupons to take.)
- I buy two of these Excedrin products for $4.99 (since they're B1G1). I can use both a store coupon and a manufacturer's coupon for each item, so I end up actually having $6 worth of coupons! The coupons can't exceed the value of the purchase, so I just get both items free after coupons.
- I still have that $5 RR to spend. Method hand wash is $2.50 ("with in-ad coupon"--Walgreens does several sale items each week that require a coupon found in the ad, which I can either get from my Sunday paper or in the store), so I'm going to get two and pay with my $5 RR.
I spent a total of $6 out of pocket for a toothpaste, two cosmetic items, two Excedrins, and two hand washes. That's over $35 worth of stuff (actually more than that, because I don't know the regular price of the hand wash, so I'm calculating my savings by the sale price). That's about 83% off.
If you're not convinced by now of how this is worth your time... stay tuned for future coupon-related posts. : )
