Coupon Matchups
At the beginning of every ad week, which always varies by store, I peruse the weekly ads and blogs that do coupon matchups for each store. What's a coupon matchup you ask? Basically, someone goes through the weekly ad for CVS, for example, and writes down all the sales from the ad. They then go through and match up each sale with any available coupons that are out there from both the newspaper and the internet. They compile these lists together neatly and make it much easier for you to see what you can get on sale and how much you will pay for each item. There are entire websites dedicated to doing just this and can be easily found through google. Usually, I google something like "Publix coupon matchups", and it comes up with tons of websites that post these for you. Here is an example of what a coupon matchup will look like:
Colgate Max Toothpaste $3.49
$0.50/1 – Colgate Toothpaste, 3 oz or larger from SS 2/22
And use $2.00/1 Colgate, CVS Coupon from CVS Coupon Center Week of 2/22
And use $2.00/1 Colgate, CVS Coupon from CVS Coupon Center Week of 2/22
Final Price: $0.49
I'll break this down and explain more in a little bit, but there's a few more things to learn in order for this to make sense.
Weekly Ads
Like I mentioned, each store's weekly ad comes out on a different day. Here's a list of some stores and the days their weekly ads come out.
CVS: Sun - Sat
Walgreens : Sun - Sat
Publix: Wed/Thur - Tues/Wed (depending on where your store is located)
Harris Teeter: Wed - Tues
Target: Sun - Sat
Walmart: Sun - Sat
Food Lion: Wed - Tues
Winn Dixie: Wed- Tues
Double Coupons
Some stores double coupons and some don't. That also depends on what state you are in. For example, Publix does not double coupons in FL or NC, but they do in other states. It's best to check on each store's website under their coupon policy to see if they do or not.
Now what does it mean to double a coupon? Some stores will double the face value of a coupon for coupons up to 99 cents. For example, if you have a coupon that is for $.75 off of 1 item, that will automatically double to $1.50 off of 1 item. Double coupons is really the key to getting things for free at super markets like Harris Teeter. At Harris Teeter specifically, once in a while they do a week of "Super Double" coupons. This means that they will double any coupon up to $2 in face value. Meaning if you have a coupon for $2 off of 1 item, that doubles to $4 off of 1 item! When it comes to shampoos, deodorants, detergents, vitamins and other high value items, these are the weeks to stock up on those since you can get most for free or very cheap.
Manufacturer's Coupons vs. Store Coupons
You can find manufacturer's coupons in the Sunday newspaper, online at websites such as coupons.com and redplum.com, on retailer's product websites or Facebook (for example angelsoft.com), and sometimes at the stores themselves whether they be on display near a product or they may print out with your receipt at the end of an order. You can even BUY coupons from some people off of Ebay (I'm not kidding). Manufacturer's coupons will be labeled at the top of the coupon saying exactly that, "Manufacturer's coupon". This coupon comes from the manufacturer of a product themselves. Make you to read exactly what the coupon is for. For example, if you have a coupon that says $1 off of 2 Cheerios cereal boxes, you MUST buy 2 boxes of Cheerios to get the $1 off. Also make sure if it specifies a certain product, such as "Chocolate Cheerios", to make sure you are buying the right product.
Store coupons are from a store directly, such as Target or CVS. They can be found on store websites, such as cvs.com or coupons.target.com. They can also be found in store. Publix, for example, has a display as soon as you walk into their stores that has inserts of store coupons for you to take and use. CVS has a kiosk close to the front of their stores where you can swipe your registered CVS card and it will print out store coupons for you each week, some for specific items and some for a certain dollar amount off of your purchase. Sometimes store coupons print at checkout with your receipt as well. These coupons will usually say "Target coupon" or "Publix coupon" at the top to indicate they are store coupons.
As a general rule, you may use ONE manufacturer's coupon and ONE store coupon per item. For example, if you have a $1 off of 1 Cheerios cereal box manufacturer's coupon and a $.75 off of 1 Cheerios cereal box Target coupon, you may use both and get a total of $1.75 off of 1 box. However, if you have a $1 off of 2 Cheerios cereal boxes manufacturer's coupon and a $.75 off of 1 Cheerios Target coupon, you will still have to buy 2 boxes to use the manufacturer's coupon. But you CAN use 2 of the .$75 off of 1 coupons and 1 manufacturer's and get a good deal for a total of $2.50 off of two boxes.
Some stores do limit the amount of the same coupon you may use and they may limit the total amount of coupons you can use per transaction. This information varies by store and can also be found on the store's websites under the coupon policy. I wouldn't worry too much about this though, because unless you are going to be doing some extreme couponing like they do on the TLC show, this won't be an issue for you.
Now back to that coupon matchup I posted earlier:
Colgate Max Toothpaste $3.49
$0.50/1 – Colgate Toothpaste, 3 oz or larger from SS 2/22
And use $2.00/1 Colgate, CVS Coupon from CVS Coupon Center Week of 2/22
And use $2.00/1 Colgate, CVS Coupon from CVS Coupon Center Week of 2/22
Final Price: $0.49
The product is listed first, usually with the price that the specific store has it on sale for, $3.49 in this case. Next, the coupons available are listed. This one has a manufacturer's coupon for $.50 off 1 Colgate Toothpaste, 3oz or larger. When it says "from SS 2/22", this indicates what insert in the newspaper it is from and the date of the newspaper it was in. This one is from the SmartSource insert from the Feb 22nd paper. The second coupon listed is a $2 off of 1 Colgate item. This one is a store coupon from the Coupon Center kiosk that I mentioned earlier. Lastly, the final price is listed showing you how much you will be per item if you use the coupons listed.
This may seem like a lot of information to take in, but I tried to break it down thoroughly so you can understand each aspect of couponing. I promise it is not as complicated as it may seem. And of course as with everything, practice makes perfect. The more you try out small steps here and there, the more it will become second nature to you. Let me know if you have any questions about anything I explained here or if something doesn't make sense or I missed something, let me know.
Happy Couponing!
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