How do I use coupons?

Double Coupons ~
You need to find a store that will double the value of your coupons. Here in Oregon we have Safeway, who offers a "double coupons" that doubles (up to 50¢) the value of up to four manufacture coupons and Albertsons, who don't offer the double coupons each week, but do occasionally offer double coupons that will double (up to $1.00) the value of up to three manufacture coupons. Thriftway also doubles up to four manufacture coupons, up to 50¢ each.

Combining manufacture coupons with store sales and store coupons and double coupons! Th money saving quad ~
When an item goes on sale, for example this week Kelloggs Cereal (regularly priced at $3.99) went on sale for $1.99. I paired that up with a coupon ($1.00/1), and used a double coupon (50¢) giving me a total of 49¢ for a box of Kelloggs cereal. Sometimes these "sales" are only available with a store coupon. This aids the store in allowing you this great deal without having to sell all their cereal at this price. In that case, use the store coupon to reduce the price, then take off the manufacture coupon, and use a double coupon to bring it down even further.

Instant savings and money off your next visit ~
As an increased insentive sometimes the store will offer an "instant savings" when you buy a certain number of items or spend a certain amount of money. For instance, this week Albertson's is offering $5.00 off instantly when you purchase five items in a select list. You can team these up with coupons to get the price down even further. Today I was able to buy five Sara Lee Simple Sweets Pies, regularly priced at $3.59, on sale for 2/$6.00. This made five of the pies cost $15.00, but I also had five $1.00/1 coupons, bringing it down to $10.00. But because fo the instant savings, it took $5.00 off my total, bringing my total cost for five pies down to just $5.00 or, $1.00 a pie.

This week Albertson's also has Dryers Ice Cream on sale for $2.99. But if you purchase four different Dryer's ice creams, you can get $4.00 back to use on your next visit. I was looking to buy ice cream anyway, so decided to stock up with four containers. Regularly priced at $6.49, it was a bargain on sale for $2.99, but at the register, a coupon for $4.00 off my next visit came out, which virtually means that my ice cream was now down to only $1.99! With no other coupons used.

Register Rewards at Walgreens ~
Walgreen's has recently decided to stop doing rebates, and as a substitute, they have started doing many more "Register Rewards". These are much like the ice cream example in the above paragraph. You can double up, using both a Walgreen's store coupon and a manufacture coupon when purchasing these items and still get the "register rewards" for money off your next trip to the store. The only thing is that when using these "register rewards" at Walgreen's, you need to realize that they are considered Manufacurers coupons. Since they are treated as such, you cannot use a manufacturer coupon AND a "register rewards" coupon in the purchase of 1 item. So you must have at least as many items as manufacturer coupons. So sometimes you need to purchase a small filler item to make the transaction work (I like to get ramen noodles at 29¢!). We'll go more in depth into the in's and out's of Walgreen's in a future post.

Saving more by NOT buying large sizes ~
Most people just assume that when you buy larger sizes or buy in bulk, you're getting a better deal. But when using coupons this is most often NOT the case.

Case in point, consider this example:

Without Coupon: Diapers 28 count package: Price: $7.00 Cost per unit: $0.25 Diapers 56 count package: Price: $13.00 Cost per unit: $0.23 With Coupon: Diapers 28 count package: Price: $7.00 - $1.50 coupon = $5.50 Cost per unit: $0.20 Diapers 56 count package: Price: $13.00 - $1.50 coupon = $11.50 Cost per unit: $0.21

Although the price per unit of the larger size is more economical without the coupon, the smaller size is the better buy with the coupon.

Keep a small calculator in your purse or coupon caddy to help calculate the best deal. Sometimes the larger size IS the more economical, you just have to do the math.