Sunday, May 9, 2010

How I coupon...

So many people have asked me how I coupon and that's such a hard question to answer because there's no one right way to coupon. I'm not as organized as my friends by any means but thats my life basically so doesn't change anything for me.
I figured those that are interested and those that have asked, I'll give a quick run down on what I do to save money and you can take some and leave some as you please.

Each day, I check out the following websites religiously!
http://www.hit2save.com/
http://www.savingwithamy.com/
http://www.southernsavers.com/
http://www.iheartpublix.com/

They do all the work for me pretty much! Mind you, these websites are more for the southern states grocery stores like publix and kroger.

I get a paper or two each week and pull out the inserts. Normally it's the redplum and smartsource but occasionally you will also get a p&g as well as a general mills insert. I don't cut anything right away. I write the date and file them away. Thats where the above websites come in handy. They actually find all the deals for you and match them to the coupons using the dates of the insert. For example... today it would be SS (smartsourse) 5-9 and you would pull out that insert and cut the coupon you need. And then there's printable coupons that you will also find on those websites above. How you want to store, print or clip your coupons is really up to you but this is how I found to be the easiest way for me. The more inserts you have, obviously the better luck you have at getting more stuff.
I also buy coupons (yes you can BUY them!) on ebay as well as http://www.manufacturerscoupons.net/
(look for affiliate link on my blog)

Another thing people don't know is that most stores will stack a mfg (manufacturer) coupon with a store coupon for the same item. Target is really good about this and you can find Target coupons on their website. I think the best thing for me to do is tell you which stores I frequent and then what they do for me.

Publix:
this is my favorite store in the world BAR NON!!!! By looking at the regular prices, they seem quite expensive. I always thought that so I never ever went there until I moved to Tennessee. Time to take it apart now.
B1G1 (buy 1 get 1 free)- they have many items each week b1g1. You don't have to buy 2... basically they're half price. But the great thing about this is that you can use coupons for both items!
Doubles- Publix doubles coupons .50 and under but only mfg. They don't double store coupons.
Stacking- They will also stack mfg and store coupons for the same item.
Competitor coupons- Publix accepts competitor coupons for stores up to a certain mile radius. Each store is different but if you find a coupon to use, you can stack it with a mfg as well.
Coupon Limits- the majority of Publix stores now will only take 6 coupons for like items. So I may have 20 poptart coupons but I can only use 6 of them at a time.
Overage- you can have overage here! I love it!!! So my coupon is for 1.00 but the item is only.85. Yay..I just made .15 for my other groceries. These sure add up! It really comes in handy when it pays your taxes too!
I love Publix!

Target:
I like this place too. Especially for coupon stacking.

The differences and similarities in Publix and Target are-

They DO NOT accept competitor coupons
They DO NOT double coupons
They DO NOT have coupon limits (YAY!)
They DO NOT do overage (unless you find a good cashier who doesn't care)

They DO stack target coupons with mfg coupons

Kroger:
I don't find as many great deals as Publix but that doesn't keep me away
The difference and similaries in Publix and Kroger are-

They DO NOT accept competitor coupons
They DO NOT have coupon limites

They DO stack kroger coupons and mfg coupons
They DO double coupons .50 and under (and occasionally offer triple coupon events)

Something different Kroger has is you can upload coupons onto your Kroger plus card. That way you can use a coupon on your card, a mfg coupon and a Kroger coupon on all once. Although the plus card coupon is usually only a one use thing but hey- you still save money!


Walmart- I don't go there. Blech! Personal opinion but they suck when it comes to coupons and I can beat their prices anywhere else so I don't bother. Maybe it's because I grew up in a small town that all there was was WalMart. Just not my thing.

So there's a synopsis (sp?) of my couponing. Feel free to ask any questions of course and I'll try to answer what I know in the comments. But remember- this is just MY way. Everyone is different and I would love to hear your coupon methods! Did I forget anything????

I seriously can go on and on and on about this but it's overwhelming and hard to cover everything at once. But hope this helped a little on how to get started at least:) I don't do the drugstore rewards yet so I can't help you on those but the websites I posted earlier can give you everything you need to know:)

1 comment:

Kris said...

I'm so glad that somebody else does it the easy way like I do.

I actually kind of hate it when people ask me about couponing because I usually get 1 of 2 responses.
It starts out: I can't do that because: a. I don't have time. or b. It's too hard. (usually spoken in a defiant or superior tone of voice)

If only they would try it out, they would see that WE'RE not doing the work! (But WE sure reap the benefits!)

Man, I wish we lived near each other. It seems we live parallel lives more & more. Except the flooding & crappy weather, that is!
Luv ya!