more basic info

A rule of thumb is that products go on sale roughly every 6-8 weeks, if you can get enough of that product to last you till the next sale date you will never have to pay full price!!!

If a store is out of something that you want be sure to get a rain check. This will also give you more time to get more coupons


The biggest question I have been asked is how do I do it. I have been trying to think of a way to type it out so, that folks could understand. After I buy my paper, cut out the coupons and file them away I look at the sales ads. I live in a bigger area so, I have more stores to shop at than some folks will. I mainly shop at: Kroger, CVS, Walgreens, and Albertson's. If there is something that is a great price I will stop by Walmart, Target, Thom Thumb (randalls for some), Dollar General, and Family Dollar . I will try to break it down by store.

Kroger & Albertson's : My stores will take double or triple 3 coupons per shopping trip. They triple from .01-.39 and double from .40-.50 anything higher than that is face value. If say ketchup is on sale 1.00 and I have a coupon for .25/1 bottle the final cost would be .25 because my coupon was tripled to .75 off. I can buy 3 bottles of ketchup and use 3 coupons. If it is something that we use quite a bit or that really doesn't expire my husband will go with me and we will do separate transactions so, in one trip I would get 6 bottles of ketchup. If I have more coupons and want more ketchup I may go again during the week of the sale. This is how I can end up with 20 bottles of ketchup. I have been buying Bar b q sauce this way but, it was totally free. It was on sale for .99 and I have .35/1 coupons that would be tripled but, they will not triple over the price of the item. I have had some slip by the computer but, not many anymore. If you do have a negative balance (it has happened) you would need to add something to absorb the overage, gum, candy something small. You can add the loadable coupons on to your Kroger card. Albertson's did away with their loyalty card but, both stores will take Internet printed coupons if they scan.

Thom Thumb/Randall's: They will double up to .50 and triple up to .39 but, they will only do that on the 1st coupon any after that is face value. I rarely shop there unless something is on sale.

All three of the above stores print Catalina's on some products. A catalina is the machine that is beside the register. It prints coupons, advertisements and so on. If you are walking around in ur store you may notice white tags under the price tag of some items and it might say buy 2 French's mustard get 1.00 off ur next order. These change ever so often. If you get one of these then when you check out next time it will take that amount off of ur bill. Before Christmas Glade plugins were producing 3.50 catalina (cat) when you bought one. I had some coupons that made the glade plugin free so, it was making me 3.50 every time I bought one. I ended up with like 60.00 in catalina's which is free food. My sister n law got even more than that. I may buy a product that produces a catalina even if I don't use that product. French's mustard is having one now at Kroger if you buy 2 then you get 1.00 back. I have coupons that make the mustard .29 ea so, I pay .58 and get the 1.00 cat for next time. Then I find someone to give the mustard too.

When I get the sales ads, I will sit down with my coupons and look at what is on sale and if any of it would be free or close to free. I write down what the price will be after coupons and how many coupons I have for that item. I always go into a store with roughly what I am going to spend so, then if it is not right I can take care of the problem before I leave the store. I drive my husband nuts if something didn't get taken off or is not the right price. Yes, it is only say 1.00 but, 100 of them is 100.00. You can always take ur receipt to customer service if some of ur coupons didn't get taken off or weren't doubled or tripled.

Walmart: They give face value on coupons. They will price match ads. The will take Internet printed coupons if they scan. They don't like you getting free stuff, lol. They are not the cheapest on everything.

Target: They give face value and will take Internet coupons. They have coupons on their website and you can use their coupon and a manufacturer's coupon on one item. They will not let you get overage but, at times you can get free. I like that they sometimes have coupon off of meat and produce. If you look around for smaller cuts of meat then you can pick some up for really cheap. Even if you have a larger family but, 2 or 3 smaller pkgs of meat.

Family Dollar and Dollar General both take coupons at face value. I have not tried using an Internet printed coupon at either store so, I can't tell you if they will or won't take them. There are coupons all the time in Sunday's papers for 1.00 off of Crest toothpaste and 1.00 off of Band-aids they are 1.00ea at Dollar General. That is an every day price.

CVS: They take coupons at face value and u can use A cvs coupon and a manufacture coupon on the same item. ECB's are what prints with ur receipt for so much off. Those are just like cash you can turn around and buy stuff with them. In their ad's it will have the price after ECB's. You would pay the full price and then it will print the ECB's after you have paid. If something is free after ECB's use a coupon and you have made money. They send out email for so much off a purchase like 4 off 20. If they are out of something always get a rain check. They never expire and the ECB's will still print a year later.

Walgreen's: They take coupon at face vlaue and u can use a Walgreen's coupon with a manufacture coupon. They have register reward instead of ECB's and catalinas. They did have a rebate program but, it is now over so, we will see if they bring something new in. Register Rewards expire about a week and a half from when you get them so, watch those dates. Walgreens is a little harder to grasp when u r 1st starting out. They have a rule where you can not have more coupons than items. They consider the register rewards a coupon in that sense. So, if you were going to buy toothpaste and had a coupon for a 1.00 off and a register reward for 1.00 of even if your tooth paste was 2.00 you would have to pick up something small or whatever you wanted to use, I say something small cuz it is usually cheaper. One way to look at it is you need something with a UPC code for each UPC code they scan. Now their coupons in the ad is not part of this. An example would be: A month ago they had huggies diapers on sale if you bought 25.00 worth you would then get a 10.00 register reward back. The diapers were on sale for 10.00 a pack (jumbo) I had 3 coupon for 5.00 off a pack and a register reward from another purchase for 10.00. So, I got the 3 packs of diapers (using a coupon on each) and if I wanted to use the register reward I needed something small to scan also. This is called a filler. I picked up a pencil for .29
3 packs of huggies diapers 10.00 ea used 5.00/1 (3 times) 15.00
my pencil .29
so, I owed 15.29 use a 10.00 register reward paid 5.29 on a gift card and got back a 10.00 register reward. The reason I used the 1st register reward was because it was about to expire and the new one that printed would have a late expiration date on it.

I don't want to go on and on about Walgreens if I totally confused you let me know and I will try to explain it better. There are times at Walgreens I still get confused lol