Week 2, Lesson 1 The Basic of Shopping CVS

Now that you have a few coupons, you know how to read them, you know how to organize them, and you have a small understanding of stockpiling, you are ready to shop! The first store I want to teach is CVS. There are a few reasons, the first is that CVS often builds their ads around that week's coupons and sometimes even does the math for you themselves. It is an easy way to see the savings and you don't always need a ton of coupons to get some great deals. For this shopping trip, I used some coupons that are available today. If you are coming late to the coupon party, these deals won't be available anymore but this will just give you a general idea.

                                                          CVS doing the work for you!

First thing that needs to be done is you HAVE to get a CVS Extra Care Card. They are totally free. You can sign up at the register. Make sure to include your phone number because if you lose your actual card, they can look it up by phone number. The Extra Care Card (the card from here on out) will not only get you the current ad prices, but it will allow you earn 2% back on your purchases. And it will allow you to print your own CVS store coupons! It will also allow you to earn something called Extra Bucks. So before you do anything, get a card!

Now that you have a card, you need to go visit the coupon machine, I call it Big Red. In every store usually near the front, there is a large box with a screen it looks like this:

You take your card and you scan it, and out come coupons. Coupons for nail polish, or cleaning supplies, or free candy. You never know. Ok some people find out what is in the machine, I prefer the mystery. Scan this baby until it tells you you have no more coupons. Sometimes one time will be it, sometimes three. Get. All. The. Coupons. Seriously. Even if you dont use them that week, save them. Sometimes CVS gives you a coupon this week, but a better deal next week!

At CVS you can match coupons from Big Red with Manufacturer coupons. This is called a stack. You can use one CVS coupon with one manufacturer coupon on each item. But it gets better.

                                                                A stack of a stack.

CVS has something called Extra Bucks (EB). Extra Bucks are awesome. You can get Extra Bucks when you buy certain items. Those EB's print at the end of your receipt, so you use them on your next purchase. They are just like cash. If you lose them, you lose them. But unlike cash they have an expiration date. Letting them expire is just like losing them. Usually they are good for about a month or so. You can use one manufacturer coupon, one CVS coupon, and then extra bucks all in one transaction while earning MORE extra bucks. That is why I love CVS.

                                                   A yellow sale and extra bucks tag.

           Some Extra Bucks. They print at the end of your receipt, DO NOT THROW THEM OUT.

For example. This week they had Revlon Nail polish on sale. It was about 5$ a bottle. That's not great. But I had a coupon from Big Red that gave me $3 off a $12 Revlon purchase. In order to use that coupon, I have to buy three. So 15$ minus the $3 coupon from Big Red still means spending 12$ on three bottles of nail polish, still not great. I remember that I grabbed a few $1 off Revlon nail polish coupons from a tear pad a few days ago. I can use three of those, since I am buying three nail polishes. Now I am paying $9 for three nail polishes, well that's not bad! Then I see that if I buy 2 nail polishes, I get $4 in EB's. Well now that is a deal! I get three bottles of nail polish for 9$ plus CVS is going to give me $4 to spend on my next transaction, so I got three bottles for 5$. Basically that is buy one, get TWO free.

Now I have $4EB's to spend! I decide to do another transaction right then and there! CVS has Almay eyeshadow for $5.99, it's normally $7.99 so that's not a bad sale. I have a $5 off two coupon. So instead of roughly $12 I am going to spend $7. That's a good deal! But when I buy two, CVS is going to give me $6 in Extra Bucks! That means after my Extra Bucks I was able to buy 16$ worth of makeup for only a dollar!! Better yet, I can use the EB's from my previous transaction to minimize what I actually have to pay in cash! So instead of that $7 on the second transaction I give them my $4 in extra bucks from my first transaction and I pay $3 and tax. Then I get back $6 to spend next time!!

Recap: 3 Revlon Nailpolishes                      $15
           -$3 off $12 CVS coupon                -$3
           - (3) $1 off Manu. coupon              -$3
                                                              ---------
           Pay out of pocket                           $9 plus local tax
           Receive                                          $4 Extra Bucks good for next purchase

Transaction number 2:
           2 Almay Eye Shadows                    $12
           $5 off 2 coupon                            -$5
           Use $4 EB's                                 -$4
                                                            ----------
           Pay out of pocket                         $3 plus local tax
           Receive                                        $6 EB's

$27 in merchandise, only paying $12 plus tax and you have $6 in EB's. Even if you don't count the extra bucks, you saved over 50%.

Now the first transactions are always tough because you are paying upfront and the extra bucks come back at the end. Don't get discouraged. just start small with things you need and can afford. After awhile you will be rolling EB's in multiple transactions like a pro and spend $5-10 on $25+ of merchandise each week.

A few general guidelines. You can use as many EB's in a transaction as you want, but they will never cover tax. So if you have a $5 EB but only owe $3 before tax, its better just to pay the $3 than lose the $2. Each quarter you will get an EB worth 2% of what you spent that quarter. Your EB's and CVS coupons are attached to YOUR card. You can not use anyone else's EB's or coupons from Big Red. Extra Bucks are limited. It's often only 1 or 2 per card for the whole week. If you have to buy three of an item but one CVS only has two, you can go to another CVS and buy the third and the EB's will generate, you can see at the bottom of your receipt what deals you have used part or all of.  If CVS is out of something in the ad, ask for a rain check! They almost always give them and they never expire. Just a tip, try and attach the ad to the rain check in case the person that writes it makes a mistake. It makes using them so much easier.

CVS does take a bit to learn, but once you get it, you can really score some great deals.

Week 1, Lesson 6: Coupon Vocabulary

Couponing is a whole new way of shopping. And that new way of shopping comes with a whole new language to learn. Here is a concise list of some of the terminology you will see and encounter.

Coupon: Your new currency

Weekly Ad or Circular: The advertisements some stores put out with their sales, this can be found in the newspaper, on their website and often in the stores themselves. If you can't find one, ask!!

Coupon Inserts: The packs of coupons found in your Sunday paper. They often look like a little book. A little book of awesomeness.

Manufacturer Coupon: A coupon issued by the manufacturer either in inserts, on products, in the mail, or other places.

Printable Coupon: A coupon you print at home using your home computer, or your mom's computer, or your neighbor's computer.

Mobile Coupon: A coupon that is scanned from your smartphone or tablet.

Peelie: A coupon found stuck to a product, usually by some crazy nasa tape that sticks to everything and is impossible to remove.

Tear Pad: A stack of coupons that looks like a notepad, you tear one off. Couponers aren't always creative with their names.

Blinkie: A machine near a product that distributes coupons and sometimes even has a fun blinking light.

Stacking Coupons: Using store coupons and manufacturer coupons on the same product.

BOGO: Buy one, get one free

WYB: Fancy schmancy code for 'when you buy'

Double Coupons: This is when a store chooses to double the amount of your coupon. Some stores double up to a dollar, some not at all. Check your local store policy.

Do Not Double: When a manufacturer ruins your coupon fun by not allowing you to double the coupon even if the store says they double.

Mail in Rebate: When a manufacturer sends you money for buying their stuff if you submit a form and wait long enough.

One Coupon Per Purchase: One coupon per ITEM purchased. Not one coupon per your whole cart full of stuff.

Limit 4 Identical Coupons Per Transaction: You can only use four coupons in one transaction. You can do as many transactions as you want.

Limit 4 Identical Coupons per Household per Day: Four of those coupons, that's it.

Coupon Policy: This is the written policy of the store, often unknown to cashiers, and lower levels of management. Print it out, and show it to them if needed. It will often blow their mind. 

Week 1, Lesson 5: Rules of the Game

Now that you understand you can't be a Globetrotter in a week, its time to go over the rules of the game.

The most important rule of the game is to pay the least amount possible. Not to get everything free, because that would be just impossible. Some things may never go on sale, so set yourself the reasonable goal to save on everything you can, as much as you can.

The next rule of couponing is to not be brand specific, if possible. If you only like Dove shampoo, you will only really save if you buy Dove shampoo because if you buy Nicole's Totally Awesome shampoo and it works well, like poo, you are going to throw it out. Even if you spent just .25 on my shampoo, if you don't use it, you really just wasted a quarter. If you are brand specific, own it, its better that way. However if you are not brand specific and you will use any shampoo then you can get every brand and save on every brand. You don't have to wait for those Dove coupons, and what if you miss them? Then you have to pay full price which is in direct violation of rule one!If you are allergic to every brand but one, obviously only buy that brand but if you don't care between Colgate and Crest then you can get both for free and double your savings.

The third rule, stockpile. Notice how I said stockpile and not hoard? There is a difference. A stockpile is a supply of things that you got free or super cheap, enough to last you until they go on sale again. You don't need to get enough so that you never have to buy again. Most people think 6-12 months is a sufficient enough stockpile. Some also consider it their insurance policy and emergency stash against illness. I think it's both. Nothing will make you grateful for your stockpile than sickness or injury. If you get a cold, you are going to think the Coupon God that you have enough cough syrup, cough drops and tissues to last through your cold. If your kiddo gets a fever at 3am on the night your spouse it out of town, you are going to love having children's Tylenol a few feet away. Do you need enough to last through your kids and their kids? No. If a sudden job loss or death does occur, you won't have to shop which could mean the difference in paying the mortgage or not. If those reasons weren't enough to make you clean out a closet and start stockpiling, then let me explain why everyone needs to do it on some level. Coupons aren't predictable totally but they are a little bit. Sales and coupons have cycles. Some months you will see toothpaste free, and then some months you won't. You want to get them on sale so you need to have enough until the next cycle. Every so often a company will have a new razor, and will issue crazy high value coupons where you get paid to take them home. Always take advantage of money makers! They help pay for the things you didn't get a great deal on. If you don't like the product you made money on, donate it.  A small stockpile in a garage, closet or shed is great. If your house has more products than Walmart...you need therapy.

The fourth rule of couponing, it's totally ok to ask for coupons. If you have a specific diet and eat a certain brand but never see coupons, as the company for them! Some people have gotten coupons for free boxes of diapers simply for asking. Look on their website, Facebook page, or their parent companies sites for coupons they issue themselves, if all else fails write them or call them.Tell them you love their product and would love to keep buying it, could they send you some coupons. Most companies will gladly reward your loyalty.

The fifth rule is be educated but nice. If you shop at a store, know their coupon policy. You might even have to print it and take it with you. Big box stores that um have WALLS don't always train their employees well. Just knowing their policy means you might know more than them. If you think the cashier is wrong, you can either pay and go to customer service or you can ask for a manager. Show them the policy, nicely. Don't be rude, don't have an attitude, remember it's often not the cashier's fault for how they were trained.

The last rule, is just be nice!! Be nice to the people behind you, if you know you are going to use 40 coupons, just give the people behind you a heads up. Giving them the choice to pick another line is the difference between someone glaring at you and them applauding you. If they stay in your line, that's their choice. Being nice also means not picking out the express line unless your products AND coupons are under the limit. For example if the limit is 20, and you have 15 items and 15 coupons you are really making the cashier scan 30 items so pick a regular line. If you are at a store and are doing 5 transaction and there is a line, do a transaction and then go to the back of the line. Yes, it will take more time and is a pain, but it's a worse pain being stuck behind someone at CVS doing five transactions when you really need that Pepto like now. Be nice to fellow shoppers.If you have 400 toothbrush coupons, don't be afraid to use them, just place a special order. You can order 400 toothbrushes and they will keep them in the back for you, you won't clear the shelves. Just above all else be courteous.

Week 1, Lesson 4: Coupon Expetations

If you are reading this, you have probably seen someone either on a TV show, news program or even on your social media news feed who has gotten hundreds of dollars of merchandise for a fraction of the cost. Those deals are awesome and amazing... and not every day. There is a TV show that is currently airing that shows amazing deals. Has anyone noticed the disclaimer? Notice how some stores show their names but some blur them out? One stores reward system was featured prominently in the episode. That was not an accident. Stores allow TLC to come in and film giving them free publicity, in order to make it interesting the stores often suspend their own policies. What goes on in these transactions isn't normal and isn't going to be possible for most of you, if not all. What these shows has done is take a  normal coupon trick and put it on steroids. Now everything thinks not only can they buy 400 toothbrushes, they NEED to and they are disappointed when they can't. I don't want anyone to get discouraged by these shows or people you may encounter. What they do is like the Harlem Globetrotters, the rules are changed for them so they never lose. You are not a Globetrotter... I am not a Globetrotter. Consider yourself on the rec league at the YMCA. There are no winners, there are no losers, there is no score, you are just doing your best. As you get better you will move up and maybe play in the NBA, and a few of those will even become a Globetrotter, but you won't be one this week, or even this year.

Starting to coupon is like starting a business. You need supplies. The supplies are not just the binder (box), sheets, dividers, and scissors, they are the coupons themselves. A coupon for General Mills cereal will not come out every week. It will come out every 4-6 weeks. Very rarely do coupons come multiple times a month, and for some reason its the yogurt and crescent rolls coupon. So it will take you 4-6 weeks to gather the majority of the coupons. Some coupons only come out once a year, like coupons on turkeys come out near Thanksgiving, Pepsi issues coupons around Memorial Day, school supplies in August etc. The first few weeks you will have a few coupons splattered in a few sheets in your binder, a few weeks later you might need to buy more sheets! I set this class up this way for a reason. Some of you have last week's coupons, so by the time I tell you how to shop CVS next week you will have two weeks worth of coupons only. I picked CVS as the first shop for a reason, one its almost everywhere so a lot of people have access to one. Two, in the ad itself it bases the deals on that week's coupons so even if you only one week of coupons you can still get the deals! Granted the more coupons you have the more deals you can get, but I can almost assure everyone will get one deal or freebie next week with only one week of papers. If you try and go grocery shopping on two weeks of papers, you are not going to save 100%. You may save 3%. And that is a victory because you are just starting to build up your supplies and coupon inventory. You scored a basket. You saved a little. You are not Kevin Durant, but you are scoring!

Just like Durant and the Globetrotters you need some fans. It sucks when you score 3% off your grocery bill and no one is excited. I have been there. You need support. Find someone, anyone to brag too. If your significant other or BFF doesn't get it, find a friend, use the group to brag about your successes, post it here whatever, just have someone encourage you. If you saved 1% one week and 3% the next week, brag about that too. You are getting better.  In the beginning you are not profitable. You spent 10$ on a binder and sheets, 4$ on paper, and a buck on some scissors and you save 3$ at the store. The first week, you might be negative, you might break even. You might not have used one single coupon. Please don't get discouraged. If you are broke, buy envelopes at the dollar store until you save enough for a binder. Get a .25 cent folder and keep the one set of inserts you took from your mom's house and cut at the store. Do what you can on your budget. The best advice I can ever give, is save your receipts. Save them for the first month and add them all up at the end of that first month, see how you did. By then you should have at least saved something. Be proud of whatever that number is and keep learning. Tuck them away and go back six months later and add it all up. If you stick with it, that number will blow you away.

You will also make some mistakes. I thought the first month that 2$ was an awesome price for cereal and stocked up. It was an awesome price for me at the time, now not so much. Don't begrudge yourself for spending more then than you do now. If you miss a deal, forget a coupon, mess up a deal, don't sweat it. Most deals won't make or break you. I have been couponing for four years, and I totally messed up a deal the other day. Twice. I had to redo it. Twice. I'm human, you're human. As long as you are saving and trying then its working!

For some people that live in states like I do, getting that huge 97% savings on your average grocery trip will just not happen. I can't get coupons for every single thing that I want, my go to grocery store doesn't have a savings card, or double coupons. Some things I just have to pay for. Stores that double coupons and have crazy rewards are great for couponers... but they aren't great for everyone else. A store that doesn't double often has cheaper prices on every item all the time. The stuff you have to pay full price for is cheaper but you don't get the huge savings. I will tell you a secret, those grocery stores just mark their stuff up and then give you a huge savings to make you feel like its cheaper. Its a gimmick, most grocery stores have similar profit margins and since they buy all their stuff from the same people that just means they are selling it at the same prices. If I can save 30% at my go to store, thats really great and I will get things much cheaper than buying them all at the gimmick store. The trick is to buy the cheap or free stuff from the gimmick store and buy everything else at the everyday cheap store!!! Doing that is more work, but I assure you that means more savings.

Week 1, Lesson 3: Organizing the Coupons.

Once you have coupons from the newspaper, and coupons from the printer, you have a huge mess of coupons. It can be overwhelming. You need a system to organize and store your coupons! How you want to store them is up to you but I am going to share a few ways that have worked for people, and my own system. How you choose to organize them has to work for you, so there is no right way.

I will start with the newspaper coupons first and explain my methods. As I stated before I buy many papers each week. This past week I bought ten. I start by first pulling out the inserts. This is what my inserts looked like this past week. There were three of each kind in each paper.

I go through each paper and pull out each insert. I then sort them so all like coupons are stacked together. I choose to take one insert and lay out each page, then take the rest of the inserts and stack the pages on top of each other.

Once I have all the like coupons sorted, then I cut them. I now use a guillotine cutter, but I cut each set with scissors for years. With the cutter I can cut all ten inserts at once, with scissors you need to cut around 4-6 at once.

Once they are cut, I place them into two piles. One for food, one for non food. Once they are all cut, then I place them in my binder.

I use a binder. Not everyone does. Some people use a box and dividers. Some people use envelopes. I strongly advocate a binder. I will explain why just once and then let everyone decide for themselves. I have young children, I have to shop with these young children. If I spend too much time searching for a coupon, those darling children start acting out in stores. When those children act out, I lose focus, I get frustrated and I miss deals. So I prefer to do the most work I can, at home, on my couch, in my pjs :-). With a binder, I feel like I can organize and find coupons faster and easier.

My binder is now huge. I started small, with a 1in binder and no zipper. I moved up to a 2in with no zipper, then a 1.5in with zipper and now I have a whopping 3in. binder with built in files and it all zips and has a strap. I love my new binder but when I was just starting a 1 or 2in was just fine. If you are just trying this out, dont spend a ton of money on a cutter and a binder! I have been doing this for four years and have just now started buying these things. I am trying to SAVE you money, not have you spend money on things you don't need right now.

I use baseball card pages. They are more expensive, they are smaller and sometimes require folding the coupons into little origami squares. I just find that it is so much easier to see what I have with the baseball card pages. I divide the pages into categories that make sense for the stores that I shop. I have categories like breakfast, canned goods, frozen, soap, laundry, dishes, paper etc. Pick dividers that work for you, your binder or box or envelope has to only work for you and your family, so do it however you want! I am posting pictures of my binder, my coupon pages and some of my organization so if you would like to use that system you can.

I have heard of some people just sorting their coupons and printing a list of what they have and cutting at the store. I think that method would work for people who work full time and don't shop with kids. If anyone is interested in that method, let me know. I will get links to people who use it for you. The box system is similar to what I do, but most of the time they staple like coupons after they cut them, and use dividers in the box. It would be faster at home, less time putting coupons into individual slots, but it would take a little bit more time to sort through each category at the store. If you a klutz like me, get a locking box with a lid!

 My binder, all zipped up and ready to go.

 I use a zip up pouch in the front to store coupons I am using, and also to store my store rewards. I use a simple page protector behind that to store receipts that I need to save. Those same simple page protectors can be used to hold printable coupons for each category.

 Baseball card inserts are great to hold each set of coupon. It is easy to see what you have!

For coupons that aren't worth cutting, printable or coupons to specific places, a page protector works great. If you don't use a zipper, just be careful not to dump them.

Now you know what a coupon is, where to get them and how to keep them organized! Keeping them organized and getting them is essential to being a good couponer.

Week 1, Lesson 2: Where do I get coupons?

Now that everyone knows what a coupon is, and how to read them, you need to know how to find them. The good news is there are tons of ways to get coupons, the bad news is... there are tons of ways to get coupons! I will cover the most common ways to get coupons here, I wish I could cover them all but that would take weeks.

First and foremost the best place to get a variety of coupons is your local Sunday newspaper. This past Sunday my paper said on the front page over $735 worth of valuable coupons inside! I didn't actually add them all up, but assuming they are being honest that's a lot of money that could be saved. Granted not every coupon will apply to you, but even if just one percent of the coupons are on something you would buy, you will save 7$. My local paper only costs 2$ so there is a good chance I am going to save more than I spend. People you see featured on coupon shows sometimes have hundreds of inserts, they either dive in recycle bins for them, buy hundreds of dollars in papers a week, have a network of people give them to them, or have other resources. I applaud them for that. I don't have a large network, I can't spend hundreds on papers each week, and I have no desire to hang out in a recycle bin at this point so I buy what I feel I need and what I can afford. I have a large family for today's standards, so I buy from 4-10 papers a week. Most weeks I am in the 4-6 range. Some weeks I wish I would have bought more, but most times 4-6 works well for me. If you are single, or married with no kids, you can probably buy less papers. If you are a Dugger, you will need a few dozen coupons. I advise to start low, buy one or two a week. Then in a month or two see if you want to buy more. Some of the early stores I am going to teach limit deals to 1 or 2 per family so there are still a lot of deals that can be done with just a paper a week.

There are also printable coupons. I need to cover a few things about printables before we talk about where to get them. First rule of printables. NO PHOTOCOPYING COUPONS. Yes, I needed to yell that. Every rookie couponer gets the brilliant idea to photocopy coupons, especially the printable ones. It is very logical, who would ever know?? We live in a day of really crazy technology and the manufacturers are ahead of you. I promise, they know. Each printable coupon not only has a barcode, it also has a serial number. Those serial numbers can be traced to the IP address they were printed from. If you print a high value coupon and make 150 copies and pass them all, the police might show up. I am not kidding. Copying coupons is fraud and is illegal and you can be prosecuted. Each computer can only print two coupons in most cases. I know that limit sucks. I get it. I have one computer. I encourage you to use what you have, borrow other computers, or trade with friends, but don't photocopy! You will have to download software to print from these coupon sites. It does put some sort of tracking system in your computer. I wish there was a way to not have them track you, but because of the large amount of printable coupon fraud this is the way it is done.

Now that you know what not to do with printable coupons, you need to know where to get them. There are several sites to use. I personally use Swagbucks to print most coupons because I earn points for coupons I redeem. Those points can be used to earn free gift cards. If you are a Swagbucks user, you can print coupons from the discover tab. If you aren't a Swagbucks user you can Sign Up Here!
 You can also print from coupons.com, Redplum, and many manufactures use their own sites, and facebook to print coupons from as well.

Again you can print 2 of the same coupon per computer. If you have 4 computers you can print each set of coupons 4 times. Sometimes, often at the start of a month, coupons reset and you can print two more of each. Coupons.com will allow apple users to print from their mobile app if you have a certain type of printer but android users can not at this time. As an android user myself I understand that this is not cool and total technological segregation.

About 75% of coupons will come from those two sources, but some will be found in the store itself. Coupons can be placed on items, usually stuck to the item itself, you peel it off so they are often called peelies. Those coupons will say what you need to purchase to use and if you can use it on that item that day. On some peelies it will say 1$ off two. If you buy two, and both have peelies you can only use one that day, but you can keep the other for another shopping trip.

You can also find pads of coupons in stores called tear pads. Those tear pads usually look like a notepad of paper but are just stacks of coupons. I found a tear pad on chips the other day. Don't hesitate to take and use those that day on items. But please remember to only take what you will use, tear pads often go quickly and no one wants to be left out!

That should give you a good idea of where to get coupons. Next we will focus on how to organize them so you can actually use them!

Week 1, Lesson 1. What is a coupon?

What exactly is a coupon? Yes, I know it sounds basic, but I really want to start at the very beginning so there is no confusion later. Coupons are simply just pieces of paper that are like currency. For extreme couponers, or even the most beginning couponer, it's just like cash. If you have any doubt about that, drop a few in front of us and watch us scramble to collect them! I have been known to chase down coupons that blew away in parking lots. Each coupon has very specific items on it that everyone needs to know to be effective couponers.

First and foremost there are several different types of coupons. The vast majority of coupons are issued by a manufacturer. You can tell those because at the top, they will say manufacturer coupon. It sounds simple but even the most seasoned hardcore couponer occasionally misreads a coupon. Some stores also issue their own store coupons. Usually those coupons will have a store logo, or say redeemable only at _________. If in doubt, you can read the bottom print. Manufacturer coupons always contain an address of the manufacturer on it.

Coupons do not last forever. They are usually good for a week to a few months. Coupons issued today almost always contain an expiration date. This is usually printed right at the top next to the type of coupon. Sometimes it can be near the fine print at the bottom. I wish there was some uniformity to this, but sadly there is not. Once coupons are expired, they are not able to be used, with one exception. The only place that will take expired coupons is American Commissaries overseas. They will take expired coupons up to six months past their expiration date. Sometimes an expired coupon will go through a register, but it is a good practice to never intentionally pass an expired coupon.

The manufacturer decides what items are accepted on the coupon. Some manufacturers put only certain sizes, flavors, scents, etc on their coupons. Coupons can be very detailed, but they can also be very vague. It is best to always read the description of what the coupon is for. Never rely solely on the picture. Some coupons are good for dozens of products, but only one is pictured, often the most expensive item. Rarely you can even get a coupon where the picture isn't even something you can buy with it. It doesn't happen often but it can. Buying an item the coupon forbids can get you in trouble, so always read and stick to the coupon descriptions.

Manufacturers have also started limiting coupons. Some of the most confusing terminology is "One coupon per purchase" This phrase has costed couponers, cashiers, and managers endless headaches. One coupon per purchase should be changed to 'one coupon per item purchased' to make it more clear. If you buy 7 bottles of shampoo, you can use 7 coupons. Unless the coupon has a transaction or daily limit. Proctor and Gamble coupons often have limits on them that limit how many you can use in a transaction or per day. If it says "Four like coupons per transaction" then you can do multiple transactions and use four coupons each time. If it says "Limit 4 per day" then you can only use four that day at that store. It's a very small difference, but the difference is being a legal couponer and a couponer talking to police about coupon fraud. Honest mistakes are just that, mistakes, but doing it on purpose is a crime.

All modern coupons have a barcode, or four. I am not kidding, some coupons have several barcodes. In order to use a coupon at a store, it must have a barcode or all the barcodes. If you cut off the barcode, its like lighting a dollar bill on fire. Coupons without barcodes can not be scanned and can not be redeemed. Unless you have a box of old coupons that were made before barcodes, you need that barcode. And yes, I have old coupons without a barcode!

There are several places to get coupons. The most common place is still your Sunday newspaper. The paper has hundreds, sometimes thousands of dollars in coupons each week. And the coupons are on a schedule so not all the same coupons come each week. Once a month Proctor and Gamble have an insert with just their products. Smartsource and Redplum also have coupons in nearly every paper. Some weeks there is one insert, or pack of coupons, in it. Some weeks there are five inserts, I have seen up to seven inserts in one week. In addition to newspaper coupons, there are printable coupons that you can print at home from your computer. Coupons can also be found on tear pads at stores, on products, in special books on displays, from registers, or some even come in the mail. Coupons can be found nearly everywhere, I will talk about all the other ways to get coupons in future lessons. 


Here is an actual P&G coupon from this month so everyone can see the elements.