Basics of Couponing - Part 3

Know the policies of your local stores...

I would have to say that this is the biggest area I never understood about couponing in the past.  It is also probably the biggest way to make coupons work for you.

Every store has different policies when it comes to coupons.

• Does your store double coupons?
• If so, what is their policy on that.  For the Elkhart, Goshen and South Bend area in Indiana, Meijer and Kroger will double any coupons up to $.50.  They will not, however, double more than two like coupons in one transaction.  This means that a $.50 off coupon will double to $1.00 off.
• Does your store offer store coupons?
•  Many stores have printable coupons on their websites that you can print off and use.  Meijer and Target both offer lots of coupons on their websites.
• Does your store allow you to "stack" coupons?
• "Stacking" coupons is when you are able to use both a store coupon and a manufacturer coupon on the same item.  Meijer, Target, CVS and Walgreens allow "stacking" of coupons.

 Here are a couple examples of what I am talking about....

Peter Pan
* On sale for $.99 at Meijer
I had 6 manufacturer coupons for $.50 off 1
Meijer will double these - 2 per transaction - to $1.00 off
This peanut butter was FREE!!!
This was a great buy since my kids love PBJ sandwiches!




Quaker Oats - Old Fashioned Oats
* On sale for $2.29 at Meijer
I had 10 manufacturer coupons for $1 off
I also had 5 Meijer Mealbox coupons for $1 off 2
I "stacked" these coupons and was able to purchase 10 of these for a total of $7.90.  That's only $.79 each!
I love making homemade granola and I was waiting for a deal like this.




Hopefully, these examples make sense.  Can you see how knowing store policies and taking advantage of them can significantly increase your savings?  I will go into store policies a little bit more tomorrow.

How would your grocery budget change if you could get deals like this every week?

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