COUPON 101
Couponing – The act of clipping and/or storing coupons in order to save money.
Under this menu item you will see pages full of information about the basics of learning to get coupons, organizing them, and other valuable resources. As always, Heather is here to help you. Should you have any questions, please feel free to contact use at HeatherHints@gmail.com.
Check out our YouTube Channel for our different video series including one on Couponing 101! Here is the very first video in that series:
Hello Heather,
My brother is Mark Hogan. He has been sharing your Heather’s Hints with me for several weeks when he sees you post them on Facebook. I also teach with your sister, Cyndi at Barkley Bridge. I teach 5th grade. Anyhoo, I’ve been serioulsy couponing since October of 2010. My brother has been laid off from work nearly a year. His unemployment doesn’t cover enough for him to pay bills and for food. So, I got serious about saving money on food to help me help him. I’m not as good as you, but I’ve done well. My favorite stores are: Krogers, Walgreens, and CVS.
Questions: Some items I enjoy eating hardly ever have a coupon in the inserts on Sunday. What can I do to find them? I do use Southernsavers.com, but I have trouble sometimes downloading coupons from this site.
I would also like to stack coupons more, but its hard for me to find store coupons for Krogers. Do I need to sign up somewhere at Kroger’s website? I do the digital coupons from Krogers. Does that count for store coupons?
Any advice will be greatly appreciated.
Thank you,
Susan Hogan
Hello Susan!
I remember you and Mark. Cindy speaks very highly of you. I would be happy to help. Let’s go questions by question.
1. There are lots of ways to get coupons. With the sales cycle most manufacturers release coupons for there products every 12-24 weeks. I have also noticed they will release coupons when they are about to change packaging or product lines. Anyhow, not all companies “need” to release coupons because they have such a loyal fan base. For example, I can never find good coupons for Dt. Coke, they ones they do release are in association with purchasing another item, like the Kroger one lately were you had to by chicken wings from the deli and a coke to get the coupon. So I try to supplement my Dt. Coke habit by getting deep savings on other items like, canned and dry goods. However they good news is that with the coupon craze of late, you can find tons of coupons at a lot of places. You can go to the “Savings Center” page of this site and print coupons directly from coupons.com. You can also go to the “Where Do Coupons Come From?” page under the “Couponing” menu of this page to see where I get all my coupons from. The key is patience, hold the coupons until you can get the best price by matching a sale item with a coupon. This is hard if you really need the item, that is why I stockpile about 3 months worth when I find a good coupon deal. But sometimes you just can’t and that is when a coupon can help with a full price item and that is OK too.
2. Unfortunately, in Hartselle all you have are Kroger and Wal-mart and neither one of those stores allow stacking. Kroger just changed their policy on that a few weeks back. But if you are ever in Decatur, go to Publix. They always have store coupons, they always allow stacking, and when you can stack on one of their weekly BOGO items you can get stuff for dirt cheap or free. The key to shopping at Kroger is to use their sales and coupons whenever possible. The key to Wal-mart is knowing your weekly sale circulars and making them price match and then use a coupon on top of that price match. Wal-mart also has a new policy where they will pay you an overage on an item that is less than the coupon. For example, if toothpaste is on sale at Wal-mart for .75 cents and I have a dollar off coupon, they have to pay my .25 cents to take it.
3. Just because Kroger doesn’t allow stacking anymore doesn’t mean you can’t get a good deal there. Be sure to log on to their website, where you get the e-coupons, and go to your account page and give them your address to make sure you are getting all the mailers. The mailers always have tons of store and manufacturer coupons. The digital coupons are not store coupons they are manufacturer coupons. You can no longer stack an e-coupon and a paper coupon either.
Hope this information helps. Be sure to subscribe to the site and get all the money saving tips you can. I would also be happy to come to Hartselle and give a free coupon party to give more tips and answer questions in person, just need a hostess
Blessings!
Heather