Coupon Adventure

                                                 (freebies after sale and coupons)

Because I am busy with school, work and being a wife 24/7, I may not always have the time to study a grocery ad. So I rely on other moms, who offer free services of doing that for me. On Tuesday evening, southernsavers.com posts a detailed list of items that will be on sale along with coupons that match the sales item. Now, southernsavers mostly covers grocery stores in the South. But there are many blogs that cover grocery stores in other regions of the US. Next to the sales item, southernsavers matches a coupon that you can use to help you reduce your out of pocket expense. If you see a link, that means that you can print the coupon. If you see funny wording like SS, RP or PG and a date next to it that means that the coupon came from a Sunday paper. This is why it is important to write down the date on your cert if you are not planning to clip every single one of the coupons out.

SS – Smart Source
RP – Red Plum
PG – Proctor and Gamble (comes out about one a month)

So if you see SS 8/1 that means that the coupon can be found in Smart Source that came out in the newspaper on August 1st. Please note that coupons vary by region, so some coupons that she posts your coupon cert may not have received. Try to buy the largest published newspaper in your area, because it will have more coupons in it.

Let’s say, now we want to go grocery shopping at Bi-Lo this week. Familiarize yourself with store coupon policy (southernsavers posts at the beginning of the coupon matching list). Bi-Lo double coupons up to $0.60, which means that your $0.60 off coupon now becomes $1.20 off. Also, when Bi-Lo ad states B1G1 (buy one get one free), the item will be selling at half price, thus you do not have to buy two items in order to get a discount. For example, if apple juice is on sale for $5 B1G1, that means that you can buy one bottle of apple juice for $2.50. Now if you have a coupon for $1 off, your total out of pocket cost would be $1.50 and you will save $3.50. If you have a coupon that states B1G1 apple juice and you have a coupon for B1G1, you can acquire apple juice for free. You do however have to buy two items if you have B1G1 coupon. When you scan your loyalty card (the card that says you are a Bi-Lo customer and entitle to store savings), both of the bottle of apple juice will ring up as $2.50. So when you present B1G1 coupon, the cashier will only take off $2.50. Now if you want the cashier to take off $5 dollars (the manufacture will reimburse the store), you need to scan all your items first and only after you scanned all your items scan your loyalty card. The savings will then show at the bottom of the receipt, but the apple juice will now ring up as $5 dollars and not $2.50. So when the cashier goes to scan your B1G1 coupon, she will take off $5 (that will cover the cost of both bottle of apple juice) and not $2.50. I read about this trick on southernsavers and feel like it is a win-win situation for the store and a customer, since the store will be reimbursed full value. Now make sure you read the fine prints of the B1G1 coupon. Many times the manufacturer puts the value such as “do not exceed $3.50", which mean that the store can only take off $3.50.

Before I go shopping, I log on to southernsavers and create a list of all the items that I want to purchase. I then match my coupons and head on to the store. The whole process can take less than 30 minutes and the rewards are worth my time and effort.

Do you feel that the couponing is worth your time? Do you have a coupon trick?