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From the category archives:
I received an email from a reader this week that asked how to go about organizing coupons. So, instead of taking pictures and typing up a post (which can take a long time), I decided to just do a video.
Keep in mind that this video does not include all methods of organizing coupons. I included the four most popular methods. Also keep in mind, that I am no film star. 
If you have any questions, feel free to post them in the comments section below or shoot me an email.
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Yes! As of today it is official and in writing.
Today on the DECA Facebook page, it was posted that the Commissary DOES accept Walgreen’s Register Rewards. This makes me very happy! I would definitely print this out and take it to the store with you when you shop just in case.
From the page:
DeCA does not participate in Walgreens Register Rewards per se; however, we do accept the manufacturer coupons that print out on the registers at Walgreens and other retailers, provided the verbiage does not limit redemption only to the retailer advertised on the coupon. For example, if the manufacturer coupon states “Redeemable at” or “Redeem at,” we can accept it; if it states “Redeemable ONLY at” or “Redeem ONLY at,” we cannot.
While these coupons may reference Walgreens Register Rewards or have a Walgreens or another retailer’s logo printed on them, we are accepting these as a manufacturer’s coupon.
All commissaries were provided clarification on these types of coupons. If you experience any issues with redeeming them at your commissary, ask to see the manager on duty while you’re in the commissary or fill out a customer comment form at http://www.commissaries.com/YAL/customer_comments.cfm and let us know.
Thanks, katey.jones @ WUC
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Many times when I post deals, I post the pre-tax totals for the final cost of an item. I thought it would be a good reminder for those of you that are new to couponing to know that when you are putting together your shopping trip, you should be sure to add tax to the totals.
When I first started couponing, I didn’t realize this and my totals were always more than I had planned. This can be really flustering when you are standing at the cash register and you can’t figure it out. This is especially true when you are making a large stockpile purchase and the tax can add up to quite a bit.
So, in short, always remember to add tax to your pre-coupon amount!
Different states/cities have different tax laws and percentages. For example, I am originally from KY and there is not sales tax on groceries. I now live in KS and this is not the case (though I sure wish it was!).
You can find the tax laws and percentages for your state here:
Alabama-Iowa Kansas-New Mexico
New York-Wyoming
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For the most part, general coupon etiquette dictates that it is rude to clear a shelf of all of a product — especially while it is on sale. I must say — I really dislike walking into a store the day after a sale starts to find that the sale item is completely out of stock. So, in return I do not do this to other people. Instead, I place special orders with the store.
If I know there is going to be a great sale on a product (especially when I order coupons), I speak to the manager on duty and I place an order for that product. I did this the other day when I made my extremely large purchase at Dillons.
You can do this too! I would recommend speaking to a manager in the store. Have your list ready. Be prepared. Always, always, always (I can’t stress this enough) buy the items that your order. Do not leave the store stuck with the extra inventory. Not only does this put them in a bind but it also creates a situation where the store may be less willing to order in the future.
Here is how the conversation goes when I place a special order:
Me (walking up to CS): “Hi. How can I go about placing a special order for large quantities of a particular item (or items)?”
CS (will probably have a strange look on his/her face): “Um. Hold on let me check on that for you. ”
Me: “Thank you.”
waiting, waiting, waiting.
Manager: “Hi. Can I help you?”
Me: “Hi. There are a few things that I want to purchase in large quantities but I really didn’t want to clear your shelves. Is there any way I can place a special order?”
Manager: “Sure. What is it you were looking for?”
*The only store I know of that will not let you place a special order is the PX/BX.Me: “Here is my list” (with exact numbers). “Can you tell me when the order will be in if it is placed today? I really want to take advantage of the sale price that is going on this week.
*If I am ordering in very large quantities, I usually explain that I am going to be donating all or part of the order to a charity (or charities)”The manager will tell you when the products will be in.
Me:”Thank you so much. I really appreciate it.”
It really is that easy.
Do you have any questions or comments about this post? About saving money, in general? Feel free to leave a comment below or send me a message.
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First, let me say that whether or not buying coupons is “ethical” is a highly debated topic in the couponing community. This post is designed to be an informative post for those of you that do not see a problem in doing so. If you do have a problem with buying coupons, I would suggest not reading the following post.
I will oftentimes post pictures of large “stockpile” deals I have purchased at extremely low prices. When I post these deals the number one question I get is: “How do you get so many of one particular coupon? Do you really buy that many newspapers on Sunday?”
My answer: “No way!”
When I know that a deal is coming on an item that I plan to stockpile or buy large quantities of in order to donate, I buy coupons for these items. Many times, I can get (20) coupons for around $1-$2 plus $.99 shipping.
There are many different “coupon clipping” sites on the internet. My favorite site, however, happens to be eBay. Buying coupons on eBay is really easy if you know a few little “tricks”.
Step-by-Step eBay Coupon Buying Guide
Go to eBay.
Search for the coupon you are looking for.
*I often search for coupons the same way I type them up for a deal: “$1/1 Tide coupon”, “$1/2 Kellogg’s Cereal coupon”, etc.
Once your search results appear, you have a choice to “Buy it Now” or bid on an auction.You do this by clicking the “buy it now” button just above your search results.
*Unless you know of a deal in advance, I would recommend buying via the “buy it now” method. In doing so, you will get your coupons sooner because you don’t have to wait for the auction to end. In my experience, the auction price usually comes pretty close to the BIN price anyway.
Sort by price, lowest to highest.
If you are in a hurry for your coupons (aren’t we all?), you can refine your search to only include results within ‘X’ miles from where you live. Usually, the closer the item is, the faster it will arrive.
On the left side of the screen, under the “refine search” options, toward the bottom, it says “distance”. Insert your zip code and the number of miles you are looking for. I generally start at 150 and work my way up until I find the results I want.
When you click on an items description, you can find the location of the item on the top, right side of the screen by the seller’s feedback.
Look for the first result that is actually the item you are looking for.
*When I searched for Tide, I also get results for Tide Stain Release which is not the product I am looking for.
Now that you know how to find the coupons you are actually looking for and you know how far away it is, it is time to work out the details. Below is a handy “cheat sheet” of things to look for when getting your coupons and a way to save money by combining shipping.
ALWAYS look at a seller’s feedback! If a seller doesn’t have good feedback, I would not recommend buying from him/her. I would say (speaking strictly for coupons) that a good feedback is anything over 99.5% positive. Considering the high number of transactions coupon sellers process, they would have to have a lot of negative feedback to bring their score down lower than that.
ALWAYS check the expiration date on the coupons you are ordering. People DO sell expired coupons because many stores will accept expired coupons (up to 6 months past the expiration date!). If you order expired coupons, this is not the fault of the seller.
ALWAYS check for size restrictions on the coupons you are ordering. Many times manufacturer’s will put out multiple coupons for the same item. These coupons will often have differing size restrictions.
Example: Just a few days ago, I ordered coupons for M&Ms hoping to get them FREE. When I got to the store and started checking out (buying 20) at the self-checkout, I realized that my coupons were for the wrong size.
ALWAYS read the description of the coupons you are buying.
Check to see how quickly the seller ships the coupons. I never buy from a seller unless they indicate that items are shipping within 24 hours of payment being made. I have seen them say that they ship up to 3 days out. In my opinion, this generally cuts it too close to the end date of a sale.
Does the seller offer combined shipping? A large portion of people selling coupons on eBay are professional coupon clipping services. These sellers generally sell 100s of sets of the same coupon at the same time.When they do this, they will often offer a discount on shipping when buying more than one set of coupons.
Example: I bought (60) Gillette BW coupons from the same seller. In order to do this, I had to buy them in (3) sets of (20). This particular seller charged $.99 shipping for the first set and $.25 shipping for each additional set. I frequently see sellers that will charge $.99 for the first set and $0 for subsequent sets (up to 3 per envelope).
When you buy multiple sets of coupons and want to combine shipping, DO NOT pay right away. Generally when you read the description for the coupons you are purchasing, if the seller combines shipping, it will be notated there. Most of the time, it also says to WAIT to pay until you receive an invoice. This allows the seller to combine the shipping costs for you. You can even request an invoice.
How do you know if a seller is selling multiple sets of the same coupon so you can take advantage of combined shipping? When the search results come up, look for multiple listings with the same image. This almost always indicates a seller that is selling multiple sets of the same coupon.
You will have to click to buy each item individually. The easiest way to do this is to copy the title (highlight and CTRL+C). Most sellers have their own format for posting titles. After you agree to buy the first set (remember – don’t pay for them yet). Go back to eBay and search for the same item buy pasting your copied text into the search box (CTRL+V). Look for the same seller and buy another set.
If you have questions or comments about this top, feel free to leave a comment below or contact me.
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When I first started couponing, this was my biggest surprise! I couldn’t believe I could just walk out of a store with two FREE items with only one coupon. It just seemed too easy!
If you combine a BOGO coupon with a BOGO sale, both items are FREE! This is not the case with a BOGO 50% off sale, only a BOGO FREE sale.
When you use a coupon, the coupon automatically “attaches” to the product in the register system (POS). This is why you cannot use two manufacturer coupons on one product — the register recognizes it and will reject the second coupon. If you use a BOGO coupon, it will attach to one product since it is only one coupon.
The Breakdown (this is not a real scenario):
Snickers Candy Bars are on sale for BOGO FREE and you have a BOGO FREE coupon.
Buy (2) Snickers Candy Bars – $.99 BOGO ($1.98)
-The register will automatically deduct the cost of one candy bar ($.99 off)
-Use (1) BOGO Snickers Candy Bar Coupon ($.99 off)
**This coupon will attach to one candy bar deducting the cost of one candy bar.**
…(2) FREE candy bars after coupons
You will notice that if you add up the amount off, it is equal to the amount of the total in the top line of the scenario.
There are times when certain stores may give you a difficult time when doing this. Honestly, I have never run into a situation when I was told I couldn’t use a BOGO coupon on a BOGO sale but I have heard of others having problems. Unfortunately many coupon policies do not directly address this scenario. ALWAYS REMEMBER to be your own advocate! If you run into a situation like this, it is most likely because the cashier (or manager) do not know how coupons work.
I would at least take the time to (nicely) explain that they store is not losing any more money buy allowing you to get two free items. In fact, they are making an $.08 profit on the coupon you are trying to use. You may even consider printing this page (minus this part) if it helps you to explain how the situation works to the cashier or manager.
Do you have a question pertaining to saving money and/or couponing? If so, shoot me an email or leave a comment and I will be sure to answer it to the best of my ability.
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This is more of a comment than a question but I often hear people say that they see all of the deals posted but don’t know how to actually get organized enough to do them.
I must admit that this is partly my fault. I am in the process of trying to find a way to give a weekly update on what deals are at what stores all in one post. Many times after the coupons are released on Sunday, deals start to roll in one at a time so that is often how I post them –> so you guys don’t miss out on anything as they come in.
One of the things I recommend doing is keeping a little notepad and pen on your desk/near your computer. Right down the week on the top of the page. Also write down the names of the stores you visit leaving space below each to write down the deals as they come in.This way when you are ready to go to the store, you can plan your “attack” without having to search the site over and over to find that deal that you know you saw earlier in the week…
If you want to be really organized you can actually label envelopes and put a piece of paper in each with your list on it — adding to it as the deals come in. If you have an envelope, you can go ahead and transfer the required coupons to the envelope right then instead of trying to hunt them down while at the store. If you do this, I would recommend putting a rubber band or a paper clip around/on the envelopes to keep them together. If your house is anything like mine, my girls would have the envelopes spread from one side of the house to the other.
You could also print the deals as you see them. I have hired someone to build the site (from scratch) but it will not be completed for at least another month. When this is done, I will have a button you can click after each post to allow you to print a “printer friendly” version of the posts as you want them. At the bottom of each post is a “printer friendly” button. I would recommend clicking the button in the top right corner so that the image does not also print along with the deal.
This is my favorite way of staying organized but I don’t do it a lot because it uses a lot of ink. However, there are times when I am in a hurry that I do this and it is really nice.
Do you have any questions about couponing or saving money that you would like answered? Feel free to leave a comment or a post on The Deal Detector’s Facebook page. I will try to get back to you ASAP.
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This week alone, I have been asked this question half a dozen times. I remember the first time I took my coupons to the store (nervous like crazy) and handed the cashier two different coupons for one item knowing that I read somewhere you can stack coupons as long as they aren’t the same coupon. When the cashier told me I couldn’t use both of them I was a little let down (and embarrassed).
So, here’s how it works:
You can stack coupons as long as both coupons do not have “manufacturer coupon” written across the top.
Scenario –> Let’s say Huggies are on sale for $8.99 and I have a $3/1 Huggies coupon and a $1.50/1 Huggies coupon. They both have “manufacturer’s coupon” written across the coupon. Even though they are different coupons, you cannot use both coupons on this product purchase.
The only time you can use more than one coupon on a single item is when one coupon is a “store coupon” and one is a “manufacturer’s coupon”. You will know a coupon is a store coupon when it doesn’t say “manufacturer’s coupon” across the top. Usually they will say the store’s name, such as “Target coupon” or “Walgreen’s coupon”.
You cannot go by the picture on the coupon. Sometimes coupons will print with a store logo on them but are still considered manufacturer’s coupons. If the words “manufacturer’s coupon” are written across a coupon, you cannot stack it with another “manufacturer’s coupon.”
If you have more questions, check out the ongoing Couponing 101 Series.
Are there any questions you have? Something that confuses you? I would love to provide the answer. Feel free to leave a comment here or on The Deal Detector’s Facebook page.
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