How to Master Couponing
If your weekly grocery bill has you feeling the financial pinch of increasing costs, mastering the use of coupons might allow you to loosen your belt and stop pinching pennies. Using coupons properly involves much more than clipping them and handing them to a cashier. Creating a weekly coupon strategy helps you save the most money on groceries and other items you purchase regularly. Use the money you save as an emergency fund, or set it aside for home repairs, education expenses or a family vacation.
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Instructions
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Collect coupons from as many sources as possible. Buy several copies of the Sunday newspaper and set aside the coupon inserts for later use. Obtain more coupons by trading with friends, joining a coupon clipping service, attending coupon trading parties and registering for printable coupon websites.
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Learn the coupon policies in place at your favorite stores. Some stores limit the number of coupons accepted per item or per transaction. Other stores restrict the use of coupons for free items or coupons printed from the Internet. Learning the policy at each store helps you plan your coupon strategy and avoid frustration.
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Conduct weekly research to determine the best deals in your area. Match your coupons with these deals to get the best savings. If a store has a $5 item on sale for $3, using a $1 coupon increases your savings to $3.
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Stack your manufacturer coupons with store coupon promotions to increase your savings. If you use a $1 manufacturer coupon, you save $1. If you combine the manufacturer coupon with a $2 store coupon, you save $3.
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Sign up for store rewards cards to take advantage of register rewards promotions. Register rewards give you a specific dollar amount off of your next purchase. These rewards print from the cash register at the conclusion of your transaction, so set them aside for use on your next shopping trip.
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Redeem high-value coupons on sale items to get free merchandise. If an item typically costs $4, you still pay $1 for it if you use a $3 coupon. If you wait until the item goes on sale for $3, you pay nothing for the item once the cashier deducts the $3 coupon from your order.
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Tips & Warnings
Organize your coupons so the expiration date and coupon value always face outward. This allows you to quickly find coupons for the items in your shopping cart. It also reduces the risk of forgetting to use a coupon before it expires.
Use caution when using printable coupon websites. Some websites offer fake coupons that do not work when you get to the cash register. Use reputable websites such as Coupons, CouponMom, SmartSource or RedPlum. Store coupon policies may change from one visit to the next. Always check with a store manager or employee before shopping to ensure a policy change will not interfere with your coupon strategy.
References
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Comments
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still cant figure how you don't pay your hole item with a coupon don't make sense 100 off is a dollar off still pay the rest.
