Couponing 101: Part 3

Welcome to Part 3 of my Couponing 101 series.  If you are just joining us, you can go back and read Part 1 and Part 2 to get started.  Today I am going to show you how to match up your coupons with your grocery store's sales ad.

Last week I introduced you to a few coupon sites, one of which is called Frugal Coupon Living.  This is one of my favorite sites because it lists the sales from the grocery store I shop at, which is Publix.  Now I know that many of you may not have a Publix near you, but you can use this same method for any grocery store.  As a matter of fact, Frugal Coupon Living also lists Kroger, Harris Teeter, Harveys, and a few others.

If you didn't get a chance last week, get yourself acquainted with her Publix post this week.  This post lists the deals from Feb 2nd or 3rd to Feb 8th or 9th.  She lists all the guidelines right at the top of the post for Publix.  Here they are for you (these are important to know)!!

1. Publix Takes Competitors Coupons. 

2. On B1G1, use TWO coupons because you are getting TWO items.

3. You do not have to buy 2 of the B1G1 items to get the sale price (In many FL locations you do have to buy both items. Check with your local store, though).

4. Always combine store and mfr coupons when you can.

5. Many Publix locations double manufacturer coupons that are $.50 or less (Tallahassee and most FL locations do not!)  Mine does not.  :o(

6. Some Publix sales start Wednesday to Tuesday, others are Thursday to Wednesday.

I am going to give you an example of one of the sale items from her site and explain what it means.

B1G1 Breakstone’s Sour Cream – 16 oz $2.25
$.55 printable (IE) printable (FF)
= $.58 each

Since the sour cream is on sale for Buy 1 Get 1 FREE (B1G1), you can use TWO coupons because you are buying TWO items.  Publix always has B1G1 sales, so you can really save big if you collect those coupons!!  The sour cream is $2.25 for 2 or $1.12 for 1.  Use TWO $.55 printable coupons, which she gives you the links to (IE means Internet Explorer and FF means FireFox).  Once you print one coupon you can usually hit the back button to print another.  You will save $1.10 on both sour creams, making them just $.58 each!  YAY!

Here's another example:

B1G1 Krusteaz Muffin or Cake Mix, or Supreme Bar Mix – 16.5 to 21 oz or Sun-Maid Muffin or Cookie Mix – 18 to 18.25 oz $2.59
$.50 SS 12/5
$1 SS 12/5
= $.25 – $.80

Ok, so the mixes are B1G1 for $2.59.  You now know you can use TWO coupons since you are buying TWO items.  If you have been saving those inserts and filing them away in date order (see Part 1) you will still have the inserts from December.  If you have purchased more than one copy of the Sunday newspaper, you will have two sets of copies.  Go to your SmartSource (SS) insert dated 12/5.  If you can pull TWO $1 coupons, you will be able to save $2 on these mixes, making them only $.30 each!  WOW!!  That is a great deal!!

One last example:

Pedigree Complete Nutrition Dog Food – 30 to 32 lb $16.99

$2 RP 1/23
$2 Publix printable
= $12.99

In this example you can combine the store coupon (sc) and manufacturer coupon (mfr), giving you $4 off the product.  You will find the mfr coupon in the Red Plum (RP) coupon insert on 1/23 and the store coupon you can print from the link. 

You can see that couponing may take some time to learn, but the benefits will be huge!  In the first two examples, I saved $3.10 and spent only $1.76!!  That's a 64% savings!!

What is also nice about the lists on Frugal Coupon Living, is that they are all printable.  You can check which items you want to buy and print your list off.  Very convenient!

So keep saving those coupon inserts and I'll continue with Couponing 101: Part 4 next week!