New to Couponing? Check out Couponing 101

[hotcouponmama]

Modified from the Couponing 101 thread at Hotcouponworld.com.

If you're new to using coupons, then you've come to the right place. Using coupons can be challenging enough when you are using them for conventional products. Getting started on using them for organic purchases will be even more challenging as there are less stores and less coupons to use them at. But you've come to the right place! The mods and staff at Organic Grocery Deals are here to lend you a hand.

While some of the topics in this thread might not seem applicable yet to your grocery shopping habits yet, as we see more stores with organic products, and more manufacturers willing to try their hand at issuing coupons, the opportunity to save more money on healthy food choices will increase.

What stores do you have in your area?

Start by making a list of the stores you have in your area. If you're in a rural community, the only store you might have for organics could be Walmart. By organizing a list of stores, you'll be able to start tracking which stores have organic products. If you don't normally shop conventional stores now, it might be time to look again. Many conventional stores not only increasing their organic choices, they are now integrating them next to conventional foods on the shelves.

Take the time to either call or visit each store in your area. Find out what their coupon acceptance policies are. In my area, our organic/natural stores tend to have very flexible coupon policies. If you are shopping conventional for your organics, here's a few other money saving techniques that are important to consider which will stretch your dollar at the checkout counter.

• Double coupons: The stores will double the face value of the coupon, meaning that your coupon is worth twice the face value. The best kind of grocery stores double coupons up to $1.00 (commonly known as Super Doubles). Many other stores double coupons up to $.50 or $.60. Some stores also have a limit as to how many of the same coupon they will double. To my knowledge, you'll only see this marketing technique employed in conventional stores. If your stores do double, find out what the maximum value to which they will double or triple the coupon. This will save you from surprises at the checkout counter later.
  

• No doubles: Your coupons will be accepted at face value only.

• Triple coupons: The store will triple the value of your coupon up to a certain value. In this instance, a $.50 coupon would be worth $1.50! Again, this is likely to be a conventional store promotion only, and triples only are offered in certain parts of the country.

• If your stores offer in-store coupons, most times, this is an opportunity to "stack" a manufacturer's coupon with the store coupon for additional savings.
  

• If the store has a loyalty card, get one. Or two. This is often the only way that you will get the sale prices. National organic retailers have not embraced store loyalty cards, so this will be a conventional store offering.

• While it's unlikely that an organic retailer will take expired coupons, you might live in an area where your conventional stores accept them. If they do, and they have an organic section with brands that offer coupons, this could be a great way for you to save on items you buy regularly. Trading for expired organic/natural coupons and being able to use them after the date will help you obtain multiples you can use for sale and loss leader items.

• As the market place gets more competitive, be sure to ask if your stores accept competitor coupons. Competitor coupons can either be an in-store offer, or it might be a manufacturer's coupons or register coupon (catalina) with another store's logo. If your stores accept competitors coupons, also check to see if they will allow the in-store coupons to be stacked with a manufacturer's coupon for additional savings. Using competitor pharmacy coupons is a great way to get a gift card and use it for free/cheap food and household items!
  

• Printable coupons are ones you download and print from the internet on your home printer. You can print coupons right here at OGD by clicking on the "Coupon Resources" tab on the menu bar. Many stores do take these, although typically not for outrageously high face value or free values. Check to make sure your store accepts them before you plan on using them. While most of the printables you see in our links are for conventional items, more organic/natural manufacturers are adding them to their marketing plans.
  

Get the weekly ads for all of your stores!

If you want to get serious about saving on organics, you might need to start looking at alternate stores for your shopping trips. Variety stores like Target and Walmart offer organics, and even drug stores like Walgreens and Rite Aid are starting to carry these items too. Conventional stores are increasing shelf space and are very competitive, even on brands carried at your traditional organic/natural store. Be sure to read through all the store ads from your area on a weekly basis to watch for organic offerings, and then match them to coupons you have or coupons you can find in the Coupon Database. If you find coupons in the database you don't have, try the trading section and see if someone else has them to share.

If you need some help, check out the store forums where we'll have matched deals to available coupons by store. While we don't have all stores up across the country, we have people who have access to those stores who we know can help get your questions answered.

Couponing is a great opportunity to try new brands. By using a coupon, you've lessened the risk of trying something and having buyers remorse later if you didn't like the item. True couponers are not brand loyal, rather, they are price sensitive. If you have two choices of a product that are similar, it's a better choice to pick the brand you can save money on.



A few things of note for new shoppers:

If the sale is $10/10, it doesn't mean you have to buy all 10 to get the deal. Unless the ad specifically states you do, then the sale price for that item is really $1. But beware that a multiple sale like this isn't always the best deal. You still need to pay attention to things like pack size and price per serving/ounce.

Matching the right coupons to the right sale is critical. Clip all the coupons for things you might even remotely think you'd like to buy or try and hang onto them.

When you see that the item is on sale, you'll set your deal up as follows:
$2.00 for a tetra-box of soup minus a $1 off 1 coupon = $1 for the box. If you're buying it in a store that allows double coupons, you'll get an extra .50c savings, bringing your out of pocket cost for the soup to .50c. If the original price of the soup was $2.99 a box, at .50c a box after coupons, you should think about stocking up on multiple boxes, and then move onto the next sale item.


Where do I get all of these coupons?

The Sunday newspaper is starting to yield more coupons for organic/natural products, but they are still far away from being a reliable souce for coupons. TThere are three kinds of coupon inserts to look for: the SmartSource (SS), the Valassis (V), and once a month, the Procter & Gamble Brand Saver (P&G). There are no inserts on major holidays, so you might want to save your money on those days.

If there are good coupons you want to use in the paper, you'll need to work on obtaining multiple copies. You want to do this as inexpensively as possible.

• You probably already get a paper, either home delivered or at the news stand, so you have one set of inserts there. If you buy it at the store, make sure the coupons are actually in there before you pay for the paper!
• Some stores discount the price of the Sunday paper, or offer a special deal on two.
• Then you can ask everyone you know. Most people don’t use coupons, or if they do, they cut one or two and toss the rest. Get those. Ask your mother, your neighbors, your church friends, coworkers-- anyone that you can think of!
• If you live in or close to an apartment or condo complex, check out the recycling bins. You’d be surprised how many people just toss the whole center section! These are usually pretty clean, since recycling companies require you to separate newspaper from other recyclables.
• Make friends with your newspaper carrier, and he or she might be able to help you obtain additional inserts, or clue you in on where they recycle them after filling the Sunday paper.
  
• Ask at the local store on Sunday night or Monday morning. Many papers require that only the front page of unsold papers be returned for credit, or if they need the whole paper, they don’t want the inserts. It never hurts to ask!
• Look at hotels, nursing homes, Starbucks on a Sunday morning... anywhere that people sit to read the paper and leave the inserts.
• There are reputable coupon clipping services that will send coupons for a handling fee. Free from the sources above is always best, but sometimes you have to spend money to make money!
• Another source of coupons is online printable coupons. There are many links to these in our database. Most sites allow you to print two copies of each coupon. One caveat, however, is that many stores no longer accept them due to fraud. You will need to ask if your store accepts these.
• A preview of the coupons that will be appearing in the next weeks' inserts can be found at www.taylortownpreview.com.

What we're seeing right now is that the best organic coupons are coming from booklets like Mambo Sprouts, which you can find in Whole Foods, or from other topic-specific coupon books (Chinook Book on the West Coast). Some manufacturers are willing to send you the coupons directly if you write into them. You can also find coupons in-store, on products, while testers are demo'ing products, and by trading with others who have sources you may not have access to.

Once you have your coupons, you need to organize them!

• Some people keep the inserts intact and file them by date (SS 12/4, V 12/11, P&G 1/6, etc.) This system saves a great deal of time initially, but getting ready for shopping is more of a chore. You have to cut the coupons that you need at that time.
• Others clip all of the coupons from the beginning, and file them in various ways. The most popular is the "binder method": some form of 3 ring, zippable binder with baseball card and other inserts.
• Find the system that works best for you.
• Make sure that you go through your coupons and weed out your expired coupons at least once a month! This prevents the task from becoming overwhelming, and prevents embarrassment at the store if you try to use an expired coupon.

STOCKPILE!!!

While it might seem counter-productive to an organic shopper to be a consumer and buy 20 of something at once, stockpiling items when they are on sale is a critical part of saving money. With the seasonal nature of many organic items, you may consider changing your approach to how you shop. You'll get a better deal if you buy a dozen of something now that you know you'll use, rather than buying them one or two at a time for full price.

Stockpiling shouldn't break your bank. Know that things do come on sale again. Be sure you have the room to store the items. Pay attention to expiration dates. If you're just starting out with organics, and trying to transition into affording organics, you may consider stocking non-organic, non-perishable items for cheap or free (toothpaste, toilet paper, hygiene items, etc) and commit your extra dollars towards food purchases instead.

The real key to stockpiling is that you're buying at today's prices and intending to use the items tomorrow when the cost is much more expensive. The best way to do this is to think about what your family actually consumes in one month. If you know you go through two jars of peanut butter a month, you'll need 24 to get through one year. Peanut butter typically has a 12-18 month shelf life, so you're ok to get a year's worth at a time. If you come across a sale where the peanut butter is normally $3-5 a jar, and you can now get it for $1 a jar, buying all 24 up-front will save you between $48 to $96 dollars. If you can repeat this on 30 other items you buy for your household in a year, you've just put $1500 to $3000 of real money in your pocket.

OTHER TIPS AND TRICKS OF THE TRADE:

Ask for rainchecks!

Rainchecking - the Coupon Girls dictionary defines this as the sport of collecting rainchecks for future use on items you know you'll use later. Some key elements to rainchecks:

• Look for items that were advertised sales and the store is now out of. Even if it's one flavor of a frozen food, get the raincheck for later use. Look for holes in the store shelves - empty spaces where sale items are out.
• Rainchecks can best be had at the end of the sale. The last night of your store's sale is when they are apt to be out of an item if the sale was really good.
• Be sure to ask for high limits so you can get enough coupons to go with the raincheck. Think about what your family will use in a year, and try to get that as your limit on the raincheck.
• Once you have the raincheck, seek out coupons to match the sale item. If you have multiple coupons to go with the sale price, you'll bring your cost per item down even further.
• Watch for expiration dates on rainchecks. Few stores have unlimited RCs, while others have 60-90 day limits. Rainchecks are like a coupon for cash - be sure to use them before they expire.

Look for unadvertised sales!
One store may have too much of a certain item in stock, and will put it on sale. Others will have items on clearance. This is why you need to have all of your coupons with you as you shop!

Look for in-store coupons!
There are lots of coupons to be found in stores, if you know what to look for! They may be better coupons than the ones in you binder, or may be combined with the coupons that you have for even more savings!

Note: If you find a great coupon in the store and decide to take some for yourself, couponing etiquette says that it's polite to leave some for others!

• Peelies: these are the coupons that are stuck to the product. If you don't need the product now, you might later.
• Blinkies: those coupons in the SmartSource machines that may or may not have the little blinking light.
• Catalinas: these print from the machine next to the register, and are usually red, green or blue. People frequently leave them in their shopping carts-- grab them!
• Tearpads: usually these pads are on the shelf or display.
• Try Me Free or Rebate forms: these are a great way to try a new product and/or make money on a deal! Buy an item on sale, use the coupon, and send away for the rebate!
• Winetags: these are coupons that hang around the neck of wine bottles. They can require a wine purchase or not, depending on the state.
• Many of the store flyers will have coupons or they will print catalinas for an amount off your next order!

Be sure to pay close attention at the check-out counter that your coupons are being scanned correctly. If they don't, be sure to ask the cashier to look over the ticket again and make sure all coupons are applied properly.

Also, many stores have a "scan right guarantee": it scans correctly or it is free, or you get double the difference back. Make sure that you get the price that you were expecting!

Buy the smallest size possible!
Stores like Sam's Club and Costco may have you convinced that the bigger sizes are the better value. You're a couponer now, and you know better!

A large product may be much less expensive with coupons, but the smaller size may be free! This is part of the logic behind multiple coupons.

Don't let the cashier pull the "one coupon per purchase" line on you!

One coupon per purchase does NOT mean one coupon per transaction. Each item is considered a purchase-- many coupons actually say "one coupon per item purchased, which is a much better way to phrase it.

Item 1= this is a purchase; Item 2= this is a purchase; Item 3= this is a purchase; etc... Have them ring them up in individual transactions if they don't get it.

To further drive your point home, you can show them a receipt that has total items purchased= xx, followed by a transaction number.


Be on the lookout for those FREE coupons!
You've seen others using them, and heard members talking about them. Where do coupons for FREE stuff come from?

• The newspaper: companies will put coupons for free items into the regular inserts to get you to try the product. EX: the recent FREE Oust fan
• The mail: get on as many mailing lists as you can. Go to the company web sites and sign up for the newsletter. You can check out two very good threads at Hotcouponworld, our sister site, about Contacting Companies to Request Coupons and Baby Mailing Lists.
• Pay attention to the boards here. Members will post when companies are offering free coupons in a contest, as a giveaway, or for answering a survey.
• You can contact the companies with a compliment or complaint, and will sometimes receive coupons for a free product.

Again, read through the Getting Started forums. If you have any questions, post away. Our mods and members are glad to help.

Don't get discouraged if you aren't getting the same deals that you see on the boards. Some of us have been couponing for 20 years or more! You will get better as you learn, and a penny saved is a penny that you didn't give to the store.

Don't be overwhelmed by couponing and stockpiling. Start out slowly if you're on a budget. Pick part of your budget that you're currently spending on groceries, and set it aside to stockpile with. And then target a few items a month. It's easy to get frustrated and quit couponing if it comes across as being too hard. It's actually very easy to do if you are patient and ask lots of questions along the way.

If you miss a sale, don't worry! Grocery sales are cyclical and they will come around again. In the meantime, concentrate on what's on sale now, and stock those things until the sale you wanted to chase returns.

Remember, everyone has to start somewhere. We're glad you started at Organic Grocery Deals. Good luck, and happy shopping!