Week 4: Coupon Class (2/8/10)

Welcome to week 4 of the ten week couponing course!

Go here to learn more about the free couponing course. Also, make sure to brush up on the week 3 assignment.

Week 4 is all about matching up different coupons, or “coupon match-ups.” Let’s review again what this means:

What are Coupon Match Ups?

Coupon match-ups are when you match up different types of coupons. There are two main types of coupons:

• manufacturer’s coupons
• store coupons

Manufacturer’s coupons are the coupons that come in the Sunday newspapers, or perhaps in a magazine you are reading or at a website you are looking at (printable internet coupons), or inside the box of a product you buy. They are made by the manufacturer of the product and say so on the coupon.

Store coupons are coupons that a particular store puts out. Walgreens, for example, has a weekly flier with weekly deals inside and Walgreens coupons you can use for that week. CVS also has a weekly flier. The key to saving big money and getting hundreds in free toiletries and household items every month is in matching up these two coupons and combining them with ECBS at CVS, for instance.

How to Match up Coupons:

1. To succeed at matching up coupons you need a stash of manufacturer’s coupons. Every Sunday, you should be collecting the coupon inserts in the Sunday paper and putting them in a drawer or box devoted to this class and your coupons. There is no need to cut them yet.

2. Then, once a week you should come to a blog like Saving Money Plan that gives you a list of how the manufacturer’s coupons you have been stashing away in your coupon drawer match up with the weekly coupons and other deals going at various drugstores (Walgreens, CVS, Rite-Aid, etc.)

3. Print out that list from a blog like Saving Money Plan

4. Then go to your coupon drawer and find the coupons you need that you have stashed away (blogs like mine will list the inserts by the date of that Sunday paper, so while you’re learning I recommend not cutting any of your coupons and keeping the inserts intact so you can easily go back to that dated insert to find the coupon mentioned) and then

5. Get any other coupons that that blog post says you need (sometimes there are links to new internet printable coupons, and sometimes the store deals are actual coupons that you need to cut out from the weekly store flier) Write a list of what you will be purchasing and how much it should cost (or follow one of the lists on a blog like this letter-by-letter). Take your calculator to the store.

6. BUY YOUR STUFF! Ready to try?

Week 4 Assignment

So by now you should have been saving the coupon inserts that come with each Sunday newspaper. Either you are subscribing to this newspaper, or picking up somewhere. If you need to find a Sunday paper that has the coupon inserts go here to this website.

These are the different coupon inserts:

Coupon Insert 1: Smart Source (called “SS” for short in blogs)

Coupon Insert 2: Red Plum (called “RP” for short in blogs) or Valassis (called “V” in blogs) (Check to see if your area still receives this in the Sunday papers here (thanks I heart wags)

Coupon Insert 3: P&G (info on distribution here)

When you get them, put the inserts each week, in a drawer or box devoted to your couponing. Some weeks, like this one, there may be only one insert – and not both – in the the papers.

Here is a schedule of which weeks of the year have which inserts. Again: don’t bother cutting any coupons out of the inserts until you have read on a blog like Saving Money Plan which coupon you need for a particular deal. Just keep them in your drawer or box. So the way you save big money with coupons is combining all the methods we have learned so far on individual deals. This allows you to consistently pick up free or very cheap products on a monthly basis. You have already learned that you can combine an internet printable coupon with a weekly or monthly store deal. Now, we are going to ad in the manufacturer’s coupons that come in those Sunday inserts, because those are a massive source of potential freebies!

First, let’s go to CVS: (It works best if this is your first time reading this post that you first read through all the deals, then try the quiz at the bottom of the post to make sure you are understanding how to read these coupon match-up posts. When you think you have understood it, then you’re ready to head out to CVS with the lists in hand!)

Here are the free or nearly free things. Keep in mind that, since we are starting to incorporate the weekly inserts, I’m not certain how far back you have been saving the inserts. So you may not have some of these inserts because you didn’t start saving them until after the date. In that case, skip that deal! Remember: When it says $2.50/1 that means the coupon is good for $2.50 off of 1 item! So $1/2 means that the coupon works for 1 dollar off when you buy 2 items!

All Cheerios buy one get one free (limit 6); prices start at $4.49
Use $.75 cheerios coupon here
Use $.55 chocolate cheerios coupon here
Use $1.25 Chocolate cheerios coupon here IE or here FF
Use $.50 Chocolate cheerios coupon here
Use $1 Honey Nut coupon here IE
Use $1 off 3 coupon from 1/3 SS
=Final price as low as $.99

Gillette Fusion manual or power razor $8.99
Get $4 extra care bucks
Use $4 coupon from 2/7 PG
=Final price $.99

Now, go to Walgreens to pick up these two deals:

Dove Men’s Body Wash $5.99
Get $5.99 Register Rewards
Use $1 coupon here or use $1.25 coupon from 1/31 Sunday paper
= FREE  + $1.25 money-maker

Super Poligrip denture Adhesive .75 oz. $2
Get $2 Register Rewards
Use $1 coupon here or from 1/3 RP
= FREE plus $1 moneymaker

If even reading this post made sense to you, you should be so excited – because you have made major headway.

To test yourself, I want you read this entire post on the CVS deals this week and the full post on the Walgreens deals this week see if you understand what all the coupon match-ups are suggesting. The first time I read a post with all those “SS” and “RP” words and dates I was baffled. However, learning what a coupon match-up is, and all the many ways to do it is ESSENTIAL to getting hundreds of dollars in free items every month – as is saving your weekly inserts. Don’t throw them away – save them until a blog like Saving Money Plan tells you to use them! Finally, when shopping, at each store I want you to use your calculator to check what you should be spending against the receipts you are getting.

As always – if you have any questions let me know!

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Tagged as: cvs, CVS Caremark, rite aid, Walgreen