Coupons can really go a long way in helping you to reduce your grocery bills. Yet, there simple ways you supercharge your savings by getting even more mileage out your coupons.
The Raincheck Deal – Don’t Get Mad, Get Even
We all hate running in the store to purchase an advertised special only to discover that the store has run out of the item. Don’t get mad. Use this situation to your advantage. Simply claim a rain check. In the future you can now combine your rain check with any manufacturer’s coupon you have for the same item to realize extra savings!
The Shelf Dispenser Trick
Coupon dispensers located right on the store shelves are one of my favorite sources of coupons. The key, however, is to be patient. Stores will rarely display coupon dispensers with items that are on sale. Simply place the coupon in your pocketbook and combine the coupon with a future store sale for double savings.
Buy One, Get One Free Savings
Buy One, Get One Free or BOGO sales are a great way to supersize your coupon savings. Some grocery stores charge you full price for the first item and the second item rings up for free.
Many supermarkets, however, treat BOGO sales as a half price sale – essentially each item scans at half its regular price. What this allows you to do is to combine a manufacturer’s coupon with each item in a BOGO sale, instantly supercharging your savings.
Let’s say for instance that you notice $3 spaghetti sauce on sale buy one, get one free. If your grocery store is one where the spaghetti sauce rings up at $1.50 each, you can now use a manufacturer’s coupon on each can of spaghetti sauce to save even more, especially if your store is one that doubles manufacturer’s coupons. Check with your supermarket service desk to see how they ring up BOGO sales.
The Overlooked Catalina
Catalina coupons are those printed coupons that appear on the back of your grocery store receipt. They are named after the company, Catalina Marketing, that made the coupons popular.
Catalina coupons are one of the most overlooked sources of great coupons. This is especially true since the coupon is often related to a purchase you’ve just made and are therefore likely to make in the future. Purchase a half gallon of ice cream, for instance, and you may receive a coupon for a discount on a competing brand of ice cream. As long as your not wedded to a particular brand Catalina coupons are a great way to save money.
Yet you can save even more. Since they are frequently classified as manufacturer’s coupons, you can use Catalina coupons with a future store sale to maximize your savings.
Coupons are a valuable part of any savvy shoppers money saving arsenal. Yet, when you know the secrets to maximize your coupon value the savings can be truly impressive. What are some of your coupon tricks that save you money? Help others by leaving a comment below.
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Don’t forget to sign up for the store’s own newsletter or email lists. Many of them have great coupons not found in the regular sales flier.
Those catalina coupons are great. I just bought a pair of shoes from payless shoes and they have teamed up with OfficeMax to co-promote one another’s stores. My payless receipt featured a $10 off $30 purchase coupon at OfficeMax. I plan on using that coupon on sale items which should net me a 50%+ discount on my items. A lot of different types of retailers are teaming up to co-promote so don’t be surprised to see grocery store coupons on the bottom of your office supply store receipts.
Thanks for the tip Ray!
I’ll have to start looking at the back of all my receipts for Catalina coupons in addition to looking at the back of my grocery receipts.