PART 6: GROCERY STORES

I have done a lot of digging for easy to understand tutorials on grocery stores and here is one of the best I have seen:

Shopping the sales is great, but it gets even better when you pair the sale with a coupon! Once your stockpile has a good foundation (we’ll learn more about this later), you will find that this is all the shopping  you will need to do. I generally don't need to buy anything if it isn’t on sale and I don’t have a coupon for it.

BOGO's: I love BOGO’s. Did you know that if you have a coupon for a BOGO free product, and that product is on sale at the store for BOGO Free you will get both for free?? This totally perplexed me. 2 for Free? Well, the store takes the hit on one for the sale at the store, and the manufacturer takes the hit for the second one from the coupon! How sweet is that.

Stacking: Many stores allow you to stack a store coupon with a manufacturer coupon. This allows you to double your savings. How do you know whether it is a store or manufacturer coupon? Well, all manufacturer coupons will say that on the top of them (or somewhere on the coupon). Store coupons will say ‘Target coupon’ or ‘Ralphs coupon’ and so on.

Catalina's: Some stores will print out coupons at check out called Catalina's which say Manufacturers Coupon, if another store accepts Catalina's you can use this there. EX: Shopping at Target a $5/2 Revlon Manufacturer's Catalina prints, you can use this at any store that accepts Catalina's.

Buying in Bulk: I was taught that if you buy in bulk, you will save. So, I would use a 25¢ off coupon on the large items, thinking I was saving big. Yeah, Wrong! When using coupons, buy the smallest size possible to maximize savings. Having multiple coupons will allow you to buy more of a product you will go through. EX: If you have a $1 off Deli lunch meat (with no size restrictions), ask for $1 worth of the meat. It is now free. If you have 4 of these coupons, you will get $4 worth for free. Whereas, if you bought a pound for $5, you will end up spending $4.