As any novice couponer can tell you, you can never be brand loyal when you use coupons. The reason that this holds true is strictly because no one brand ALWAYS has the best deal or coupon. You have to know how to be flexible, while not being too much of a push over. I say pushover not to be rude, the majority of cashiers in the stores are not very educated in coupons, unless you are fortunate enough to get one that actually uses coupons themselves. They will attempt to tell you anything about what you can use and what you cannot use so just be aware and well versed in both the policies and terminology of coupons. This is a world of its own with its eon language that you have to be fluent in or you will never save any money. Back on topic, you will see perfect examples weekly showing there cannot be brand loyalty. One week Tide may have a great coupon, with a great match up at Target, and the next week it could be All that has the better deal at CVS, so you have to show flex in your planning and consumption of these products. If a member of your family has an allergy or sensitive skin, you are saving enough to buy them a smaller, personal use size of the products that they use. I have been noticing lately that there are more coupons for organically made products, as well as special diet items so just be on the look out (BOLO) for those. I have learned that the majority of times we do always get the best deals on a lot of the same items, but I believe that the deeper you hunt, the more you find.
Next we talk about some of the stores, and their multiple ways to save money. Target is the first store that we will talk about as they offer weekly gift card match ups, and offer multiple savings on one item. Target as a brand offers two separate ways to save money on one item, in addition to our coupons from the inserts. They offer store/mobile coupons, and Cartwheel (Target store app for percentage off various items) discounts that can be used throughout the store. I have noticed that many times the deals offered on your individual Cartwheel app are tailored based on what you buy and even where you may be in the store. Here is an example of an item bought at Target; Febreeze@ $2.99-$.50(tq)-5%(Cartwheel)-$1.00(mq)=$1.34. Do you see how that worked out? I was able to get three discounts for one item, and sometimes you will be lucky enough to get a gift card out of the deal as well. This is why I love Target. A good resource for shopping at Target is the website that is dedicated to finding the deals there, totallytarget.com which has match ups that are updated regularly for all of the decals at Target, from advertised to unadvertised. I definetly have this site bookmarked on my iPad. Other stores offer double savings such as match ups of store coupons, percentage off discounts, and dollars off your entire order coupons (most times as a Catalina) and manufacter coupons. The point of it all is to maximize the savings, so of that means to bring your phone to use the store coupon with the newspaper coupons that you have clipped, then so be it. Couponing is a process that takes time, organization (to a point), and patience from both you and your family. Sometimes you may get a cashier who doesn't like the process, so they may make your trip more difficult but I have to suggest that no matter what, keep calm and coupon on!
When you are searching for the match ups of manufacter coupons and store coupons, you have to be mindful that some stores will offer both store coupons and manufacter e-coupons, which cannot be stacked, or used with, your paper manufacter coupons. On the other hand, many stores will tailor the mobile deals offered to each shopper based specifically on what you have bought in the past. To some this is pretty creepy, but it does make sense that the stores would market this way, it ensures that we will keep spending our money on the items with the best deals. This will probably be the most daunting part of couponing, but thanks to technology, there are apps and websites that will basically do this for you. As I have said many times before, make sure you sign up for as many text and email alerts for the various stores, while it may be a little annoying at times, it proves to pay off when matching up sales. I have actually set up a separate email address strictly for my coupon alerts, mystery shops, and surveys. If you are like me and are too disabled to work, but not enough disabled to be disabled them you are always looking for ways to not only stretch all of your dollars, but also to add some dollars to the pot. I bet that if we all took at least half of what we save with coupons, diving, etc. and put it on a jar, safe, or some other storage option outside of the traditional bank, in just one month you will have no less then $100, as long as you are diligent with yourself and your family members not to spend any money if it is not using coupons. This will be more difficult for some members than others, but if it is going to work, then it has to be the entire family unit.
Speaking of match ups, let's touch on Ad Match/Price Matching, as there are many stores who are now matching the prices of their competitors, upon request. Each store that has a price match policy, has varying yet many times very similar guidelines as to what and whose prices they will match. Stores like Target limit whose prices they will match, both online and. brick and mortar. Walmart on the he other hand, will match basically any brick and mortar, except another Walmart. That's right, different Walmarts will have different prices for the same item, yet they will not match EACHOTHER. Walmart also will not match their online prices, but as of November 13, they are now matching amazon.com prices. Being that this is such a new amendment to their policy, you are going to want to have a copy of this with you. There is a direct link to the policy below. With this one you are better off buying it where you see it cheaper, rather than attempting to match it. Family Dollar recently began an Ad Match policy, which from what I can tell you simply need the ad for the identical item. There are only about 8-10 stores in total who will price match their competitors, yet they all have pretty similar guidelines.
1. Target
2. Lowe's
3. JC Penney's
4. Walmart
5. Sears
6. Home Depot
7. Best Buy
8. Kohl's
9. Family Dollar
You can find direct links to the Price Match Policy's at the link below.
http://www.dailyfinance.com/photos/stores-that-price-match/#!fullscreen&slide=976550
It is important to have your trips as planned and organized as possible, to ensure that you are not over spending. I have noticed that taking my entire family with me to the grocery store, with the illusions that they will actually help me with the heavy lifting seems dillusional, as they really just like to throw off my budget. I do not suggest that you take your kids and spouse with you, no matter how bad they want to go, you just tell them to lt you know what they would like and be ready for some lifting when you get home. You will soon see that while your main objective is couponing, you will actually benefit from the alone time as well.
By now we have all of our supplies, have taken inventory of our kitchens, and have made a well planned list with our corresponding coupons. You are just about ready. The last tidbit of information that you have to carry with you is the math. Adding and subtracting to find any overages in your coupons that will help bring down the cost of eh other items in your basket. A professional couponer I know has always said that the key to her ability is knowing how to add and subtract. I know this seems simple, but some people still have issues with the way the stores do math and the way we are taught in school to do math. I believe I may have touched on this before, but I will explain it so we can all be on the same page. When you bring your items to the register, it adds the cost of all of the times to get the subtotal. Your price matching is done during that time, so when adding, you automatically change that price. Your coupons are subtracted from the subtotal, so you must also do your math this same way. I have seen it done "normal" math, where we take the amount of the coupon of the price of the item, but honestly, it did not have the same total and it seemed to be unnecessary. It is best to figure your math the exact way the cash register would because that is actually the final say.
Now you are ready for your first trip. I suggest that you take it slow until you see which system s going to be best for you. This way you can ensure that if your math is off, your still not out of pocket much. I also suggest shopping at a store that you are familiar with, where you regularly shop as you are more accustomed to the lay out of the store as well as the normal prices for that store. Planning makes a world of difference, this is a lesson that I have had to learn the hard way and I am hoping that you will just take my word for it. I am the very definition of unorganized, but my coupons I attempt to be more organized with those, yet no one is perfect. You need to make sure that you have the coupons that you need ( I usually bring all of mine in a tote bag I found for $1.49 at my favorite thrift store) as well as your list which should have included your math and what you will pay out of pocket. If you are not that great in math, I suggest you bring a calculator or make the one on your phone your best friend.also, if you plan on going to one of the stores who price match, make sure you have your ads with you, and for Walmart and Amazon, I suggest to have the exact page bookmarked on your phone or maybe even to print out the item in your shopping cart as proof of the price match. This policy is still very new at Walmart so don't be surprised if the cashier looks at you with a blank stare, just ask for the manager as politely as possible.
I wish you luck on your first, second, and all of your shopping trips when you are couponing, price matching, or any other legal method of saving your family money. I know that what you have learned in both this and my previous post will give you the tools you need to begin this awesome journey of saving literally hundreds of dollars for our families every month. I invite all of my readers to post your own success stories, questions, photos, and anything else coupon related, as we are all here to learn new things and help each other. HAPPY COUPONING!!
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