Extreme couponers typically start coupon stacking by using manufacturer coupons on products that are already on sale. By doing so, you can score even heavier discounts on products that are already cheaper than usual. To go one step further, try stacking store coupons with manufacturer coupons. Store coupons are discounts retailers offer to incentivize customers to shop at their locations. Sometimes, you can even use coupon stacking to score free products, especially if you find a BOGO deal.
You can use store loyalty programs and rebate apps to stack additional savings. For the final form of coupon stacking, shop with discount gift cards.
Websites like Raise help people sell their unwanted gift cards at a slight discount. For example, Raise has Kroger gift cards for up to 3. Raise also has gift cards for stores like Hannaford, Meijers, and Winn-Dixie, although gift card availability depends on supply and demand. It can happen in a variety of scenarios, including:. The magic of overages happens when stores have a policy to pay you the overage amount. Walmart and Kroger are two popular retailers that pay overages. Just remember to stack coupons in the correct order.
When planning your couponing, try to make notes on which coupons you hand to the cashier first until it becomes second nature. The two main limitations for your coupon stacking efforts are your coupon supply and store policies. Consistently collecting coupons and looking for weekly deals helps ensure you have enough coupons to find stacking opportunities.
As for store coupon policies, read them carefully before shopping. When you start extreme couponing, you begin to stockpile merchandise quickly. So you need space to store everything. And that says nothing of the purchases you need to make to store scores of meat and other freezable foods you get on sale.
If you want to make your first attempt at couponing more successful, there are several tips to remember:. As long as you develop a system and apply these tips, your first extreme-couponing trip should be a fun effort in seeing how much money you save. Getting good at extreme couponing takes time. But you can certainly put the money you save to good use with things like paying down debt , spending more time at home, and starting to invest.
Plus, the nature of extreme couponing often means you build a surplus of everyday essentials and food products. Ultimately, how far you take extreme couponing is up to you. However, if you want to save more money and even do some good for your community, extreme couponing is worth the effort.
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Extreme couponers can get a huge amount of product for little money, an attractive option for some college students. Step 1: Start collecting coupons. There are many places to find coupons. Coupon inserts are in the Sunday newspaper each week. There are also mobile coupons, and websites such as Coupons. Some stores have printable store coupons; Target , for example, gives great coupons to its customers.
The important thing to remember with printable coupons is that the computer only allows two coupons to be printed per computer. Step 2: Buy a binder and get organized. Organization is key to becoming an extreme couponer.
Go to the store and buy a binder and baseball card holder sheets. I know some sites will recommend getting 10 or more papers a week and I can tell you there is 0 chance I personally could manage that many coupons and I have been doing this for years.
Job 2 will be to start collecting internet coupons. I post them all the time — the first time you print from most coupon sources like coupons. Each coupon will have a unique barcode so that is why you need the download. If you install the software once you should not have to do it again. I think as you start getting more experience you will recognize the coupons you want to print ASAP. I will usually tell you if I think it is a hot coupon as well.
So this is homework 2. Internet coupons are a great resource, so if you have a printer you will want to be ready to start printing away as coupons come up! You can usually get 2 copies of the coupon by using your back bar to go back and the coupon should spool a second time. Sadly, you can usually only get those 2 coupons per computer that you have. If you want extras, you either need access to more computers or you need to sweet talk a friend into printing coupons for you.
It is absolutely never, ever OK to photocopy coupons. So those are the primary ways to score coupons, you might also start keeping an eye out at the grocery store because you will start to see coupons can be found everywhere!
Sometimes you see little machines that spit out coupons- if it is a product you can use grab one or two of the coupons and just tuck it away. You might also be on the lookout for little booklets in your stores that have coupons. Safeway, Publix and Kroger often have great coupon booklets available.
And there is such a thing as coupon karma so again 2 or maybe 3 booklets is plenty- no reason to take the entire stack. The very last step, is you will want to start understanding the coupon policies for your stores.
Each person will have a slightly different experience and it is important you are aware of policies that might prevent you from getting great deals. You can go to the web site of your store such as www. Remember those policies can change at any time so be sure you check back every few months for updates. So that is part 1. You are already on the way to starting to score great deals! Please feel free to leave any comments or questions below.
There is really a lot to learn so again I am hoping to just take this one step at a time and hopefully it turns into a fun and easy way to start saving big at the grocery store! Finally, you can subscribe to my free newsletter to get daily updates on all sorts of freebies, online deals, coupon deals and more!
I never heard of anyone doing that around here. Thanks for all the information. I would take any additional tips you can give me. I am not exactly the sharpest knife in the drawer. I am trying to figure out how people always manage to get so many of an item with coupons and wind up only paying a few bucks. I am a single disabled mother living on a disability check. If there are any other hints you could give me. Things have been really tough for me and my son. I have gone without my medication to make sure I put food on the table for him and I just want to figure out as many ways to stock up food as possible.
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