Ideas, Tips & Strategies
How CouponMom/Cut Out Hunger.org works:
Their mission is to help feed the hungry by showing families how to save money on their grocery bill and in turn they can donate food, etc. to a food pantry. I heard about them from a special on the news and have been using their techniques with great success!!! In addition to heping my family save money, we are able to donate more often to our church's food pantry. It's simple and saves so much time. They suggest putting the coupons in a filing system by date, for easy access. You clip when you need them. They tell you what's on sale, what coupons coordinate with the sales, the dates they were in the paper to save you the most money, and how much you save and pay. Buy more than one newspaper and get even more savings. Go to their website, you'll be glad you did!!! www.cutouthunger.org or www.couponmom.com
Double Coupon Policy for Ralph's & Vons:
VONS:
Vons no longer doubles coupons.
Recently on a shopping trip to Ralph's, I discovered they will only double the first coupon if you have more than one coupon for the same type product. Each one thereafter is only at face value. (I had 4 coupons for Creamora half & half, @ .60 off each one. The 1st one they double to $1.20, but the other 3 remained at .60 off .) In addition to that, they have their policy posted which states a customer can NOT double more than 1 of the same type coupon with-in a week. Any Ralphs shoppers out there with big families using coupons? Post your idea, tips & strategies in our guest-book.
RALPHS They have changed their policy effective March 15, 2006. Please sign the petition to restore it back to doubling 2 of any like coupon. http://www.ipetitions.com/campaigns/Stop_Ralphs_changing_qpon_policy/
Printing coupons from your computer:
Some sites will allow you to only print up 1 or 2 of the same coupon. The site will recognize your computer and will tell you if you have exceeded the number of times they allow. (On the newspaper sites they may let you print a few times with-in the same week, but their system may refresh itself weekly.) Or, it may be that they ask you to fill in a survey before allowing you to print it out and their company will require you to provide an e-mail address. If you have more than one computer or e-mail address in your household, you may use those.
**NOTE: Store Policy for taking printables varies by store chain & even by each store with-in a chain.
Wal-Mart:
A great tip I recently used with awesome success!!! Many coupons don't state which size you must buy, but may say "ANY" on it. You can use these coupons for the trial sizes. AND we all know how reasonable Wal-Mart's prices are. Their trial sizes are about 1/2 the price of the grocery store. I went there and got 30 trial size items for free, just paying for the tax!!! You can do the same thing at Target, Walgreens, etc. You may want to call & verify this with your local Wal-Mart, before you go. It was a great feeling to know these were going to our US Troops in Iraq.
Rain Checks:
Don't be afraid to ask for a Rain Check! When there are such great sales that people stock up, you may get to your store and find they're out of an item. The worst the store could tell you is "No" and it's rare. (Then ask for the Manager. You may still get a "No" but it's worth the try.) When there were 10 for $10 sales at our Ralph's store recently, they were sold out of the Cheerios and Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereals. I'm so glad I asked for rain checks for 10 EACH since I was able to go back and get them ALL FOR FREE with coupons. However, the day after I got the rain checks, there was a sign posted stating "No rain-checks given on cereals." So I went to a different Ralphs and got another one. I was able to give 36 boxes of cereal to the food pantry just for asking for the rain checks. Something else to consider: Ask for a rain check if they are out of the item, but go back during the sale period and get it if it's there. BUT save your rain check and use it later with in the time allowed (60 days for most stores).
bravenet.com