Learn How to Use Coupons!
Welcome! If you are new to using coupons then you’ve come to the right place! Here I am going to give you some tips and teach you what I know about using coupons and saving lots of money doing so! After reading through my guide, I suggest heading on over to the FAQ section!
First of all, what is “couponing”?
A lot of people don’t understand how you can take a $0.50 off coupon and save so much money, get things for free, or even make money! It’s possible, I do it all the time, and you can do it too. Here is the basic concept that has to be applied when using coupons: Only use a coupon when paired up with a sale! Here’s an example of what this means:
If you have a coupon for $0.50 off Libby’s Green beans and you take that to the store and pick up a can that is priced normally at $1.00, then you are going to pay $0.50 and therefore you will have only saved $0.50. NOW, lets say that you wait until you see those green beans go on sale for $0.50 (and they most likely will) then after your $0.50 coupon, you will get these for FREE! Also, if your stores double coupons, you will have just made $0.50 to go towards the rest of your order! So really, that’s the secret to using coupons. I help make this easier for you by providing you with free lists of sales matched with coupons and post any good deals I find at stores with coupons.
You will find that you won’t have to pay for many different necessities again! Such as, toothpaste, razors (even the nice ones), toothbrushes, deodorants, soaps and more! I remember when I first heard this and thought to myself “say what”?! Yes, this is very true and the stores you will be getting them for free from are Rite Aid, Walgreen’s, & CVS!
Where do I get my coupons you ask? Well, there are MANY different places to get coupons…
· Sunday Newspaper – These are the mega coupon papers! You will want to get one (or more) every Sunday. They will have coupon inserts in them including Red Plum (RP), Smart Source (SS), Proctor & Gamble (P&G). Occasionally you will get bonus inserts including, General Mills (GM), Target and more.
· Printable Coupons (from the Internet) – My favorite sites to print coupons from are Coupons.com, Red Plum, Smart Source, and Target (yes, they have coupons)!
· Magazines – All You Magazine is a great one to get. You can find these at Walmart or you can get a subscription here. It is full of manufacturer coupons. Also, the Parents magazine is a great one that has good coupons for parents such as, Gymboree, Amazon diapers and more.
· Products you purchase – Keep in mind that on a lot of boxes of items you buy, there are coupons! For example, my box of Tide Laundry Detergent had $4 in coupons in the inside cardboard.
· Tear Pad or Blinkie – these are found in the Grocery stores and have coupons on them that you can take.
· Peelie – Coupon sticker found on the outside of a product.
· Catalina – These will print on the back of your receipt or with your receipt and usually for an item similar to something you purchased.
· Coupon Trains – Consider circulating and trading coupons via mail with family & friends.
Tips before hitting up the stores!
· Start out slowly and don’t plan on getting in on every single deal or it will all feel overwhelming! When I first started, I would find a good deal and go out and get it but I found I was doing this way too often and really just using a lot of gas. Understand that you don’t need to get every deal.
· Be organized! I shop one day a week and the night before my shopping day, I get my lists ready and coupons together. I choose Sunday because you will see that on Saturday I post the coupon matched lists and Sunday is when the new ads start (for drugstores where you will find a ton of great deals).
· Figure out a way that best suites you to organize your coupons. This is so important because if your coupons are not organized, you are going to get stressed out when you can’t find certain coupons and using coupons to save money is going to take a lot more time. You can go to my Organizing section here to watch my video and read about the way I organize my coupons.
· Print out Store Coupon Policies, (which you can do here) and I highly recommend this in case you have a problem with a cashier honoring your coupons. If you have your store policy with you, you can just pull it out and it will make things a lot easier for you. Not saying you will have problems, but sometimes there are cashiers out there that feel like they are doing something wrong when you are getting items for free or close to it.
· Get your store’s weekly ad circular. You can also view it online or it will come in the mail so that way you can match the items on sale with your coupons.
· Only purchase the items on your list!! Doing this alone will always save you money….unless of course you find a freebie!
· Here’s an important one…Sometimes a smaller sized item is a better deal! Some coupons don’t have a size restriction (these are my favorite) so therefore you may be able to get that item in the travel section for FREE and if you have several coupons, you can stock up!
· Brand Loyalty is a no-no! Be willing to try out new products that you have coupons for. I use to never do this before using coupons and now that I do, I have actually found a lot of things I really like that I normally wouldn’t have tried.
· Overage = AWESOME! Understand what overage is and that it can dramatically lower your grocery bill. Lets say a product is on sale for $1 and you have a coupon for $2/1 for that item. After using your coupon, you will get $1 in overage, which will then be applied to the balance of your order! Do you see how that can really lower your balance…it’s like getting paid to shop! Note: Some stores don’t allow for overage.
Also, Check out my post here about how to make a coupon binder and lots of readers tips!
My Stockpile: =)
Wow! What an awesome stockpile! I am starting to get the hand of couponing and I love it! Thanks to your walgreens list I spent 27$ saved 27$ and got 8$ on future purchases!
I can’t wait to make a coupon binder!
I was at the check out lane in Target and the cashier mentioned that I saved 76$. The customer behind me over heard and asked if I reference this web site, and I said no-but I soon will. I’m glad that she took the time to share this with me. Great web site!
i need lots of help i still am having trouble with couponing..any suggestions step by step!!
Something very interesting to note is that Walmart is one of only a few stores (only one that I know of) that will actually give you your overage back in cash. Some of the coupon/item pairs that usually make you money are KY Jelly ($3/1, goes on sale for $2.70), Batteries ($1/1, sale for $0.97), and various travel size products. You definitely get some weird looks walking through the store with a shopping cart full of lube. =D
I haven’t started couponing yet, I just recently started collecting the sunday papers so I can start but I don’t really know the antics quite yet. i don’t get the whole concept of how does it add up and you walk away with things for free… Could you HELP ME!! Please….
thanks!!
I just started couponing, and i just had a baby…. we shop at Sams Club and bulk shop wen we can, but its hard to do that all the time. My mother in law was AMAZING at shopping, and would quite literally get PAID money back with using coupons. I wish i could do that…need more advise!
I did my first extreme couponing and it was a very small haul but my bill was $80 and I saved $56 so I got quite a bit of stuff for free. I am still trying to get into this couponing thing but it’s hard to know exactly where to begin, I am thankful for these websites to give great instruction but we dont’ have many of those stores around here so I have to travel over and hour and it makes it hard to save money like that.
I have been addicted to the extreme couponing show and I would love to learn how to coupon! I am a stay at home mom and our income is limited so I think this would really help. We live in Las Vegas and the only insert that comes in our Sunday paper is Smart Source. If you could please let me in on the secrets to this I would really appreciate it.
Hi Breanna! You will learn a lot from my blog and how to use coupons. I recommend watching my videos (you can click on the “Video” tab up top in the green). There is also a lot of information throughout the menu bar up top. =)
Today’s paper for everyone only had 1 Smart Source insert but next week there will be more. Last week we had 4 inserts! Every week is different.
So glad you found RHC and want to learn to coupon, you will become addicted and love all the money you are going to save! =)
Let me know if you have any questions.
Raining hot coupons ,
plze be on the show called Extreme Couponing ?! thanks!
I love this site , how well you explaing all about coupons , just one question, why don’t you post publix , winn dixie, and other grocery deals?
I’m just starting my coupon adventure and I’m already so overwhelmed! I’m glad I found this website because you truly have been a great help. There is so much work involved but I’m sure it will pay off in the end. Now if only people would stop stealing our Sunday paper at the office >:/
Hi Belinda!
Oh no! That’s not good that someone’s stealing your paper…
I am SO glad you found RHC too! Don’t worry, you will get use to it soon and be addicted after that.
Hi Sarah! I love your page! My questions is what’s your typical sale or coupon matchups for the pampers diapers you have in your stockpile? I can never seem to find good deals at the grocery store on these. And that’s a big part of my monthly budget (about $30 a month for size 4).
yes how do you do it???
please tell us the secret
I love the videos and the tips, Thanks a lot!!
Do you know where can I find coupons for gatorade?
and is there any good sale for toilet paper? I haven’t found any good one!!
HOW DO YOU USE MULTIPLE COUPONS FOR ONE ITEM??? I try and it doesn’t work!?
You can use a manufacturer’s coupon and a store coupon on the same item. But you can’t use two manuf. coupons on the same item. Hope that helps.
HI !
ur website is amazing !and can u pleze go to tlc.com and sign up for them to come 2 ur house and u get to be on extreme couponing thanks p.s ur pretty
Hi,
I was wondering the same thing with the Pampers and also on TP. I can never get TP to be super low. I always end up paying at least 6 dollars which is not bad but I want to figure out if there’s a cheaper way.
Thanks!
PS Love your website.
i can’t get the coupons to print, have no clue what i’m doing wrong.
i cant get coupons to print, don’t know what i’m doing wrong.
How do you get diapers for free? I have used two coupons at the most for one purchase but never have I gotten them totally free.
Wherecan I buy a coupon binder at??
I am a very new couponer. I had to share my first free item story. I strained a muscle today and needed some cream pain relief. I saw a commercial on TV for Tylenol Precise cream. I went to their website, signed up and got a $5.00/1 coupon. I went to Walgreens ( who is my closest drug store) and on their shelf was a $3.00/1 coupon ( that I was totally unaware of). I brought my $7.99 bottle of tylenol cream to the counter, handed the cashier my coupons and walked out not paying a single penny AND my pain is now gone! The rush and excitement i felt walking out of that store solidifies the fact that I DEFINITELY want to do some couponing!!!
Thank you for all of your advice, and constant deals!
i am a wife to a solider going through college and a mother of three kids in school and one on the way! we have a very busy life and go through lots of things VERY FAST! i decided to start to coupon! and your websight has helped us very very very much! i just want to thank you from me and my family! i am so excited to coupon! all my friends say im crazy, but hey when you have a family of 6 you deff gett excited to save money! so thank you so much! and i LOVE how organzied you are! (i am so organized i label my pantry and cabnets so i know where everything goes and know what i am low on fast!) organization is deff key! thank you so much for taking the time to do this websight it is very usefull! THANK YOU AGAIN!
I am having trouble trying to get to your links in blue above. Please let me know how I can view them. The organize section, the store policy, and how to build a coupon binder.
If anyone hasn’t subscribed or would like to renew their subscription to ALL YOU magazine that is loaded in coupons please do so on my daughters link for school. Thank You!
http://www.schoolstore.com/cgi/SSCEmailLanding2?FB=1-0000278768-152875-999
Hello I just started to coupon and i don’t understand a lot of the things if you can help with this i will appreciated.
Do you have a list of what the good deals are so we know when to stock up on items like toilet paper, paper towels, and other things ?
I just had to tell someone this,I only payed $0.17 for the cars gummy vitamins!at wal-mart!
First of all I wanted to say thank you for sharing all this info with us! My family was at the point where we were really struggling and although Im just learning couponing has saved us some money.
Today I ran out and bought the sunday paper for the first time lol. Looking for the coupons and idk if Im looking for the wrong thing but the only coupons I found are in the store ads. What do I look for?
I have recently began to use coupons im just not sure how to start a stock-pile and would like to get some great tips on how to start one up
!
Hi, i wanted to know if i could switch to be able to print coupons from raininghot.coupons and to be able to make a store list using your site to do this that, you show on the video with the data base, so that way the coupons won’t come out mirror image. Sorry to bother you but this is new to me. Thank you so much.
I understand most of the coupon policies now
But how do I get more than one item at a store using a coupon for free?? I thought you always had to use one coupon per item. What if I wanted 10 of the green beans for free? Not just one for the coupon I had. How do I do that??
Normally for example if the coupon in for 50 cents and the item is on sale for 50 cents. You will have to do separate transactions. IF you have 10 coupons do 10 separate transactions to maximize your savings.
On the otherhand, if your store doubles up to 50 cents. You can purchase two of the same product, your total is now $1.00, coupon will double to $1.00. You can more than likely get 20 of the same item instead of 10. On some coupons you still have to pay tax but still thats around a 98 to 99% savings.
hay so how do you get the’s
Why do u say the u2b hair products are on sale at wallgreens the week of 2/18 but they were on sale on 2/04? And the coupons came out 2/13?
would like to printable coupons forsoda
week three of real dedication and i spent $120 & saved $116…. hoping to improve next week! thanks for this site!!
How do you stockpile on diapers? I have a 4 month old and I need the diapers!!
Okay! Wish me luck todays my food shopping day with my boyfriend and I really want to wow him with everything I learned about saving with coupons because I never used any before and it really started hitting us hard ever time we shopped for food so maybe now we can start saving and being happier
thanks for your help!
Look at that very organized stockpile!! awesome! You go girl!
Hi. I want to start couponing. I’m going to be a new mom in about 4 1/2 months and this will really save my fiancé and I a lot of money since I am also an out of work mother. I need a little help. I’ve never done it and what you were saying helped but still a little confused, one thing I am a little confused about is, with the stockpile. What do you do about experation dates and can your baby use 2 different types of diapers?
Sincerely,
Shelby (future couponer)
my boyfriend use to be a name brand shopper when he would go to HEB
then he met me and i always look for sales.
the first time we went grocery shopping together i filled the basket and he was so scared the bill came out to a little bit over 130 dollars and he was so amazed because he expected a 200 dollar bill.
i just started getting into couponing and have been saving a lot of money! its so exciting, and not i even have my boyfriend going thru coupons with me.
Im a little confuse…watt if I have 3 coupons of the same product…I’m able to use the three of them at the same time?
I blog quite often and I really appreciate your information.
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I live alone have bad knees and back I need someone to help me save money on food and other things I hope I can get someone to help .Thank You
How do you get diapers free? I can always get them cheap with coupons but never free…
Hi I was wanting to know how much do you pay for diapers on average? Also what stores you normally shop at to get the best deals? I have read under a lot of posts and see the same question but I have not found any with an answer underneath. So if you could please help me out with explaining how you do it, I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks so much again.
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