Tuesday, May 11

A few basic couponing terms..

I am so eager to teach others but I must confess, I am still learning too. There are a few key ways that I get my coupons, the first is the Sunday paper. Alaska does not get as many coupons as the the lower 48 and often the value is lower as well but there are still enough that it is worth subscribing too and I even get 2 Sunday papers delivered! :-)

There are 3 inserts that you will find in the paper; Red Plum (RP), Smart Source (ss) are in most Sunday papers while the Proctor and Gamble (P&G) is always in the 1st Sunday paper of the month. Another great source is the computer, Internet prints (IP) but you have to have a decent printer and be sure to set it to back and white when your print or you will end up spending more in ink than you will save. Most IP coupons can be printed twice per computer, so it's a bonus if you have a few computers in the house.

Finally I always scan the stores for those little machines on the front of shelves with the coupons (blinkies), hang tags and stickies on the items and flyer's or ads. Pretty soon you begin to know just where to look and you might even get excited when you find a high value one :-). We do not have double coupons in AK but many stores in the lower 48 offer double coupon days, weeks etc,-- this means they will double the value of a coupon up to a certain amount (often .50 - 1.00). I am very jealous of those that get to do that!

The other basic piece of info to note is that store coupons can usually be combined with a Manufacture coupon- the coupon will state Manufacture coupon on it and the store gets reimbursed for that amount plus .08 from the company and store coupons don't get reimbursed. You can not use more than 1 manufacture coupon on an item but "stacking" the store and manf. is OK. Oh, and NEVER photo copy a coupon.

There are still many lessons to be taught but I think that's enough to leave most of you shaking your head at me already :-)!!

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