USE A COUPON SAVE FOR THE DAY, LEARN TO COUPON SAVE FOR A
LIFETIME
Coupon-ing 101 Tutorial
www.thecouponboutique.com
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Coupon Lingo
So we are going to start with the coupon lingo. This is the language you will see on my website
time to time to describe things with abbreviations. This section is very important to learn! I have
highlighted the once you will see the most in red!
$$/$$ = This means $ off when you spend $ amount. Example: $5/$30 is $5 off your purchase when you spend
$30.
$/# = This means that you get $ off for every # you buy. Example: $5/2 would mean that you get $5 off every 2 that
you buy.
B1G1/BOGO = Buy One Get One Free (B1G2 is Buy One Get Two Free etc.)
Blinkie = A coupon that prints out at a machine in the store. They are located by the product associated with that
particular coupon.
CAT = Catalina. A coupon that prints out at the register that is either $$ off your next purchase or $$ off a certain
product. You typically have to use them at the store they printed, but some stores will take “competitor’s” coupons.
Note: These are sometimes delayed in printing so wait a minute before walking away from the register.
Closeouts = These are typically greatly reduced items that the store does not plan on re-stocking.
Coupon Policy = This is the statement that each individual store abides by, in relation to coupons.
Coupon Insert = These are “packets” of coupons found in Sunday papers and also sometimes in the ads mailed to
you during the week. These are typically sent out by Smart Source (SS), Red Plum (RP) and Proctor & Gamble
(PG). They are also referred to as inserts, SS, RP and PG.
ECB = Extra Care Bucks. Exclusive to CVS and print at the end of your receipt. They work like cash on your next
order. (Some restrictions do apply.)
EXP = Expires or Expiration Date
GSI Databar Code = Effective July 1, 2011 this replaces the old UPC coding on coupons to provide manufacturers
more options for purchase requirements and values and make it possible to code more complex offers. It will enable
the coupon to be validated at checkout to ensure the manufacturer intended the purchase that was made. Ideally, it
may reduce mis-redemption.
Internet Printable = A coupon that can be printed online.
MIR = Mail In Rebate. These are checks or coupons that the manufacturers/stores will send you if you meet the
requirements on the rebate form.
OOP = Out-of-Pocket. This is the amount of money that you have spent after coupons, ECBs, RRs, Catalinas
OYNO = On Your Next Order. Used when referring to coupons that you can use on your next order at that store.
(Sometimes Competitors will take them.)
One Coupon per Transaction = Limits you to only using one of this coupon per transaction
Peelie = Coupons found on products in the store.
PG = Proctor & Gamble. This is a coupon insert that you will either find in your paper or mail.
Q = Coupon
Raincheck = A slip you can ask for in the store when an item’s on sale and out-of-stock.
RP = Red Plum. This is a coupon insert that you’ll either find in your paper, the mail, and printable.
Register Rewards (RR) = Exclusive to Walgreens. They work like cash on your next order. (Some restrictions do
apply.) Also called RR.
Rolling Catalinas = This means that you can use a catalina (see definition) as payment on another transaction of
equal merchandise and another catalina will still print. Example, if you buy 5 “name brand items,” a $5 catalina will
print. If you then buy another set of those same 5 “name brand items,” you can use the previous catalina you
received as payment towards the order and another $5 catalina will print.
SCR = Single Check Rebate, Rite Aid Drugstore monthly rebate program. Each month has a rebate booklet that
offers hundreds of dollars in possible rebate savings. Shop with coupons, save your receipts and enter your receipt
information online. You can enter receipts all at once or same day you purchased. The SCR system stores all your
rebates and totals them each month. Request your monthly check be mailed to you and cash it like any other check!
SS = SmartSource. This is a coupon insert that you’ll either find in your paper and as a printable.
Stacking Coupons = This is the term used when stores will let you use their own store coupons along with a
manufacturer’s coupon for the same item.
Tearpad = A pad of manufacturer coupons found near product on shopping aisles. Tear pad manufacturer coupons
may be used at any store, not just the one where you found the coupon.
Triple Coupons = This is the term used when stores will triple a coupon’s value.
UPC = Universal Bar Code. This is the bar code that’s scanned on products for pricing/info at the stores. Several
companies will ask you to mail these in on rebates
WAGS = Abbreviation for Walgreens
YMMV = Your Mileage (Manager) May Vary. This is what you’ll see when someone finds a deal but they want
you to know that your store branch may not offer the same deal.
WYB = When You Buy
Where to Find Coupons
So you’ve been bit by the couponing bug and now you want to find even more coupons, but you don’t
know where to look. Here are the top places to find coupons:
1) Sunday Newspapers – These are the biggest sources of coupons. To find additional copies, check
recycling bins or ask your family/friends if they are using theirs. There are anywhere from none to three
inserts per paper.
2) Mail – You can sign-up for coupons thru company websites.
3) Free Samples – Signing up for free samples is a great way to get some higher dollar coupons. I’d
advise creating a separate email address for “freebies.”
4) In-Store – You can often find coupons called “blinkies,” which are the little machines that spit out
coupons by the products they are for. There are also “tear-pads,” as well. You can sometimes even find
“peelies” right on the products themselves.
5) Printable Sites – Two of the big printable sites are Coupons.com and Smart Source. These coupons
rotate week after week and sometimes even have maximum printings that when the limit is reached,
they are pulled off the site. So if you see one you think you might need, you should print it. (You can
usually print two per computer.) Other sites are CoolSavings and EverSave.
6) Blogs – Blogs are a great place to find coupons. I stumble upon several at my fellow blogger’s sites
throughout the week. I compile them throughout the week and post them on Mondays.
7) Search Engines – If you are looking for a specific coupon, just type the brand name followed by the
word coupon and you might be able to find one that way.
8) Join Groups/Surveys – There are some groups you can sign-up for that will offer/mail you coupons
from time-to-time.
9) Manufacturers Websites – More and more manufacturers are hosting coupons on their own sites
now. If you use a lot of a particular item/brand, check their website to see if they offer coupons. If they
don’t, email/mail them and request some. I’ve gotten a few this way.
10) Magazines – By far, the magazine with the most coupons lately has been All You magazine, which
you can only get by subscription or at Wal-Mart. The price of the magazine is well worth the coupons
inside. Make sure you check your magazines to see if there are some inside.
11) Free Periodicals – Some stores will have local newsbooks that have local area coupons inside.
12) eBay – There are several coupon clippers that sell their services and send you coupons for a fee. Just
type in the product and the word coupon to see what’s available.
13) Forums – There are several great forums out there to check into. The top ones I’ve found are
WeUseCoupons, HotCouponWorld and AFullCup. You have to register at each of them, but it’s free.
14) Store Websites – Make sure you sign-up for your local store’s loyalty programs and register at their
websites so you can get emailed coupons. You can also sign-up to have them pre-loaded at Shortcuts or
Cellfire.
15) Phone Book – Don’t forget to check your phone book for coupons for your local area businesses.
16) Entertainment Books – The Entertainment books have coupons for restaurants, entertainment,
retail stores, etc.
How to Organize Coupons
1) Coupon Binder – This is some form of zippered/closed binder that they put “baseball card sleeves” in
to hold the coupons. The coupons are “clipped” and folded into the slots of the sleeves so that you can
just flip through your coupons page by page.
2) Coupon Box – This is some form of box where the “clipped” coupons are usually kept in some type of
labeled envelope system. If you go with this method, I’d highly advise a box with a secure lid! Usually,
when they shop, the box is put in the child seat of the cart for easy access.
3) Coupon Insert Method – This is where the coupon inserts from the Sunday paper are kept intact, and
either not clipped or partially clipped, and filed by week. Usually an expandable file folder that has tabs
for labeling is used.
I currently use the Coupon Insert Method. Now you may ask, if you don’t clip all the coupons, how can
you possible use them? Good question! It’s important to know what coupons are out, so each Sunday,
I’ll flip through all my inserts to see what I think I might need. I clip those right away. I then label each
insert with that week’s date, so this Sunday’s inserts would be 7/12/09 SS, 7/12/09 RP and/or 7/12/09
P&G, if there was one. I’ll then file them.
Typically my blog will list where you can find the coupon needed for a deal. They say something like,
“Use the $1/1 from the 7/12 Smart Source.” I’ll then go to the 7/12Smart Source insert, find the coupon
and clip it. It saves me from having to clip out all those coupons, but I still have them handy in case I can
get a good deal on something.
The disadvantage to this method is that you don’t have all your coupons with you when you shop. But I
look at it this way, while I may miss out on a clearance item or two; it also prevents me from “impulse
shopping” and buying something that’s not on my list. I can always jot down the deal and take a chance
at picking it up later in the week if I’m out again.
Now, if you make up your shopping list and you are buying, say Skippy Peanut Butter and Hunt’s
Ketchup, you can go to one of the coupon databases out there and see if a coupon exists for those
products.
Like I said, there’s no one right way to organize coupons. You may even switch over time. I’ve tried all of
them! Personally, I hate cutting out coupons and I have little spare time, so that’s why I stick with the
coupon insert method now.
Walgreens, CVS, and Stacking Coupons
WALGREENS & CVS INFO
One of the ways to save with coupons is to combine them with the deals going on at stores. Walgreens
Rite Aid and CVS each has their own programs that give you, what I call, paper cash. They will print out
on/after your receipt and they are like cash (with exclusions!) that can be used on future purchases.
Once you fully understand how each stores’ program works, you’ll really be able to start saving BIG! I’ll
try and outline each of the “basics” for each store.
WALGREENS 101
1) Walgreens puts out their own store coupons. These are usually in their ads or sometimes you’ll find
them throughout the store. These will say Walgreens coupon—and no where on it will it say
manufacturer’s coupon. When you find coupons, such as these, you can “stack” them with a
manufacturer’s coupon for the same product.
2) Walgreens will have weekly and monthly items that when purchased, will produce a Catalina called
“Register Rewards” (RRs) that can basically be used like cash on your next order. But there a few
important things to understand about them:
a) Some exclusions do apply, such as they can’t be used on gift cards, stamps, alcohol, etc.
b) Some RRs are rolling, some are not. By rolling, this means you can repeat the same transaction over
and over and another RR will print. Usually, you can only use one from the same manufacturer. In those
cases, if you were to do the same transaction again, an RR wouldn’t print.
c) You need to spend more than the value of the RR. For example, if you have a $10RR, you’d need to
spend at least $10.01 when you checkout.
d) An RR is considered a coupon. When you check-out, you must have as many items as you do coupons.
So if you are “stacking” coupons and have two for any particular item, you must make sure that you
have another item that doesn’t have a coupon in order to use it. Also, since they are considered to be
coupons, when Walgreens puts out one of their $$ off coupons, such as their “$5 off $25 purchase
coupons,” the amount of the RR must be discounted before the $25 total.
3) When you hand over your coupons, the order you hand them over is important. There is nothing
wrong with using RRs, store coupons and manufacturer’s coupons all at once, they just should be in this
order: RRs first, then manufacturer’s coupons then store coupons.
4) Register Rewards typically have a two week expiration date. So don’t lose money by forgetting to use
them!
5) Currently, “competitors” will take Register Rewards slips that say “Manufacturer’s Coupon” on them.
(Jewel, Dominick’s, CVS.) But always ask at the Customer Service desk of stores to be sure.
6) Ideally, what you want to do is keep “rolling” Register Rewards for other items (of a different
manufacturer) that print out Register Rewards.
How Deals Will Look On My Blog for Walgreens
If you get big into couponing, you’ll want to follow a few blogs. They’ll help you find some really great
deals and break them out for you on what coupons to use, etc. Here are a few examples of what a
Walgreens deal would look like:
Buy 1 St. Ives Body Wash at $2.99, Get $2.99 Register Rewards
*Use $1.50/1 coupon from 5/10 Smart Source insert
FINAL PRICE = Free plus $1.50 in overage after coupon and Register Reward
In that instance, you’ll pay $1.49 plus tax if you have the coupon. After you pay, a Register Rewards slip
will print out for $2.99. You can then use this on your next purchase that is NOT a St. Ives product.
Buy 8 select Dove Products, Get $10 Register Rewards
*Deal Idea*
Buy 8 Dove Bar Soaps (2-packs)–on sale for $2.24 each
*Use 8 – $1/1 Dove Face Care coupons from the 5/17 or 6/7 RedPlum inserts
Spend $9.92 plus tax out of pocket, Get $10 Register Rewards
FINAL PRICE = Free after coupons and Register Rewards
In this instance, you’ll pay $9.92 plus tax if you had the 8 coupons. After you pay, a Register Rewards slip
will print out for $10. You can then use that on your next purchase that is NOT a Dove product. If you
had bought the St. Ives prior to this, you could have used the $2.99 Register Rewards on this purchase
and only paid $6.93 plus tax out of pocket and received the $10 Register Rewards. (See what I mean
about “rolling?”)
CVS 101
Before you can start getting deals at CVS, you’ll need a CVS card. If you don’t have one, just ask at the
register for a form to fill out and they’ll give you a card that same day when you turn the form in.
1) CVS has a program called “Extra Care Bucks” that will generate “paper cash” on the bottom of your
receipt that you can use on your next purchase. Again, there are exclusions that do apply, such as the
ECBs can’t be used on gift cards, postage stamps, etc. With the ECB program, you also earn a certain
percentage of your purchase, currently 2% that you will receive quarterly.
2) Whenever you checkout, you’ll need to have them scan your CVS card to get the prices that are
advertised and for the ECBs to print. (Remember, the ECBs are on the bottom of your receipt—so don’t
throw it away!)
3) Like Walgreens, CVS has their own store coupons. These can be “stacked” with manufacturer’s
coupons on the same item. Unlike Walgreens, though, you do not need as many items as you have
coupons.
4) In some CVS stores, there is a machine where you can scan your card and extra coupons will print out.
If you have one of these machines, make sure you always scan your card before shopping. You might
receive a coupon for $$ off your purchase or on a better product that may alter your shopping “game
plan.”
5) Each week/month, CVS puts out certain items that will produce the ECBs. Except for the general ECB
exclusions, you can use these on anything and keep “rolling” deals, buying the same thing over and over.
BUT you must always check the limits on deals in the ads. Some will not list a limit. Others will say limit
1. Some may even say limit of 5. Your CVS card will keep track of what you buy so there’s no sneaking in
an extra item if you’ve reached your limit. At the bottom of your receipt, it will list what you’ve bought
and if you’ve reached the limit for that deal. So keep track of your receipts.
6) The amount of your purchase must be higher than the value of your ECB. For example, if you have an
ECB for $5, your purchase must be at least $5.01.
How Deals Will Look On My Blog for CVS
Buy 1 Crest Pro-Health Toothpaste, Rinse, or Oral B Floss at $2.99, Get $2 ECBs (Limit 1)
*Use $0.50/1 coupon from the 6/7 P&G insert
FINAL PRICE = $0.49 after coupon and ECBs
In the instance above, you’ll spend $2.49 plus tax out of pocket, if you have the coupon. After you
checkout, an ECB for $2 will be on the bottom of your receipt that you can use on your next order. Now,
since this is only a limit of 1, you cannot buy this deal again and have the ECBs print out.
Buy 1 Schick Quattro Titanium Razor or Trimmer at $7.99, Get $3 ECBs (Limit 3)
*Use $4/1 coupon from the 4/19 RedPlum insert
FINAL PRICE = $0.99 after coupon and ECBs
In the instance above, you’ll spend $3.99 out of pocket, if you have the coupon. After you checkout, an
ECB for $4 will be on the bottom of your receipt. Since this deal is a limit of 3, you could buy this deal
two more times and ECBs will print out. If you ran the Crest deal before this one, you could have used
the $2 ECB on this order, making your total out of pocket only $1.99 plus tax. This is called “Rolling
ECBs.”
OTHER STORES THAT STACK COUPONS
One of the ways to get a really great deal is to be able to “stack” store and manufacturer coupons for
the same item. This may sound weird to you but this is how it works – the store pays for the one coupon
and the manufacturer for the other. This is why you can “stack.” (Otherwise, it is illegal to use more than
one coupon on the same item.) The thing to always remember for a “store” coupon to really be a STORE
coupon—no where on the coupon can it say “Manufacturer’s coupon” as some will list a store but state
that. Here are a few other stores, in addition to Walgreens and CVS that stack:
TARGET – They have coupons on Target.com or through Target Generators on other sites.
RITE AID – They have coupons on Riteaid.com and you watch videos called Video Values. You can stack
these coupons with manufacturer coupons.