Newbie HELP please

[divamommaof4]

I am so confused I have read so many post and I am still not sure what to do. I know I have to collect coupons. Then when I go to spend them do I use 2-4 of the same ones at a time and how does it make it free? This is what is confusing. I am not sure how you use more than one at a time. Sorry if this is a stupid question but I want to start stockpiling being I have 4 kids and 5 dogs so every penny counts. any advice would be great ful
Thank you

[lamezquita0308]

Hi there, i'm not a professional at this either but i have some advice.

Say you shop at Walgreens, and they have a store coupon in one of the savings books in the store, and you have a manfactureres coupon for the same item, you can use them both, its called stacking. Target is the same way, you can use a Target q and a manufacteres q and get double the savings.

Hope this helps.

[clevermom2004]

At Walgreens you can use (1) manufacter coupon and (1) store coupon(in ad coupon, Instant Value Coupon IVC from the monthly coupon booklets.) on (1) item to make them free. You can not use (2) manufacter coupons one (1) item.

You can also buy an item and get the purchase price back in Register Rewards RR making it free.
At CVS you buy an item and get the purchase price back in an extra care buck ECB making it free

when you have coupons for the free offers it makes it a MM Moneymaker. You'll just have to read the sticky's. they are very helpful. Hope that helps a little

[isis]

First off Welcome!

When you use coupons, its 1 item per purchase (not including stacking with store coupons). So if you have 5 items, you can use 5 manufacturer coupons. You cannot use 5 coupons on 1 item, and I think that is what may be confusing you?

Some members have grocery stores that double coupons, therefore netting them free items. Lets say Item X is on sale $1.00 and they have a .50/1 coupon, the register will double another .50 for $1.00 savings, making item X free.

In the beginning, it can be overwhelming, but if you stick with it, you'll be a pro in no time! Just keep reading and ask questions if you don't understand or not sure about something.

[Shadowchasy]

I am so confused I have read so many post and I am still not sure what to do. I know I have to collect coupons. Then when I go to spend them do I use 2-4 of the same ones at a time and how does it make it free? This is what is confusing. I am not sure how you use more than one at a time. Sorry if this is a stupid question but I want to start stockpiling being I have 4 kids and 5 dogs so every penny counts. any advice would be great ful
Thank you

Hi and welcome to HCW...so glad you are here. The previous posters are correct in what they are telling you.

1) start with one store and get the hang of that one before moving on. Get the sale paper for your local grocery store, check the forum for that chain here under "Grocery". Check with your local store to see if they double or triple coupons and if there is a limit on how many.

2) Make a list of items you need, then look to see if you have coupons for that item. Pull the coupons if you have them and put in an envelope with store name.

You wont learn everything over night it takes time to learn, but you will get there and please feel free to PM me or any other Mod with questions

[tmsmalley]

First off, you can't always get things free, especially when you're just starting out so take that idea out of your head. You can however, easily get things for a lot less, and sometimes for free.

The magic formula is coupon+sale+stockpile. There are two types of coupons, manufacturer coupons and store coupons. You can combine manf coupons and store coupons together and if you can also line those up with a sale- BINGO! There's a really, really cheap whatever. Then, if you have multiple store coupons and multiple manf. coupons, you can use them all together and get 10 cans of corn for .11 instead of buying 1 can at .99 regular price. You have to read the coupons and see if there are limits on how many you can buy (store coupons often say "limit 2" or something, but if it is a really great deal you can make multiple trips at most stores.)

To do this you need several sets of coupons. You can buy multiple copies of the Sunday paper, or get inserts from friends and relatives or trade for ones you want or use a clipping service. Now that you have 10 cans of corn, you can afford to wait until the next sale/coupon combo before you buy more and don't have to rush out and get some tomorrow regardless of cost.

Since there are probably 6 of you in your family, I'd start with 6 papers. DO NOT START THIS WEEKEND OR NEXT because there will be no inserts due to the holiday. Take the coupons out and clip out the ones that your family might actually use. Put the rest aside to trade later or if you decide you really do want to try something you haven't tried before. The more flexible you can be about brands, items, sizes, the better this will go. The organize them alphabetically, by catagory or some other way that makes sense to you. Get the weekly ad for the store near you (check the Grocery forums), make a list of what you want to get and go out and get as many as you can (keeping in mind, your budget, storage space, if you can use it before it goes bad, etc.) of things that are really good deals. Lather, rinse, repeat. Once you've got the grocery store down, move to a drug store (many have special deals but they're more complicated than grocery stores). Then if you want to expand to multiple grocery stores in your area and get 5 things from this one and 3 things from that one, you can (but you don't have to in order to still save a bundle).

Hope this helps you get started.

Tess