Help any advice for someone in Washington State?

[lvham]

Hi, I am wanting to start couponing. I have done some research but don't see that much from people here in Washington State. Is there anyone out there that is successful here in Washington State? Any tips, pointers, advice on how to get started here. Thanks, Linda

[motherofmolly]

i am not in your area, but what stores do you have? go to the store forums (main page) and then find your local stores there. you will find more helpful information there based on stores in your area.

i tell every new person, pick your local pharmacy store (cvs/wags/rite aid) and start there. this will get your biggest bang with the high priced items you need (shampoo, toothpaste, razors etc). at the same time, start adding in coupons to your grocery shopping. (buy noodles with a coupon, toss in some for cereal etc)....once you start to get the hang of it, start getting in on stockpiling those items that are on sale that are non perishable.

dont forget about printable coupons too (siggy link for sister site)

[Gardencook]

Greetings from Idaho! I might be able to fill you in on a little bit. I'm not in Washington any longer, but grew up there and am acquainted with the stores. As a matter of fact, last week I just flew back home from spending a few weeks there.
Since I don't know which stores you shop the most, I'll give you a short rundown on each. Don't try to learn all the store policies at once or you'll get overwhelmed! It's best to pick a store, study the policies and then get comfortable with it.
If you are looking for someone to guide you through a few sales, PM me and I'll try to help all I can. We've got quite a few of your stores here and a few that we wish we still had!

WinCo generally has the lowest prices on groceries overall, but doesn't offer mega-sales or double coupons. Your best bet is to look for Green Tag Specials. The Green tags on the shelf indicate a special sale price and are sometimes really low. They have a lot of them right as you enter the store, but there are others scattered throughout the store if you look for them. Combined with a MQ, you can sometimes land a much better deal than anywhere else.
WinCo watches competitor prices closely, and will often drop merchandise to a couple cents lower. Around here, it is where you will generally find the best produce prices, but produce is a LOT cheaper over your way!
Until recently, WinCo would not take IP (printable) coupons, but it seems to be changing its policy at most stores. It does NOT offer Catalinas that print out at the register.
It does NOT print advertisements (except for special promotions like new store openings) and you never know when Green tag specials will start or end.
WinCo cash registers are set to require manager approval if you use a larger than normal number of coupons. Overall, I try not to use a huge wad of coupons at any store, as it is usually asking for problems. As a new couponer, you're best off using just a few at a time until you get the hang of it. So far, even if the register has required manager approval, they've been good about it.
QFC is now Kroger owned. I don't know much about its sales. Some Kroger stores seem to pick up on SOME of the Kroger mega-sales (although ours have higher prices), while other stores keep a more individual personality after acquisition.
I believe QFC does have a fuel program that offers you a fill-up with a 10 cent a gallon discount for every $100 in sales on your loyalty card. I'm not sure whether or not you pay higher grocery prices without the card. We have two Kroger chains here, each with a different policy.
Kroger offers digital Qs that can be loaded from the store's website directly onto you loyalty card. Those automatically come off your receipt when you purchase the product.
Kroger stores also offer some really good Catalina Qs from time to time, but I never have been able to figure out how they decide who gets them. They also print out Catalina alerts about cashback Q promotions they are offering on products they think might interest you.
Safeway -- You need a loyalty card to shop here or you will pay higher prices. Safeway has GREAT books full of manufacturer Qs that come out every so often. They are often Qs you can't get anywhere else.
Safeway usually runs double coupons in its ad. Each will each double one Q up to 50 cents. Other regions of the country allow unlimited Qs, but generally not in the Pacific Northwest. We don't have Safeway here any longer and sure miss it!
Walmart -- This store matches competitor ad prices, so if you you can prove something is on sale at another store, it will match it. However, Walmart won't take competitor double coupons. The store has recently revised its policy to give you the overage on Qs when they occur. That means if you have a Q for $3 and Walmart is selling the item for $2, you will get the extra $1 off your total purchase. Many clerks don't seem aware of the change yet, so it's a good idea to print out the Walmart Q policy from the website and carry it with you.
Albertson's -- Make sure you get a loyalty card to shop here! You will be charged higher prices without one. Also, make sure to sign up for e-mails on the website. Every week you will get extra Qs, sent only to e-mail subscribers.
The store does a really good job of alerting you to sales which might interest you based on your past purchases. It also occasionally prints out special Catalina Qs at the register based on your buying habits. Occasionally, you'll get a flier in the mail with extra coupons -- also matched to your past purchases.
The store sometimes offers three double coupons -- usually in a separate flyer in the Sunday newspaper. Those work for three days. Rarely, it will offer the coupons in the weekly ad (Tuesday or Wednesday -- depending on your newspaper) and those will usually run for seven days.
The double coupons don't show up on any sort of regular schedule.
With each doubler you can double one coupon up to $1 in value. If you purchase an item for $1.99 and use a $1 coupon with a doubler, most stores will take the $1 MQ and give you 99 cents on your doubler -- giving you the product free. Our store refuses to take the doubler on that item, charging us 99 cents. You have to find out what the policy is at each store.
As a tip -- DO NOT do what the gal did at the Idaho Albertson's on "Extreme Couponing" the other night! She made them ring up 18 separate orders, each with three double Qs -- all in one shopping trip. If you try, they will most likely show you the door when the camaras aren't around. Our store already resents couponers enough!
Albertson's often has Catalina cash back offers giving a certain amount on your next purchase or free milk if you buy particular products. You can do REALLY well on some of those offers -- if they have the stock on hand. Our store often doesn't and it is a REAL problem.
Generally, Albertson's offers require you to reach a particular dollar amount AFTER coupons -- not before. (Although they did recently offer one on ConAgra products that was BEFORE Qs.) If you are required to buy $30 and coupons bring you down to $29.99, you will NOT get the Cat. Also, if you use a Q that gives you something free (such as produce) for buying Product X, the value of the Q will register as coming off Product X and NOT the produce, once again, giving you a hassle getting your Cat.
Washington sales are a bit different than Idaho's at Albertson's, so I'm not sure if you have the big Catalina back sale or not. Here Albertson's is offering $1 Catalinas good on your next shopping purchase when you buy all sorts of items, including Purex Laundry softener crystals. The ad claims there are NO LIMITS.
Since there are $2 Purex Qs right now, if you can find it in stock, you can purchase the softener for $2.99, use a $2 Q and get a $1 Cat for you next purchase.
Some people "roll" those onto their next laundry softener purchase, in effect getting paid $1 for each bottle. Our store was out on the first day of the sale, is not restocking and will not give rainchecks on the Catalina. They do that constantly around here!
Walgreen's -- Motherofmolly's tip about Walgreen's is great. We don't have CVS and Riteaid pulled out of here a few years back, so I don't follow their sales.
The Portland,OR/Vancouver,WA Walgreen's are on a different program than the rest of the country, so don't get as many Register Rewards, but do get reward certificates with a loyalty card.
I think up in the Seattle area, you get about the same offers as we get. The deals vary from one week to the next, but they are always shown in the ads which run each Sunday.
Quite often, Walgreen's will give you the purchase price of a product back in RRs, and if you can match that with a MQ, you can actually make money on the deal.
If you purchase something on a Buy one Get one free offer at WAGS the official store policy is to allow you to use two coupons, not just one.
WAGS will NOT give you the overage on an item if the Q value is higher than the product price, although you are supposed to get the item free. That means if you purchase something for 75 cents and use a $1 Q, the clerk is supposed to adjust the Q to 75 cents when ringing it in or the cash register will beep.
In practice a LOT Of Walgreen's clerks don't know how to do this and will try to shove the Q back saying they can't accept it. It is good to have Walgreen's Q policy printed out to show them if this occurs.
Happy shopping! LMK if you want a few tips on individual sales I might know about!

[lvham]

Hello, thank you so much for your help. You mentioned not to forget about printable coupons (siggy site sister link) I don't know what that means. Can you help there?

Thank you, Linda

[lvham]

Thank Gardencook for all your tips I appreciate it so much. You broke down a lot. Thank you. I am sure I will be asking a lot of questions as I go along. Thank you again.

Linda

[Gardencook]

Motherofmolly is talking about a link in her "siggy" -- short for signature (at the end of her post.) You can go there and print coupons.
Instant print coupons are generally manufacturer Qs that can be printed out on your home computer and used at stores.
Target also has IPs that are store Qs. Target and Walgreen's will both allow you to "stack" store Qs with a manufacturer Q for better savings. It gets a bit confusing for a newbie to tell the difference between a MQ and a store Q, so read the fine print to see what sort of Q you are looking at. But if you have a store Q for $1 and a MQ for $2, at those stores you can use them together to get $3 off a product. You can't EVER use two MQs on the same product, but you can generally use two MQs, if you buy two of the same product at once. (Unless the fine print specifically prohibits it.)
There is a lot of coupon fraud going on with IPs right now, so some stores tend to be leary of them. Walgreen's here insists the Qs have to be printed in color, not black and white -- even though the Qs generally say they can be printed in black and white on them.
If you print Qs from a legitimate site like Coupons.com, Smartsource.com, or Redplum.com, the coupons will have a unique serial number on them that can be traced back to the hard drive of your computer. They also have "watermarks" that help the stores identify that the Qs are legitimate and prevent photocopying.
All You Magazine is affiliated with Coupons.com, but has some exclusive Qs, not offered on the Coupons.com site.
Most IPs allow you to print two of the same Q, but each will have a unique serial number on it. Don't EVER photocopy a Q to make extra copies. That is illegal.
Manufacturer sites also have a lot of Qs for their products. A lot of them will link to a site which will print a serial number onto your Q, like the other sites.
Some manufacturers are still using PDF Qs on their sites. Because there is so much fraud, you have more trouble cashing those at some stores.
As a newbie, you're best off printing coupons from a reliable site with serial numbers or straight off the manufacturer sites.
If you find a coupon on some off-sounding site, that doesn't have the manufacturer's name in the web address -- be careful.
The Database here on HCW as links to a LOT of great legitimate IP Qs! Just keep in mind that a lot of the great Qs that show up on Coupons.com and other sites, have a print limit and once a certain number of people have printed it out, the Q will vanish. It is REALLY frustrating, because some manufacturers seem to be playing games, offering really low print limits and the Qs vanish in no time at all.
If you find a great Q and want it, you'd better print it quickly, because it might not be there later.
Hope that helps!

[vickilmp]

where in washington are you located? I am in everett, and we have a coupon club here i started over a year ago..30 of us...if close by, we would love for you to come to our meetings, and we are happy to help out...great info about all the stores from gardencook...our safeways here do NOT double coupons, but i hear they do more in south washington...welcome!!

[lvham]

Thank you for letting me know about your meetings in Everett, little bit of a distance for me. I live in Kent, and right now I am driving, I have been home ill for a while now.

But thank you so much. Linda

[lvham]

Thank you for helping me with some of the meanings and where to look. I appreciate that very much.

Linda

[Gardencook]

Glad to help! Getting into couponing is a bit intimidating at first, but after awhile it becomes second nature. The frustrating part is when you get to know more about coupons than the cashiers, know you are doing something completely legitimate and can't make them understand.
Before long you'll be finding all sorts of bargains and wishing you had been doing it all along.