Savings For ATL Moms – Couponing Basics including coupon lingo! Where to find coupons? How to organize your coupons? How to read coupons? Let’s move on into Day
#3.
to find coupons?
Everywhere!
Coupons are practically everywhere and I love it when I find a great
coupon. You can also find them in Sunday Newspaper inserts, stores
in blinkies {small red machines in the aisles of grocery stores}, on product
items as “peelies” {you can peel these right off the product and sometimes you
can use them immediately at checkout}, Friends, Neighbors, Peelies are
also found on display boards {can peel off the coupon and use immediately or on
your next trip}, Facebook {product company pages}, Ebay (be careful of counterfeit
coupons), Insert wholesalers, In store sample displays, Sample products, online
at grocery/product websites, store websites, mail {Value Pak}, Catalinas-paper
coupons printed when you check out at the grocery store that you can use on the
next grocery trip. I have even found some great coupons in magazines
{Ebony, Better Homes & Garden, All You- sold only in Walmart, Food
magazines, etc.}. Take a look around your environment to see where you
can find coupons. You can even get coupons from Simple Savings For ATL Moms. If you have time, you can view my Extreme Coupon Resource page for additional Coupon Clippers. You may just be surprised.
sell a great organizing system here at SSFAM. Go here to view this great system. Having your coupons cut and
in one entire location can be very helpful when you are in the store and see a
sale or clearance item and do not have to worry about going home to get the coupon
and come back to the store. You have all of your coupons right with you
and when you are planning your shopping trips, you can pull the coupons you do
want to use and place them in the front area of the coupon binder for easier
access. In addition, you can store other items in your coupon
binder. For example, store coupon policies, scissors, calculator, pens,
sticky notes, ipad, etc. A con to having a coupon binder is that
sometimes it can get heavy depending on how many coupons you have in it. When I
go on major shopping trips, I carry mine. You can see a picture of my red
beauty below. It is filled with all kinds of coupons that I need including my
business cards. It is a Case-It binder and has a very neat handle and shoulder
strap.
Free method ~ These
are great for storing your coupon inserts if you prefer to not clip your
coupons {get your inserts, write the date on the front and then file in an
accordion folder or hanging file folders and arrange by date or month}. I use this method mostly. If you are
considering a monthly filing method that I follow of monthly inserts for Red
Plum, Smart Source, P&G, General Mills, Kroger Mailers, Restaurants, this
may be a great method for you. A Con to this method is not having all of
your coupons with you during a shopping trip but you can keep your case in the
trunk of your car if you need it or just plan to have your coupons on your next
shopping trip.
method to use for quick trips to the grocery store or pharmacy and you have a
special time limit but want your coupons organized. It is also nice that
it can fit inside your purse or you can just hold it in your hand. These
are also for sale here at SSFAM.
print {coupon wording} on the coupon? Is it important?
you if there are limitations to using the coupon or if you can just use as many
as you want. It tells the store on where to mail all the coupons they
receive for their reimbursement. It is important to pay attention and
read the wording on the coupon so that you are using the coupon
correctly. Look at some of the below wording you may see on a coupon.
coupon per purchase – means you can use one coupon per product for each
transaction. If you have 25 coupons for $1.00 off 1 box of any Frosted
Flakes cereal and you get 25 boxes of any Frosted Flakes cereal off the shelf,
you can all 25 coupons. Wonderful right? Plus you can build a great
stockpile, donate, etc. No limits but you just need to have the same
equal amount of coupons for the amount of products that you have. *Be sure to
read your store’s coupon policy on any other restrictions.
sure the product is on sale for a deeper discount in saving your money.
coupon per customer – means only one coupon can be used per
customer in that shopping transaction.
sure you have another partner with the same coupon to purchase in another
shopping transaction and then you will have 2 products.
coupon per Transaction- means you can only use one coupon per individual
product per one transaction {a transaction is when you complete the shopping
and receive the receipt}.
may be able to split your transactions to 2 or more instead of one if you have
more than one coupon. Read the store coupon policy to see if multiple
transactions are allowed at the register. Be mindful of a line developing
behind you and be coupon courteous and friendly. {Let the person behind
you and the cashier know that you are using coupons and have multiple
transactions}
double- means the store will not double the coupon. You will
only get the cents off on the coupon that is shown. For example Save
$0.50 off 1 item (Do not double). The store will only take off $0.50
instead of doubling to the usual $1.00 {0.50 ~coupon cents off + 0.50 ~store match
= $1.00}. The reason manufacture coupons may not allow doubling it is
related to the manufacture not reimbursing the cost of doubling and only giving
the store the face value of the coupon.
you will see a “5” as the first number in the bar code area of the
manufacture coupon. See the example coupon barcode above. Even if the
coupon says do not double (DND) and the store policy allows, it will still
double. On the other hand, if the coupon barcode has a “9” as
the first number, it will not double.
Limit per
“like” item, per shopping trip- means you can only use a limited number
of coupons for the same product. For example, if the coupon reads limit 4
coupons for Gain Fabric Sheet. You can only use 4 coupons for a total of
4 packages of Gain Fabric Sheets in one transaction.
*SSFAM Savings tip with this coupon- You may
be able to split the transactions {complete one purchase and start a new
purchase} and purchase 4 more Gain Fabric Sheets in another transaction.
Then you will have a total of 8 {Bam! that was super easy right?} Just be sure
to read your coupon and make sure that it does not say limit 4 per transaction
per shopping trip. This would mean that you are only able to use 4
coupons for the product and not split any transactions on the same day.
You would either go to another store or come back to the same store on another
day.
have some fun and take a look at all these fancy digits and I will be glad to
tell you what they mean. When you look below at the diagram, you will see a
total of 12 digits.
The Barcode
is a number systems character (NSC) of “5” identifies that the
coupon is indeed a coupon. If you see “99” it is another coupon NSC
prefix that means the coupon will not double. Pretty simple right?
Manufacturer ID – is identical to the manufacture
number on the product itself. It is usually not specific to one variety or
flavor of the product.
Family code– is assigned by the manufacture
for each of their products. It is the key to the store that lets them
know that the coupon is being used on the right product {this is another reason
why it is important to read your coupon and make sure you have the right product}.
000– will not beep on any product if
the manufacture codes match.
XX0-any code with 1 zero at the end
means the coupon can be used for more than one variety or flavor of the
product.
X00 – Any code with 2 zeros at the end can be used for more than one
product in the brand line.
992 – The coupon will beep every time or not beep regardless of
the purchase. Most retailers have programmed their registers to beep
every time the 992 code is used to help in the prevention of fraud and
encourages the cashier to check the coupon to make sure it is product being
purchased is correct.
code and value code (total of 5 digits) above the bar code symbol.
Value code– identifies the redemption value
of the coupon. It simply tells the register how many products need to be
bought and how much to deduct off the total price. Here are a few common
amounts. For a complete list, you can go here.
00- Manual Input from “cashier”
01-
FREE Item (manual input usually required)
02-B4G1
Free
14-B1G1
Free (Tags to both products and if you use another cents or $ off coupon with
it, it will usually beep)
20-$0.20
24-
$0.50
30-$0.30
40-
$0.40
50-$0.50
55-$0.55
75-
$1.00
99-$0.99
98-B2
$0.65
Disclaimer- I am not a code coupon specialist and just
want to share some great ways to read your coupon. In no way do I condone
copying or creating any coupons as this would be fraud. Have fun with your
coupons and use them with common sense.
Check digit-The 12th digit which is the check
digit is calculated based on the preceding 11 digits.
important tip to remember is to read the coupon for any limitations on using
the coupon. If you get confused, come back here and ask the question on
how to use it before taking it to the store or take your coupon to the store
but up to the customer service desk and ask the manager or supervisor. Also,
try not to damage your coupons in any way. You want the bar code to be
easily read and able to scan.
