As you all know I live in New York. We have a number of major chains. They include A&P, Pathmark, Waldbaums, Shop Rite and Stop & Shop. Some smaller and specialty chains include Trader Joe, Whole Foods, Stu Leonards, Food Emporium, and DeCicco.
All of our major chains accept and double coupons with different limits. Some of them accept internet and competitors coupons as well. Most of these variations are highlighted on the store’s web site or weekly circulars. But I always verify this information before I shop.
For example, if the store is offering a BOGOF sale, I can only use 1 coupon since my stores consider that a single purchase. If the same item is on sale for 2/$6.00 I can use 2 coupons on this particular purchase.
After speaking with lots of good coupon shoppers here in Florida, I found the policies are different. On a BOGOF sale, shoppers here can use 2 coupons.
My point, check the options for your store carefully so you can maximize your savings fully.
This is a topic that deserves some more in depth discussions.
I’ve told you about my organizer with about 20 categories, and separate sections for
• Rainchecks,
• Miscellaneous items like batteries and bulbs,
• Retail coupons i.e. TrueValue, Bed, Bath & Beyond, Old Navy
• Coupons waiting to be filed
This has worked very well for me for the last 35+ years.
But I have seen a few other styles that work well too. In Clermont, FL I met up with Diane. Diane’s organizer was a looseleaf book divided into categories. Her coupons were placed in clear plastic pages, good for baseball cards. Each pocket contained similar coupons. For example in her cereal category I could see her internet, store and manufacturer coupons for Kellogg’s cereal. Upon flipping to toothpaste, I could see all the coupons from various brands saved as well.
Diane flips through the pages as she shops the aisles by categories, and pulls out the matching coupon. She loves her system.
Gina was another attendee. She had a small organizer, about 3” x 7” that she made herself from yellow colored poster board. She stapled the ends together and placed her coupons inside in alphabetical order. Hers fit perfectly inside her handbag so no matter when or where her coupons accompanied her.
The point of all this, is whatever system works for you, that’s the best system. So get your coupons ready and head off to the supermarket and your savings.
A phenomenon that’s only about 30 years old is the warehouse store. There are about 3 or 4 major ones. They include: Costco, BJs, and Sam’s Club, a division of Walmart.
These stores are large enough to be a warehouse, hence the name. They are really bare bones. Most of the store is self-service and items are sold in bulk. Coupons are accepted in a very limited way, and there are rarely any additional store sales. What you see is what you get.
I enjoy an occasional trip to Costco because I enjoy the samples and I have found a few items that are really good buys. For example, the 32 count of Yoo Hoo at $7.49, is much cheaper than anyplace else. Three dozen eggs sell for $2.49, a best buy. But my objection here is some of the bulk buying. A 69oz. box of Cheerios will last too long in my house to maintain its freshness. The 15-roll pack of Bounty paper towels comes out to about $1 a roll. I can do much better at CVS when the 8 pack is on sale for $4.99 or $3.99 with my $1 coupon, just $.50 a roll.
The store flyer is really a wealth of information, savings, and tips. I prefer the hard copy, but lately I have used the online versions as well. The flyer helps me determine my weekly purchases. So I use it before I ever enter the store.
First and most important is the organization of the flyer. It’s divided into the same categories as the supermarket so planning is made easier. Next special coupons and promotions are printed throughout.
The front page usually has all the best sales, sometimes called loss leaders. That means that items are sometimes sold at cost to attract shoppers. On the front page of the Tom Thumb flyer in Dallas, TX, a gallon of milk was selling for $1.49, baby carrots $1 for a pack, a head of lettuce $.77, and $.99 for Quaker granola bars. All fantastic deals.
The inside pages include frozen, beverage, snack, dairy, meat, deli, health and beauty aid specials among others. These are all legitimate sales. But as always some sales are better than others. Take the Quaker granola bars. The regular price is $2.99 each. Some sales are 2 for $4. At $.99 the savings is 66%. Now that’s a great sale and the time to buy.
So knowing the prices for the items you generally buy will help you decide the value of the sale and the reason to make a purchases.
It’s certainly a fact that the checkout is time-consuming. But there are definite ways to speed up the process. Here are some suggestions that have worked for me.
Have your loyalty card ready (if unavailable your phone number usually does the trick.)
Make sure all you coupons are readily available. I like to put each coupon in the front of my file as I pick up the product. That way I never miss a deduction.
Check your coupons-they must match the item exactly. Scanners automatically verify this.
Try and stack similar items on the conveyor belt so the packer can keep all like and perishable items together. This is especially helpful in the summer.
Check your register receipt before leaving the store to make sure you received all the store’s specials. If not, a quick trip to the courtesy desk can resolve these issues.
That’s it. Each trick to save time and money is always worthwhile.
Over my years of couponing and refunding, I’ve come to find that some companies are very consumer friendly. They offer loads of coupons, are responsive to questions, and support community types of projects.
This list is by no means complete, it’s only the tip of the iceberg. You may decide you have an entirely different selection. But as a start, here are a few of my top. Most of these have web sites that offer special promotions. You can add .com to any of your favorites and navigate their web sites too.
Kelloggs/Keebler
Betty Crocker
Hersheys
Unilever
Kraft Foods
General Foods
S.C. Johnson Co.
Green Giant
Del Monte
Vlasic
Dannon
General Mills
Energizer
I’d love to hear your suggestions, drop me a line at: susan@refundlebundle.com
Coupons on the internet are all around us. And with so many consumer friendly sites, we can all share in these savings without much trouble.
First, almost every manufacturer has its own site. Many of these offer coupons and promotions. Often requiring a simple sign up, you’ll receive weekly or monthly e-newsletters with coupon offerings and other promotional updates.
This means you can receive goodies from Kraft, Betty Crocker, General Mills but also from retail outlets like Lord & Taylor, Borders books, TrueValue, and slews of others. The savings are plentiful, and all can be combined with specific store sales. Last year Borders had a 40% coupon on any single item. I was able to get my son Adam the 11 season of Southpark at a good buy.
And just a few weeks ago but old vacuum stopped working. To repair the burnt out motor, the cost was $180 plus tax. I priced out a Hoover Canister vacuum. Every local store was selling it at $299. I took my 20% Bed, Bath and Beyond coupon and paid $239. I saved on the tax too.
To access almost any site, put in the company name and add .com. That should bring you into the world of cyberspace savings.
One last tip, to reduce clutter in your inbox, set up a separate email address for all these individual signups. That way you can view all the savings at once and keep the rest of your emails separate.
For years I have used Store Circulars to alert me to sales and specials. Circulars change weekly, and each local area varies the start date of the sale. For as long as I can remember, our sales always started on Sunday. However, for the past few years, that’s changed. Most of our sales now begin on Friday.
I don’t like this new change for the following reason. Coupon inserts are generally found in the weekend papers. The coupons often correspond to store sales. This translates to shopping without the benefit of the new coupons. I’m not sure why this change has taken place, but for the average shopper this is no benefit.
For me, I like it even less. A few of my local stores have a 4-day weekend special from Friday to Monday. So unless I can wait until Sunday, I lose the benefit of these extra coupon savings.
One interesting phenomenon is that with the advent of the internet Store flyers and other promotions are now on the Store’s web site. My local A&P has the following on their site:
The full sale circular
Coupons downloaded directly to my loyalty card
A shopping list I can customize from the sales
So put in your store name, add .com and see what benefits you can glean from your store’s site
Way back in June I shopped at a Sweetbay Supermarket for a TV show in Tampa, FL. Sweetbay offering varied types of community programs thought a coupon seminar would be another great outreach program for their shoppers. So here I am in Florida visiting 8 Sweebay markets.
We completed 3 seminars so far, but we have 5 more scheduled so I thought I’d list them here and hopefully some of you can find time to attend. Sweetbay is also giving out a $5 gift card for their store to all those in attendance.
Monday, October 19, 4 PM: Bonita Springs Store: 8951 Bonita Springs Rd. & US 41, Bonita Springs
Tuesday, October 20, 11 AM: Golden Gate Store: 4995 Golden Gate Parkway, Naples
Wednesday, October 21, 5 PM: Santa Barbara Store: 4015 Santa Barbara Blvd., Naples
At the seminars I’ve seen some great coupon organizers and picked up lots of tips about couponing policies here in Florida. If you get a chance I’d love to see some of you too. Come over and say hello.
