More Coupon LINGO !!!

Isn't funny how everything we do has a shortcut or a quick way of discussing ?? Well when you get into the habit of looking at various sites you will notice sometimes that you need an abbrv. dictionary. Here is a simple list of hings you may see..so that you can UNDERSTAND what is being said ..

This is some basic coupon lingo.  We use these throughout the website!

BOGO – Buy One Get One Free

Blinkie – SmartSource machine with a red blinking light on it. Coupons from those machines are referred to as ‘Blinkies’

BRICKS – “Bricks” coupons are internet printable coupons. If you print a “bricks” coupon, you will know based on a picture of a computer/printer with a small blinking dot as it sends the information to your printer. You can only print 1 of these coupons, however what you might not know is if you hit your back button 3 times after it is sent to the printer it will generally print a second copy of the coupon for you! If you want additional copies then you will need to use another IP address.

CAT – Coupon that prints from a Catalina machine at the register

DEAD – Refers to a dead deal, or that the offer is no longer valid

DND – Do Not Double

ECB – Extra Care Buck (earned at CVS)

ES – Easy Saver, as in Walgreens rebate booklet

Exp – Expires on

GM – General Mills Insert, a booklet of coupons that appears in newspapers every month or two.

HBA – Health & Beauty Section in the store

HOT - Hot Deal

INSERTS – Coupons found in the Sunday paper

IP – Internet Printable coupon

IVC – Instant value coupons – as in Walgreen’s rebate booklet

MEGA – Discount at a Kroger store sale when you purchase qualifying products

MQ – Manufacturer Coupon

MIR – Mail In Rebate

NED – No Expiration Date

NT WT – Net Weight

OOP – Out Of Pocket

OOS – Out of Stock

OYNO -On Your Next Order

P&G – Proctor & Gamble (Sunday Booklet Coupons)

Peelie – Coupon found attached to a product. You have to peel it off.

POP – Proof of purchase

Q – Coupon

RC – Rain-check

Rolling – Means that the coupon prints from the date you print so your expiration date is based on the date you print it.

RP – Red Plum (Sunday Insert Coupons) (formerly Valassis)

RR – Register Reward from Walgreens – This is a manufacturer coupon
Run -  After you have done your matching, going to the grocery store to use your coupons

SAHM – Stay At Home Mom

SCR – Rite Aid Single Check Rebate

SS – Smart Source (Sunday Insert Coupons)

STACKING – Using both a manufacturer and store coupon on the same product (if store allows).
Stockpiling -  Is a pile or storage location for bulk materials.  In this case meaning groceries, personal care or household products.

DOUBLE – A coupon that a store doubles the face value

TEARPAD – A pad of rebates/coupons found hanging from a store shelf or display

TRIPLE – A coupon that a store triples the face value

UPC – Universal Product Code, barcode on the product

WYB – When You Buy

YMMV – Your Mileage May Vary (“Worked for me, may not work for you”)

Where do I find COUPONS ?????

Where to find Coupons?

The first thing you should start doing is collecting your coupons. You should be focused on this for about a month. Even though you don’t have a good stockpile of coupons you can still do deals.  Below  is a summary of the many resources you can use to build your stockpile of coupons.

Newspaper Inserts

One of the most well known resources for coupons are the inserts you can find in your Newspaper. These inserts include hundreds of coupons. Many people ask how many newspapers they should buy. I tend to think you should buy 1 newspaper for every family member. There are 5 of us so I should be buying about 5 papers. You adjust this to what works for you

3 Primary Newspaper Inserts

1. Smartsource -You will see us refer to these as “SS” in the deal matchups.

2. Redplum- You will see us refer to these as “RP” in the deal matchups.

3. Procter & Gamble- You will see us refer to these as “PG” or ”P&G” in the deal matchups.

Sometimes there are other inserts included in the paper like:Kellogs “K”, General Mills “GM” and Betty Crocker “BC”

If you do not have a subscription to the Newspaper yet, you’ll want to get one. It will be well worth it! Most major metropolitan newspapers include coupon inserts. I suggest subscribing to the paper of the largest city in your area. Sometimes local papers contain coupons, but they are often have much less than the large city papers.(this happens to be the case with me!)

Internet Printables

This is one of my favorite ways to build up my stockpile! There are various websites that will allow you to print coupons right from your computer:

Coupons.com

Smartsource

 Redplum

Betty Crocker

Box Tops 4 Education

CoolSavings

Eat Better America

Mambo Sprouts

Target

Here’s a couple tips

Most Internet Printables have a print limit of two coupons per computer. After printing your first coupon just hit the back button on your browser to print another coupon. You might need to click refresh after clicking back.

When I first started couponing I would go to some of these sites and print every coupon I could find! Please don’t do this!  Now sometimes I do print coupons for stuff that I will donate or because I know that I can make money buying the item!

Coupon Printing Software

 Most Internet Printing websites will require you to download their coupon printing software. If you are on a legit coupon printing website (all of those listed above) it will not harm your computer. There are thousands of people all over the country who use these websites to print coupons.

Store Coupons

Store Coupons are great because they can be combined with manufacturer coupons (at most stores) to make for some awesome deals! Store Coupons will state the store name at the top of the coupon instead of Manufacturer coupon, so for example Publix store coupons say “Publix Coupon” at the top.Look out for these coupons in the following places:

•  Newspaper Inserts
• Store Ads
• In stores
•  Home Mailers
• Online

e-Coupons

eCoupons are great because they can be stacked on top of Store coupons and sometimes manufacturer coupons!  You just load them right on to your store savings card saving you ink and  time! When you check out at the store the coupons are automatically deducted from your total!  Here are some resources for eCoupons:

•  Shortcuts
•  Cellfire
• P&G eSaver

How Should I Organize My Coupons?

Accordion Method
This is the method I use and would recommend! I really hate cutting coupons and feel like this system works the best for me. All I do when I get my newspaper insert is write the date on the front and file it by date. It is that simple! No clipping, no sorting, no nothing! When I need to find a particular coupon all I need to do is search for the insert type(ie:SS 9/25) pull it and cut out the coupon I need.
Here are some examples:

After I figure out which coupons I will be using I  put them into my small coupon holder which is organized by store. I also keep Free item coupons in here, my register rewards,ecb’s,Ups Rewards and Gift Cards. I bring this little organizer everywhere with me and it fits in my purse! They are fairly cheap and easy to find at Walmart.

Coupon Binder
This method is too time consuming for me but works well for others! For this method you will need a sturdy binder and the plastic sheets that are intended to hold baseball cards. Coupons are trimmed and placed in these sheets to give users a terrific coupon filing system. You can separate your binder by department (canned good, dairy, frozen, household etc.)

Here is an example:

Rite Aid 101

Rite Aid has a great system in place to save you tons of money!  There is a rebate system that gives you back a set amount on select items called Single Check Rebates, Video Values, Wellness+ card that earns +UP and other rewards.

Single Check Rebates

Throughout the month Rite Aid will have select items that give a rebate back when you purchase them. The rebate could be the full value of the item or a partial value. The rebates will have a specific date so watch them.

We usually refer to the Single Check Rebates as SCR for short. If you see -$4 SCR  in the matchup, it means you will get a $4 rebate when you buy the item.
You just sign up online for the program. Then at the end of the month you can submit for those rebates either online or via mail. The great thing about it is that you don’t have to cut UPC symbols, you just go online and type in your receipt information. Then within 2-3 weeks you receive your rebate in the form of a check you can cash at the bank.
Now lets say you used a coupon to purchase your SCR item. You will still get the full amount of the rebate!!
 Here is an example:
Complete Multi-Purpose Solution – $7.99
$7.99 SCR
Use 2 off coupon 3/6
Final Price:  $2 profit!
You will pay $5.99 for the Contact Solution in the store but when you get your rebate you will be reimbursed $7.99. So in the end you make $2.
**Things to remember**
Most rebates have a limit of one per household. Unless stated otherwise on Slick Housewives, the limit is 1.
If you want to buy a second one, you will need to purchase it in a second transaction and then you will need to set up a Rite Aid account with a different name and address.
In ad coupons for Rite Aid will always say “Manufacturer Coupon” yet they are Rite Aid coupons! They are store coupons and can be used with a  Manufacturer coupon.
Video Values
Rite Aid’s Video Values program allows you to watch short 2-3 minute videos about the latest products, and in return you get to print great coupons out. These are also referred to as “ad perk” coupons.

Rite Aid Wellness + Program

Rite Aid has a new Wellness+ Program.

1. Get your Wellness+ card when you are in Rite Aid.
2. Every time you shop have your card scanned before checking out.
3. Your card will keep track of your points and extra savings.
4. You earn +UP rewards on certain items or purchases.

+UP Rewards

• What are +UP Rewards? +UP’s are “coupons” that print on your receipt after you purchase certain products in the weekly ad. They will print on your receipt immediately after the participating item is purchased. These can be used “like cash” on most items at Rite Aid.
• +UP’s can be used on just about anything in the store except prescriptions, gift cards, tobacco products, alcohol, stamps, or milk.
• You can use as many +UP’s in a transaction as long as your subtotal(pre-tax) doesn’t go into the negative.
• Sometimes we will say “rolling”.  Rolling means using the +UP’s you have already earned to buy items that will give you more +UP’s.
• Let’s say there is a promotion that requires you to buy $15 of a product to earn +UP Reward. You have to reach that total BEFORE coupons!
• You have to purchase the promotion in one transaction. Your rite aid card will not continue to track your purchases.
• All +UP deals are supposed to be a limit of one. I have been able to buy more than the limit of one.

Store PoliciesRite Aid recently made their own rite-aid-official-coupon-policy. If you ever have issues just take it with you!

Price Matching Tips !!

1. Always bring the complete ad in with you & make sure the ad shows the sale dates
2. Check out at customer service- you will more than likely end up there anyway- so why not start there. (they should not refuse to check you out at CS either. You can explain to them why you are there- because you don’t want to wait in 2 lines!)
3. You are entitled to a gift card regardless of a Price Match. There is no rule that states otherwise in their policy to date.  The only time I think this could be argued is if the ad specified you spend a certain amount of $ to get the gift card. So for example if it was Get a $5 GC wyb $10 worth of Oreo Cookies- and Oreo Cookies were $2.00 each at Target, but $1 each at Wags… if you wanted to price match- you would now have to buy 10 packages of Oreos instead of 5 in order to get the gift card.
4. If you are told that you are not entitled to a gift card- ask to speak to the manager. Many problems are solved by requesting a member of management. Not all, of course, but if you are still given a problem about getting your gift card- ask why and could they please show you where it says that you are not entitled to it if you price match.
5. If you feel there may be issues surrounding your purchase because of previous problems- locate the manager before you shop and express your concerns. You may as well know up front if management will refuse you and you get stuck purchasing something you normally wouldn’t if it weren’t for the incentives. But still ask that they validate the refusal by showing you this policy in writing.
6. If you are refused by management- although it is frustrating- my suggestion would be to e-mail corporate. You could call- but a written reponse that corrects the problem, can be printed out and taken to the store and shown to management instead of just taking your word for it.

Target Coupon Policies

Target Coupon Policy*Target will accept one manufacturer’s coupon and one Target Store Coupon for each item unless either coupon prohibits this use.
*A Super Target coupon may be used at ANY Target store as long as the store carries that item.
*Valid Internet Printable coupons are accepted.
*If the item value is less than the coupon value, Target will not give cash back. In this situation the coupon amount may be reduced to meet the price of the product.
*Target does not accept competitor coupons.
You can print the coupon policy out HERE.
Target Price Matching PolicyTarget has a price matching policy which they refer to as a Low Price Promise.  I have listed what I feel are the most important points of this policy, but you may view the full policy HERE.
Target will honor any local retailer’s price published in a printed ad- the following exclusions apply:*Any Online prices, Web-Advertised Prices or Mobile Prices (must be a printed ad)
*Early bird, door busters or other special limited time, limited quantity sales
*Membership club or loyalty programs (no BJs, Costco etc that require a club or loyalty card)
*Coupon-required advertised offers (ie- items advertised with a price AFTER an in-store coupon)
*Prices advertised as a percent off or $ off or BOGO sales
*Items advertised as Clearance or closeout
*Product Service Offers like warranties, assembly, etc.
*Going-out-of-business liquidations
*Non-branded items (some produce, etc)
*Expired Ads
Applying Coupons to Price Matching:
*Target coupons will be applied BEFORE the price match is made. Once the Target Coupon is applied if the price is still lower then the price match will
be made.
*Manufacturer coupons will be applied AFTER the price match is made.

Gift Card DealsGift Card Deals are deals where an incentive of a Gift Card is offered in return for buying a specified product or products. When doing gift card deals be sure you are buying the right items that will prompt the gift card (especially when there are several types/flavors/etc of the product included in the GC Deal). You can verify this by taking your items to one of the price scanners located around the store, and scanning the bar code. If the item is prompting a gift card- it will say so right up on the screen. Gift Cards cannot be used in the same transaction you earned them, however they can be rolled into the next transaction. If you do more than 1 GC Deal in a transaction you WILL receive both Gift Cards.

Common Terminology You May See On Sites

$1/2 etc: One dollar off two items.  The number next to the dollar sign represents the discount and the second number represents the quantity required to receive that discount.
BOGO (or B1G1): Buy One Get One Free
PC: Price Cut
GC: Gift Card
RegP: Regular Price
ETS: Except Trial Size
B2G1: Buy Two Get One Free
MIR: Mail In Rebate
OOP: Out of Pocket. The amount you actually spend.
Q: Coupon
MFR or MQ: manufacturer coupon
TQ: Target Coupon
WYB: when you buy
TMF-Try Me Free. Form that usually require you to mail in proof of purchase for a full refund.
UPC= The bar code that is scanned to determine pricing. Often needed to fulfill MIR’s.
YMMV = Your Mileage May Vary-this means that it may or may not be the case in all instances.
GDA: Good Deal Alert

Types of Coupons

Blinkie: A Coupon found in a Smart Source machine- usually attached to a shelf or freezer- and usually has a blinking light.
CRT: Cash Register Tape- sometimes coupons print out at the bottom
Hangtag: Coupon found hanging from a tag around a bottle or jar.
IP: Internet Printable Coupon
Peelie: Coupon found on the package of a product that can be peeled.
Tearpad -these are coupons that are on a tearpad usually located on a display or shelf near the item.

Types of Coupon Flyers In Sunday Papers !!!

PG: Proctor and Gamble
RP: Redplum
SS: Smart Source
GM: General Mills

CVS-101

When you play the Drugstore Game, utilizing the program to its fullest, you can literally save hundreds of dollars for a very small investment of time to research the CVS deals each week. In fact, I've saved over $700 just in the past month-and-a-half.

Learning the ins and outs of the CVS ExtraCare Program may seem a little daunting at first, but it's really quite simple when you break it down into the following steps.

This post will just tackle the basics of the program to get you started:

Verify that you have a CVS close to you. The easiest way to do this is using the CVS Store Finder. This seems pretty obvious, but with the price of gas these days, you won't be doing yourself any favors if you're offsetting your savings by spending a significant amount of money on fuel.

Sign up for your very own ExtraCare Card. This can be done on CVS.com, or you may sign up in a store. Your best bet is to do it in a store so you can begin using your card immediately. If you choose to sign up online, it will take approximately two weeks to receive your card.

Configure your scenarios. You'll need to pick up a weekly store ad, as well as a monthly store ad. You can find the highlights of the weekly and monthly store ads, along with detailed weekly scenarios, posted right here on Deal Seeking Mom, or you can find the full lists on SlickDeals.net. You do need to be careful with the weekly ads, as they can vary between locations. Scan both ads to find the ExtraCare Bucks offers that most appeal to you. The most lucrative offers are usually the ones that are already free after ExtraCare Bucks (ECBs).

Your ultimate goal is to attempt to create transaction scenarios that actually earn you a profit in ECBs. You can achieve this by reducing your total amount spent out of pocket (OOP) with CVS dollar off coupons (ex. $3 off a $15 purchase), CVS item coupons, and manufacturer coupons. You can actually "stack" one CVS store coupon and one manufacturer coupon per item, and use both in conjunction with a $/$$ coupon.

A great example of this is a recent Adidas Deodorant offer. The deodorant was free after ECBs for the month of May, and there was a coupon available to purchase the deodorant for free in All You Magazine. Even though you aren't paying OOP, you still earn the ECBs on the transaction. So you paid with the coupon, getting the item for free, and still earned $3.99 in ECBs to be used towards a future transaction.

Learn how to roll your ECBs. Once you've mastered the art of earning a profit on ECBs, you'll want to move on to learning how to "roll" them, which is just another way of saying that you're using them to pay for for items that earn more ECBs thus greatly reducing your OOP spending after your initial outlay. Learning how to effectively roll your ECBs will save you the most money in the long run.

Occasionally this may mean purchasing items that you don't really want or need, but think of the many things you could do with these items. Glucose monitors are always a welcome donation at nursing homes. Toiletries can be donated to shelters. Use items as stocking stuffers, create gift baskets, or even sell them in garage/yard sales. You can find a use for just about everything if you think creatively.

Now it's time to go shopping!!!

At the store, the first thing I do is grab all of the items I've incorporated into my scenarios. It's not at all unusual for some items to be out of stock, so it helps to have a few backup items in mind if possible. I always bring my calculator and coupon keeper in case I have to do some on-the-spot configuring.

You may want to group your purchase into multiple transactions. Often I'll do multiple transactions in one trip, so I group each transaction and organize my coupons before approaching the cashier so as to make checking out as efficient as possible. There are a couple of reasons for doing multiple transactions. One is to maximize your savings from $/$$ CVS coupons when they're available. For example, if you have a $2/$10 purchase coupon, it makes more sense to do multiple transactions as close to $10 so you can get $2 off each one. A second reason would be to roll your ECBs that print from one transaction and use them to pay for your next transaction to minimize your actual OOP expenses.

Learn the proper order to present your coupons. When you're ready to check out, first make sure the cashier scans your ExtraCare Card. Then it's important that you present your coupons in exactly this order to maximize your savings – CVS dollar off transaction coupons, CVS store coupons/manufacturer coupons, and finally your ECBs. If you present your dollar off coupons after your manufacturer and store coupons, your total transaction amount may not be high enough to allow the system to accept the coupon.

One very important thing to mention about ECBs is that you will not get change for them, so make sure you use them to their fullest. If I have a dollar off transaction coupon, I generally try to stay as close as possible to the minimum transaction amount to maximize my savings, but if my total after coupons is less than the ECBs I have to pay with, I'll pad my transaction with a few filler items so I'm not wasting the difference between the transaction amount and the ECBs.  Filler items are just inexpensive items that you add to a transaction to get it above a certain subtotal.  Trial size items are great, or in a pinch at the register you could grab a pack of gum.

Check your receipts and verify that all ECBs you earned printed correctly. It's much easier to have issues resolved before you leave the store, but CVS Customer Care is generally very helpful as well. And make sure to put your ECBs in a safe place. Treat them like cash because trying to get them replaced is near impossible if you lose them.

Please feel free to email me or leave a comment if anything here was too ambiguous. I'm here to help you get started, and I definitely don't want to leave anyone feeling overwhelmed right from the start!

Walgreens 101

I've never formally written a post on how to play the "Drugstore Game" at Walgreens, so I'd like to take a moment to introduce you to their Register Rewards program.

In many ways, this program is very similar to the CVS ExtraCare program. When you purchase certain items and/or a certain dollar amount of items, a coupon will print out that is good on your next purchase at Walgreens.

Much like CVS, to maximize your savings the key is to combine a Register Rewards producing deal or a great sale price with a manufacturer's coupon and possibly even a store coupon. This allows you to purchase items at the lowest possible price so you can build your stockpile at a minimal cost.

However, there are some important differences that you need to be aware of to take advantage of the program to its fullest:

• Walgreens does not require the use of a store loyalty card to earn Register Rewards, aka RRs.

• You will only earn RRs once per deal per transaction. In other words, if Excedrin is producing $2 in RRs in a given week, you must purchase each bottle in a separate transaction to earn the Register Rewards. If you purchase 3 bottles in one transaction, you would only receive $2 in RRs.

• RRs cannot be "rolled" on like transactions. Using the Excedrin example again, you could not purchase one bottle of Excedrin and use the RRs received to purchase a second bottle. The Register Rewards will not print out when the second transaction is completed. Instead to roll RRs, you need to alternate it with another deal. So if Pantene was producing $2 in RRs as well that week, you could purchase the Excedrin, use the Excedrin RRs to purchase your Pantene, and then turn around and use the Pantene RRs to purchase the Excedrin again and so on.

• While Register Rewards are essentially cash, the Walgreens registers treat them as manufacturer coupons. The problem with this is that Walgreens only allow you to use as many manufacturer coupons as items on the transaction. This creates a need for "filler items" if you have a coupon for every item you're purchasing and wish to pay with a Register Reward. Filler items are inexpensive items that you add to an order so you have a non-coupon item that will allow your Register Rewards to be processed.

• There is some debate about the best order to hand over your RRs and coupons at checkout. The method that I've found to work best personally is Register Rewards first, Walgreen's store coupons second, and manufacturer's coupons last. Feel free to change it up if it's not working well for you.

Finally, a word to the wise – treat your RRs like cash. They cannot be replaced if lost. Generally Register Rewards expire two weeks from when they are generated, so watch those expiration dates