How to Coupon

Learn How to Use Coupons to Get Stuff Free

How to Coupon

You now know why to coupon, so now its time to learn how you need to coupon.

Here are the steps you need to take to successfully save with coupons.

Collect Coupons

First, you will need to collect as many coupons as you can. Why?

You can use one coupon for each item that you purchase. If you have one coupon, you can get one item. But if you have 10 coupons, you can get 10 items.

Now, which would you rather have? One free bottle of shampoo, or 10 free bottles of shampoo?

So, part of how to coupon is you need to collect multiple coupons.

Most coupons come in the Sunday paper. Your goal is to obtain as many coupon inserts as you can. You can do the following:
--Buy multiple Sunday papers
--Have friends and family save their coupon inserts for you
--Make a deal with your local newspaper delivery person to save extra inserts for you (you can offer cash or trade free items)
--Get a newspaper delivery position yourself and keep the excess inserts
--Buy coupons from a coupon service
--Buy coupons on eBay

When buying coupons from a service or eBay, you usually have the option to purchase multiple inserts, or multiples of a specific coupon. For example, if you wanted 20 coupons for Johnson and Johnson Buddy Bars, because you knew that you could get them for free, but you did not need the entire insert, you could look on eBay specifically for that coupon.

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Organize Your Coupons

After you have accumulated multiple coupons its time to get organized. There is nothing more frustrating than knowing that you have a high value coupon for an item you wish to purchase, but just can’t find it.

Check out the Organize Your Coupons section here for tips on the coupon pouch, binder method and file method. Get organized so your coupons are easier to find when you need themBring them with you whenever you leave the house! You never know when you will find a good deal! This is how to coupon.

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Match Coupons with Sales

The next step in How to Coupon is to match your coupons with sales.

On Sunday, get the newspaper and look at the flyers for your grocery stores, pharmacies, and discount stores. See what sales are going on.

Match these sales to current coupons that you have.

For example, if Playtex Sport Tampons™ are on sale for $2.50 at CVS® Pharmacy, you look for coupons for Playtex Sport Tampons™. You may find coupons for $2.50 off Playtex Sport Tampons™, which would mean you would get the tampons for free!

This may seem far-fetched to you, but honestly, often you will find the sale and the coupon in the same Sunday paper. The companies know what they are doing. And now you know how to coupon.

Check out Refund Cents for a complete list of store sales with matching coupons, updated on a daily basis.

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Switch Brands if You Find A Good Sale

Being a successful Coupon Queen means you are NOT brand loyal.

If you can get 10 tubes of Crest™ toothpaste for free, but you usually use Colgate™, switch.

If you don’t like it, give the remainder away to friends or take it to your local shelter.

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Stockpile

This is the single most important aspect of couponing or how to coupon.

Stockpile.

When an item is free, or is a really good price, buy as many as you can. This will tide you over until the product is on sale again for that great price, or, this will allow you to sell excess items on eBay, give to family and friends, or donate to a shelter or charity.

Also, to maximize your savings, you should look for the smallest size allowed by the coupon.

Why do this?

Let me give you the Huggies Pull Ups example.

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The Huggies Deal

About 5 years ago, when I was just learning how to coupon, Huggies gave me a lifetime supply of Pull Ups for both of my children.

This was probably my biggest coupon coup of all time.

You see, Huggies brought out a 3-pack sample of Pull Ups, both boys and girls, in 2 different sizes each.

These packages sold for $1.97 and were found in Toys R Us, WalMart and Walgreens.

Inside each of the packages was a coupon for $2.50 off ANY package of Huggies Pull Ups.

Now, most Huggies coupons state “$X amount off purchase of Huggies Jumbo Sized or Larger” but these coupons were different. They said “ANY” package, which meant…..they were good on the $1.97 trial packages.

So here’s what happened:
I had managed to procure a handful of $2 off Huggies coupons (that also said ANY package, which was rare). I took these 5 coupons into WalMart, and found 5 packages of the trial packs. So I took my $10 in coupons, and my $9.85 in product up to the register at WalMart, expecting them to alter the coupon and that I would walk out paying sales tax.

I was wrong.

The cashier rang up my purchase, and actually gave me back 15cents! I couldn’t believe it! I got cash back to take the diapers!

Now, this was the only time in my entire couponing existence that I have gotten cash back. After that experience, I have made sure to avoid it by adding a small purchase (like a pack of gum) to my order to cover the difference. Why? Even though this particular cashier was very nice, she did have to call a manger and they had to go through a few steps to get me the 15 cents. Usually, managers and cashiers are not so friendly, and you may be in for a fight.

Ok. So now I had used all 5 of my coupons, and had 5 packages of the 3-pack trial packs of Huggies Pull Ups. Great! Now what?

Remember, I said that each package of the Pull Ups had a coupon for $2.50 off ANY Huggies Diapers?

I opened all the packages in the car, took out the coupons, and went back into WalMart to buy more. There were only 7 packages left, so I used the extra $0.53 per coupon to buy all 7 packages, instead of just 5.

I now had a total of 12 bags of the trial packs, or 36 Pull Ups, for about a buck out of pocket.

I took those 7 coupons to another WalMart, and did it again. Then another WalMart. I was lucky if I found 10 packages at any given WalMart. But then, I found Walgreens.

Walgreens was a gold mine. Each store usually had 30-40 packages.

I eventually had about 15 coupons, and would go into the store, find 15 packages, and use the extra $0.53 per package or $7.95 on other items in the store, getting them for free also. I especially liked doing this with items on Walgreens Easy Saver Catalog, which gave me a rebate on the items I was being given.

As I was purchasing the diapers, I would tell curious onlookers how I was getting them for free. I even offered to show other mothers how to coupon to do it, offering to give them coupons and the diapers I was getting. But none could be bothered with it. It was very sad to me.

Finding the diapers became a game for me that lasted about 4 months. Every time I would see a Walgreens, we would stop. I went to dozens of stores, and by the time I was done, I had over 2000 Huggies Pull Ups, that filled 20 garbage bags. In addition to the free diapers, I also received over $350 in free merchandise from the stores.

Those diapers lasted me though potty training both children, and when I was done, I sold the excess on eBay for another couple hundred in profit.

The Huggies deal was not my unicorn, though it stands out as my all time favorite deal and the deal that truly taught me how to coupon. These deals literally occur every week, in every part of the country, you just have to find them.

I found out about the Huggies deal thanks to my membership at Refund Cents.

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Why?

Simply because Refund Cents is the best coupon, refund, deals, and freebies site on the internet.

It is run by Michele Easter, and has been in existence for literally decades.

Refunding Makes Cents is the most distributed coupon and refund newsletter in the world.

There are two portions to Refund Cents, the print magazine, which has 11 issues a year, and the online access.


The online access is a membership based site, but the dues are extremely low, costing less for an entire year than most sites charge a month. (About $1 per month)

If you are new to couponing, or if you are serious about this hobby/income sources, I highly, highly suggest you invest a few dollars into Refund Cents.

If you can afford it (around $25) get the print issues and the online access. Make sure you pick up a copy of the Beginner’s Bonanza. If that is too steep for you, then just get the online access.

Deals are posted by other members, in real time. Check "Michele's Updates" and "Chit-Chat" daily.

Trust me, you'll make up the purchase price in a few days. You'll be emailing me thanking me for introducing you to this wonderful information source.

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