Extreme Couponing 101 Strategies

1. Research grocery store or drug store's coupon policy.

Common store coupon policy links.

• Walgreens
• Walmart
• Target

2. How To Find Free Or Cheap Coupons

3. How To Organize Coupons

4. Krazy Coupon Stacking Tips

These are questions to ask your local grocery store regarding their coupon policies or savings gimmicks. You can also go to their website and this information may be available or call their district or regional office.

• Do you accept expired coupons?
• Do you accept competitor store coupons in combination with manufacturer coupons?Target accepts both.
• Do you double/triple coupons? (grocery stores that double/triple will advertise when they do and up to how much)
• Do you accept electronic coupons (Frys) or the internet printed coupons? (most stores will as long as there is an expiration date and barcode)
• How many coupons can I use per visit/batch? The store I go to can only handle a maximum of 40 coupons.
• Ask the store about their policy on buy 1/get 1 free promotions and the ability to use two coupons (one for each item).
• Do you price match? (Walmart price matches in my area and I don't have to have the ad). Click here for information on an efficient tool that I use to make the process super easy.

Here is the unwritten policy for accepting coupons at my local Frys Food Store (Kroger in other parts of the country).

• Accepts free internet coupons with barcode, manufacturer Coupons, in store coupons, doubles coupons, electronic coupons (can be combined with other coupons) but does not accept competitor's coupons.
• Frys near me will accept expired coupons up to approximately a month.
• Their coupon policy is always subject to change and therefore do not provide a written policy according to their district office.

• Walgreen and CVS offer coupons for purchasing certain advertised items. These coupons or as Walgreens calls them, register rewards, can be applied towards any item(s) in the store.
• In my area, I can order the Sunday Newspaper and have it delivered for $1/day which is 50% off of regular prices and they have lots of free coupons. You can ask co-workers and friends to save them for you.
• Coupons can be printed free online from several different sites like couponmom.com, coupons.com and boxtops4education.com. There is usually a limited supply of the coupons so print them as soon as possible and keep a list of sites to go to as many of them carry the same coupons.
• Two good coupon clipping services are thecouponclippers.com and http://www.couponsthingsbydede.com. On the heading of the first site, if you click on the tracker icon it will take you to a calendar which contains coupon circular links and the coupons that they have available from that particular circular. It is a neat little tool if you currently clip coupons from popular coupon circulars like Red Plum, P&G and Smart Source and want to find some more of the same kind of coupons you have collected.
• I've seen several restaurants that provide the newspaper as reading material for customers and if you go during days where the circular has coupons you can usually take the coupons for free with permission from an employee.
• You can also link up free electronic coupons with your shopper card. Grocery stores usually provide information on how to load electronic coupons through their website (Kroger does it).
• I also get them as free inserts in the mail and delivered in my community newspaper. If it isn't mailed to you contact Redplum, Procter and Gamble and SmartSource and let them know that you would like to receive it and they will add you to the mailing list. Some people buy them off of ebay.com or other sites on the web for cheap.
• If you've seen an Extreme Couponing episode you probably know about dumpster diving in your area's recycling bins if you are brave enough. You can also contact product companies directly to request free coupons. The CouponMom site provides a list of companies in which will provide free coupons upon request.
• Some people participate in coupon trains where you pass on coupons that you don't use to someone else and they do the same. Coupon trains rules vary but you can typically find them on many social sites or forums.

If you don't want to clip coupons I recommend using the CouponMom.com strategy where you put the date of when you got them and file them in date order. You clip the coupons only when it is time to use them. Their database contains a printable extreme savings list and where to get the coupon from whether it be an existing printable coupon or one from one of the circulars that you dated using the coupon filing system above. You can also do a search for any particular coupon and the coupon site will tell which circular to go to for it. Even if you are a bit more skilled with coupons this website comes in handy with locating and finding deals for you including free stuff.

If you have a little bit more time and don't mind clipping coupons, there are many different approaches but the one that I find the easiest to use is to organize them by the grocery store aisles where I frequently shop so that way it doesn't take so long to find them. So for the grocery store that I go to:

• Fresh Vegetables/Fruits
• Dairy (eggs, cheese, milk, ie)
• Frozen Foods
• Canned/Pantry Goods
• Bread/Tortillas
• Bakery
• Deli
• Fresh Meat
• Spices/Gravy
• Coffee
• Condiments
• Household/Cleaning (air freshener, laundry detergent, tinfoil, ie)
• Personal Care/Hygiene (shampoo, toothpaste, razors, ie)
• Pet Care/Pet Food

You can also organize them by alphabetical order. It will also be beneficial to put identical coupons together and group by chronological order so that you can easily purge the expired coupons.

To maximize extreme coupons strategies you should plan out your grocery list in advance and buy items on sale which you can match up or price match to combine with coupon savings for the extreme savings! Mygrocerydeals review contains a shopping list tool which I use that makes this process super easy

You get the idea...see below for some nice coupon organizers from Amazon. or you can use full size envelopes which also work nicely because the coupons can easily go in and out of an envelope with little effort and are very cheap.

Again, you could follow CouponMom.com on when to use them or you can utilize the following tips.

• Use 2 coupons (manufacturers and in-store coupon) whenever possible and combine them with sale items to get them for free or almost free. Target allows this.
  

• Use your coupons that are 50 cents or less at stores that offer double/triple coupons events to get the most out of it.
• If an item is $1 or less on sale, it's the perfect time to use your .50 cent or less coupons for stores that are having a double/triple event to get it for free.
• If they are out of stock even better get a rain check if possible so you can use the coupon later with it at your discretion.
• If an item is on sale for Buy 1 Get 1 Free, many times you can use 2 coupons to cover the one you buy and then towards the free item, which would further reduce the 1st item. (check with store coupon policy)
  
• If the coupon says "off any size", it is best to go for the smallest size item such as with trial size which might make it free.
• Use your buy 1/get 1 free coupons in combination with buy 1/get 1 frees sales for extreme savings that are advertised that way you buy just 1 and end up getting 3 things free and with some stores you can use two coupons in which would further deduct from the price.
  
• Products usually go on sale with their lowest price about once every 12 weeks. So, if toothpaste is rock bottom right now, chances are they will be again in 12 weeks. Each store is different and so you may want to subscribe to a coupon site that provides information like that.
• If you don't have coupons on hand but would like to take advantage of some deals and have online access and the ability to print coupons, go to www.familyfrugalfun.com. Here you will find a current list of deals at various stores and a link to print the coupon. This site also has many other ways to save money.
• I typically price match items at Walmart as I don't like to drive everywhere and so it is easier for me plus the end cost is the same. However, for personal care, laundry or unedible pantry items (storage bags, freezer bags, tin foil, make-up, hygiene, etc) I go to Walgreens or CVS if the coupons end up paying for the item in addition to rewards. In addition, household/personal care items are usually the cheapest when advertised as an in-store coupon in which you can combine it with a manufacturers coupon for extreme savings (check store and coupon policy as some coupons explicitly state 1 coupon per item) .
  

Follow me AS I WILL BE UPDATING THIS PAGE REGULARLY AS I THINK OF NEW TIPS TO SHARE.