Several of my readers have told me that they are new to using coupons or they don't understand the "lingo" they see on many coupon sites they read. Even if you consider yourself an experienced couponer we can all use a refresher course from time to time so I am starting a Couponing 101 series this week... If you need some guidance then follow along and ask questions, if you are experienced please add to the discussion
Couponing 101
The first step to couponing is reading the store ads. Some store ads will come out on Sunday in your local newspaper (Target, Walgreens, CVS). Your local grocery stores may have different sale dates and may come in the newspaper or the mail. My grocery stores run their sales from Wednesday to the following Tuesday. Almost all stores have webpages which post their ads for easy access. As you're browsing through your ads pay close attention to offers such as double coupons, triple coupons, and cash back or store credit when you buy certain products.
Double Coupons/Triple Coupons
Certain grocery stores are popular for doubling and trippleing coupons up to a certain dollar amount, my stores tripple up to .35 and double up to .50. This means that if you're purchasing a box of cereal for $1.99 and you have a mfg coupon for $.50 off that particular brand of cereal the store will double that $..50 coupon and give you $1.00 off of your $1.99 box of cereal making it .99! Most stores do impose limits on the number of "like" coupons you can use in a transaction. My store will double 3 like coupons, which means that even if I have 20 of these cereal coupons and buy 20 boxes of cereal, unless I split it up into different transactions the first 3 coupons will double but the last 17 will only be .50 off. So find out your store's limit.
Cash Back when you buy certain products
Stores are also known for offering cash back or store credits on your next purchase when you buy certain products. At grocery stores these are Catalina's. At CVS these are ECBs. At Walgreens they are Register Rewards. And at Target and many other popular chains they offer store gift cards. Stay tuned to the rest of the series to learn about Catalinas, ECB, and Register Rewards!
Combining mfg and store coupons
You can also take advantage of combining your store coupons with mfg coupons if your store offers such coupons. For example, Target has coupons on their website. You can combine their store coupons with mfg coupons to get an great deal. You can also take advantage of their store sales combined with their store coupons and manufacturer coupons. Often the combination of these three things results in the items being free. Almost all stores which offer a "store coupon" will allow one store coupon and one manufacturer coupon per item (even stores like Babies R Us).
Multiple Manufacturer Coupons
One of the most important factors to couponing is having multiple manufacture coupons. Depending on the size of your family, this could mean 2 or 10 (or more) of the same coupon. There are several ways to access coupons.
Sunday Papers
The easiest place to get extra coupon inserts is in the Sunday paper, if this is your main source of coupons I recommend one paper per member of your family, I find this is a good rule of thumb. In my house we have 4 people and we only get 2 delivered papers, but we also get 2 sets of inserts from a relative who doesn't want them. This is another great resource to get what you need.
You can purchase extra papers at your local stores discounted in bundles. You can also start a coupon swap box at your work, church, daycare, library, gym, ect. anywhere there might be a large number of people. If you're brave you can go to your local recycle dumpsters and start savaging through to see what you can find, some couponers swear by this method (but I don't so this myself).
Ebay and other Places to "Buy" Coupons
You can buy coupons on eBay and a few other coupon clipping sites like The Coupon Clippers and Coupons and Things by Dede. This works well if you need a lot of one particular coupon, but to be clear you're not paying for the actual coupons, you're paying for the seller's time to clip and send the coupons to you. This is because most coupons say they cannot be bought or sold. If you use this method just make sure you are calculating the total cost including shipping before to decide it is a good idea.
Printable Coupons
There are always tons of printable coupons available online. Be sure to check out Thrifty Jenny and other blogs for the hottest printable available. Also don't forget to check out coupons.com
If you are going to buy a particular product and you want to know if there is a coupon available do a quick Google search for the products name and "printable coupon" and see what pops up. You can also try that products web site. Or try looking in popular coupon data bases like the one at Hot Coupon World or A Full Cup.
Happy Couponing!
Have any couponing tips? If so please post them!
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Couponing 101 
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