GETTING STARTED

I designed this page to share my finds and help others save money. I have been couponing for 4+ years now and trust me when I say I learned from the BEST. The steps below will help you if you are a first time couponer. You can also check out the videos on the right side of this page labeled "COUPON BOOKS" on different ways to organize your coupons.
#1. GET YOUR COUPON INSERTS
I suggest that everyone get at least 5-10 sets of coupons each week. You can get more or less its up to you. Now a lot of people who coupon will go out and buy there Sunday papers or subscribe to a newspaper. That's fine for those of you who would like to do that, but the goal here is to save money, not spend it. So how do you get them? Find a "HOOKUP". There are many ways that you can get your Sunday coupon inserts for FREE here are a few ideas. (These are just suggestions, I do not condone or promote any illegal activity, always ask if you are not sure).
STORES/ROUTES
-If you know someone who has a paper route or delivers them ask them if you can have what is left over.
-Check with a local gas station or grocery store (one that is not open 24 hours usually) ask them if you can come in right before they close and JUST take the coupons out. Stores will usually get reimbursed for the papers that they do not sell so you do not want to take the papers just the coupons. These are my top 2 choices and yes they do work. My mom made friends with the cashiers at her local convenient store. Every Sunday at 10:45pm, they let her take the inserts out of the left over papers. Sometime she gets 10 sometimes she gets 30 but its worth it to ask the worst there going to say is no.
CANS/PEOPLE/HOTELS
-Check newspaper recycling cans (these are usually in front of most grocery stores) some people that deliver the paper will put all extra bundles in the cans at the end of there delivery (usually Saturday).
-Ask your neighbors or friends if you can have the coupons, if they do not use them.
-Check with local hotels, they often have a recycle box and most big chains will give all guests a paper on Sunday.
Now I know that this is not the most conventional way but if someone told you there was a $50 bill mixed in with a bunch of newspapers would you look? Ya you probably would.....

#2 GET ORGANIZED
If you want to succeed at couponing you NEED to be organized. Now there are hundreds of different ways to do this just find a way that works for you and stick with it. Here are the two most common ways to do this.
Filing, its as simple as the word. You collect your coupons every Sunday and file them by date. When you need one you just refer back to the insert and date and clip the coupons that you need.
Putting them in book. Now to do this there are a few things that you'll need.
First a book, I suggest a Mead or Five Star three ring binder that ZIPS. These can be kind of pricey ($10-$15 in the school or office supply section) so look at you local DI or Salvation Army I get mine there for around $0.50-$1.00 each. Get plastic BASEBALL card pages, these are a perfect fit for most coupons, you can get these at most office supply stores. Organized your book by section. Label your sections on a 8"x11.5" piece of paper and put it in a plastic paper protector. This will keep your coupons from getting put in the wrong section, and making it impossible for you to find them when you need them. Label your book by products, Cereal, Granola Bars, Shampoo, Makeup, Salad, Pasta, Drinks, Cans and so on, you get the idea.
Now that you have your book and pages set up, you need to sort your coupons. You want to take the pages from the inserts and sort them out on a table or floor. Match the pages up out of each book. Once you have all your books sorted (RP,SS,PG) I recommend stapling your coupons together. This will keep them together and will make it much easier to cut them out. File your coupons in the sections of your book and your are ready to shop.
#3 MATCH UP THE ADS
Most websites will do the work for you these days. To check out all the deals for the week you want to look at "GREAT BUYS" which will have a list of all the AMAZING deals.  You can look through the Grocery Smarts lists at the top right hand side of the page under "LISTS" it will give you all the current match ups at the grocery stores listed beneath. I also have a current "COUPON LIST", a preview of "NEW COUPONS" that are coming, and a "CATALINA" list just click on the tabs at  the top of the page.

SMITHS REWARDS
Well Smiths rewards program could not have gotten better.  Now they give you back 1% of your purchases every quarter.  So you will receive a "GOLD ENVELOPE" in the mail in May, August, November, January.  Your "GOLD ENVELOPE" will have a GC for 1% of your purchases for example: $1 = 1 point  I accrued 2900 points in the second quarter so I just received a GC for $29.00 that I can use on anything in the store.  Why is this so great?  Well your coupons accrue you points just like cash example:  On one shopping trip my total before coupons was $178.32 after coupons I paid $0.62 cents.  So even though I paid less than a dollar for my transaction I accrued 178 points.


CATALINA'S
A Catalina is a coupon that prints at the register after you are done paying. It prints out of a machine next to the register called a Catalina Marketing Printer. It is usually triggered by an item that was purchased in that transaction. Most of the time you have to buy a certain number of items, like buy 10 items and get a $10 catalina or buy a dollar amount like $20 of participating products and get a $5 catalina back. I focus on the Catalina's that have a specific $ amount that you can use OYNSO. If you ever have a problem with the store not printing your catalina, save your receipt and call the Catalina company 1-888-8coupon


UP+ REWARDS
UP REWARDS are just like a Catalina that you would get from major super market chain. Rite Aid does not have a Catalina printer so your UP REWARD will print on the bottom of your receipt. It has a barcode and expiration date just like any coupon. Rite Aid will advertise in there weekly Ad all the products that have a UP REWARD. You CAN combine a UP, MQ and VV on one product.


VIDEO VALUES COUPONS
Go to Riteaid.com and sign up for there Video Values program there is a link on there home page. Once you have registered, you select from a list of products (ie: huggies, loreal, john frida) watch a short video (10-90 seconds) on that specific product, type in a security code and it will load your Video Values coupon in your account. You can combine a VV and a MQ on one product. Make sure that you are checking it since they load new VV coupons all the time.


WELLNESS+ CARD
The Wellness+ card is very much like any other savings card out there. They are FREE you can get one at your store or sign up online. The nice thing about the Wellness+ is you accrue points and the points can earn you savings. You earn 1 point for every dollar that you spend, but keep in mind that MQ count towards your points. Your UP coupons will not count toward your points.
Example:
4 John Freida @ $5.00/each = $20.00
Use 4 $3/1 MQ - $12.00
Use 3 $1/1 VV - $3.00
Use 1 $5 off $20 VV Reward - $5.00
Total = FREE + tax
You will earn 20 points for this transaction even though you only paid the tax.
REWARDS:
SILVER 500 points - %10 off any regular price item
GOLD 1000 points - %20 off any regular price item

UNDERSTANDING COUPON BARCODES

I GOT THIS INFO FROM SLICK DEALS.... ANYONE WHO COUPONS SHOULD READ AND KNOW THIS INFO... SO VALUABLE....
Coupons will beep if ANY PORTION of the barcode does not match the products in your cart.

A typical coupon barcode looks like this:
1-22222-333-44-5
1 - This portion of the code will be either a 5 or a 9. It deals with doubling. If your store doesn't double coupons, then this number has no purpose. If your store DOES double coupons, then any coupon coded with a 5 will double (up to your store's doubling limit) and any coupon coded with a 9 will not double.
22222 - This number is the manufacturer's code. This code is the reason why the Lifesavers and Pert were beeping, but I'll explain those situations below.
333 - This number is the family code. Most manufacturers break their products into families. If you see a three digit number with no zeros, the coupon is coded for a specific product. If there is one zero at the end, the coupon is coded for more than one *variety* product. If there are two zeros at the end, the coupon is intened for more than one *type or brand* of product. Here's an example of how it works:

25700 100 - any Ziploc or Saran Wrap item
25700 160 - any Ziploc item
25700 170 - any Saran Wrap item
25700 164 - Ziploc containers
25700 175 - Saran Wrap disposable Cutting Sheets

If the family code is 000, then the coupon will not beep with any product which falls under the preceeding 5-digit manufacturer's code.

Some products are not broken into any families and are coded as 992. A 992 coupon will do one of two things, depending on how your store has it's registers programmed. Either it will NEVER beep, even if you didn't buy the product, or it will ALWAYS beep and require cashier intervention. These coupons were severely abused by couponers who wanted to use coupons even though they didn't buy the product, so most major retailers have now programmed their registers to beep at every 992.

44 - This is the value code. It tells the register how much to take off. Regardless of what the wording on the coupon says, this code tells the register what you need to purchase and how much to take off. Yes, in many cases there are some VERY EXTREME differences between the wording on the coupon and what the barcode actually requires you to purchase (since there are only a limited number of value codes available). Here are the codes and, again, PLEASE NO DISCUSSIONS ON HOW TO CIRCUMVENT THE SYSTEM. The wording on the coupon is the manufacturer's intended use for it.
00 "Beep" - Manual Input Required
01 Free Item - Will normally beep so cashier can input value
02 B4G1
03 $1.10
04 $1.35
05 $1.40
06 $1.60
07 B3 $1.50
08 B2 $3.00
09 B3 $2.00
10 $0.10
11 $1.85
12 $0.12
13 B4 $1.00
14 B1G1
15 $0.15
16 B2G1
18 $2.60
19 B3G1
20 $0.20
21 B2 $0.35
22 B2 $0.40
23 B2 $0.45
24 B2 $0.50
25 $0.25
26 $2.85
28 B2 $0.55
29 $0.29
30 $0.30
31 B2 $0.60
32 B2 $0.75
33 B2 $1.00
34 B2 $1.25
35 $0.35
36 B2 $1.50
37 B3 $0.25
38 B3 $0.30
39 $0.39
40 $0.40
41 B3 $0.50
42 B3 $1.00
43 B2 $1.10
44 B2 $1.35
45 $0.45
46 B2 $1.60
47 B2 $1.75
48 B2 $1.85
49 $0.49
50 $0.50
51 B2 $2.00
52 B3 $0.55
53 B2 $0.10
54 B2 $0.15
55 $0.55
56 B2 $0.20
57 B2 $0.25
58 B2 $0.30
59 $0.59
60 $0.60
61 $10.00
62 $9.50
63 $9.00
64 $8.50
65 $0.65
66 $8.00
67 $7.50
68 $7.00
69 $0.69
70 $0.70
71 $6.50
72 $6.00
73 $5.50
74 $5.00
75 $0.75
76 $1.00
77 $1.25
78 $1.50
79 $0.79
80 $0.80
81 $1.75
82 $2.00
83 $2.25
84 $2.50
85 $0.85
86 $2.75
87 $3.00
88 $3.25
89 $0.89
90 $0.90
91 $3.50
92 $3.75
93 $4.00
95 $0.95
96 $4.50
98 B2 $0.65
99 $0.99
5 Check digit...no real relevance to couponers.