[shutterbug]

I am a newbie here...was going thro the post and feel that I have wasted so much money all these days. I know nothing about coupons other than the fact they come with Sunday paper and you find some in the machines at the supermarket.
I need to know the ABC's of this highly specialized trade. Looking at the posts I feel I have been a fool paying full rate for my groceries.
Can you please help me start out? What should I do first? Where should I start? What stores should I go to?:beg:
If someone can help me with the basics I'll be really glad. Most of the posts here go a bit over my head as of now. Hoping on learning and saving big $$ soon.
Thanks in advance and am glad to be here
Note: The smilies are really good

[HollyHobby]

HI! Welcome to AFC! How did you find us?

Wow basics.. I am sure some of the other ladies can help you out better than me (I am awful with words) but where you shop depends on where you live and what stores you have it's not difficult to pick up!

Where to start is getting some coupons! Then match up sales to your coupons.

Ways to get coupons: People buy extra Sunday Papers, buy inserts from sellers somewhere on the web, get all the extras from friends and family, some people dumpster dive, and/or trade for them.

[Shopz2Much]

Welcome to AFC! What grocery chain and drugstore do you frequent most often?

For instance, if you were to say "I go to CVS a lot" I'd tell you that this week Softsoap is onsale for $1.99 and last Sunday's newspaper had a coupon for $2 off 1 Softsoap. If you had a small stockpile of that coupon you could get a bunch of them for FREE. Or if Softsoap is a product you really like and would use over and over it might be beneficial to buy a bunch of the coupons on Ebay (usually about $2 for 20 or so coupons) but that you should make sure to buy them early in the week so that you receive them BEFORE the sale ends, etc.

[jm_reece]

Shopz2Much, I'd just like to say a big thanks to you for the heads up on the Ebay couponing. I kept wondering how so many people had an entire stash of a specific coupon, cause I couldn't figure out how they could be saving money if they were spending so much on Sunday papers

Shutterbug, I'm addicted to this site, I find myself on here all the time, looking a the new posts and finding out what great deals are going down, course my hubby hates it cause I'm always off to the store, but I don't hear complaining when I come home with a load of things for little money. Welcome!

[LyndaSLP]

Originally Posted by jm_reece

Shopz2Much, I'd just like to say a big thanks to you for the heads up on the Ebay couponing. I kept wondering how so many people had an entire stash of a specific coupon, cause I couldn't figure out how they could be saving money if they were spending so much on Sunday papers

Shutterbug, I'm addicted to this site, I find myself on here all the time, looking a the new posts and finding out what great deals are going down, course my hubby hates it cause I'm always off to the store, but I don't hear complaining when I come home with a load of things for little money. Welcome!

Buying coupons on ebay can get expensive. Not saying I never do it -- but there are other ways to get multiple coupons. And shutterbug - that is the key. Getting multiple coupons. The key to couponing is not just USING your coupons wisely BUT using your coupons to stockpile awesome deals. Say toilet paper is on sale and with your coupon = 0.12 for a pack of 6. GREAT DEAL! However, this deal turns AWESOME if you are able to buy 10-20 packs! B/c NOW you can go that much longer w/o having to pay full price for the TP. And hopefully, TP will go on sale before you run out so you never have to pay full price again.

Back to getting multiple coupons: trading, using a coupon clipping service, begging/asking friends/family for their extra Sunday papers. There is a thread on here somewhere re: the subject. I will see if I can find it.

[LyndaSLP]

Check out this post:

http://www.afullcup.com/upload/showthread.php?t=11178

And also there is a stickied post in the AllAbout Coupons forum re: Starting a coupon swapbox --which is another good way to get extra coupons.

[tiggertails]

[shutterbug]

It is still fuzzy..extra inserts.am wondering where I can get them.I live in a apartment and I hardly know my neighbours. And as of what I know none of my friends are newspaper buying people. Well let me see what I can do about it

Originally Posted by LyndaSLP

Say toilet paper is on sale and with your coupon = 0.12 for a pack of 6. GREAT DEAL! However, this deal turns AWESOME if you are able to buy 10-20 packs! B/c NOW you can go that much longer w/o having to pay full price for the TP. And hopefully, TP will go on sale before you run out so you never have to pay full price again..

All the coupons I see are for 50c or max $1 off. How does TP cost just .12c after coupons? Am I missing something? or am I just shopping at the wrong store? I generally shop at Safeway near my place but also have Super Target, Walmart, Fiesta, Kroger and HEB near my place. Ocassionaly stop at CVS and Walgreens both close home. Which stores do I have to go? I used to think the deals at Big Lots was the best but I think I am missing out a lot.
btw I live in Houston and I know cuteyv thro some common friends. She mentioned about this site when we met last weekend.
Hi cuteyv!! Now I know why you like shopping more than Dim Sum. your secret is out!!! Btw everyone.. Cuteyv's first experience with Dim Sum was a little painful.I'll leave the juicy details to her!!
What is a coupon clipping service?
Are coupons available only in Sunday papers?
My sincere thanks to everyone for the input. I am learning and learning and any help to make me a smart shopper is welcome and surely needed
Miles to go before I sleep...............

[cuteyv]

Welcome my friend!!
Good to cya here..
2nd post in AFC and already making my secrets public!! well shutterbug... I don't care!!
Okie folks let me enlighten you about my Dim Sum experience...One of our friends had a party at a Dim Sum resturant and we were invited and Dim Sum is something I have never tried before and was pleasantly suprised the way food was brought and served and accounted for. Well the worst part turned out to be when I realized most of the food was seafood. I am allergic to seafood. I tried to find out which dishes contained seafood and the waiter spoke only chinese and finally I thought I had conveyed my message using certain words I had tried to learn off the net and was little proud of the way I handled the whole thing and enjoying good natured ribbing and she hands me something ..I thought they were chicken nuggets and never paused to think nuggets were'nt Chinese and alas it happened to be squid!! So much for my skills!! and things were never the same.. I hardly ate coz was not sure which was seafood and was everyone's "funny little thing" all day...
and I really hope Shutterbug does'nt open up more of my secrets

Anywayz good luc shutterbug!! Might be we can hit the shops together soon

[CokeBaby]

[shutterbug]

Another question
What do the terms catalina, WT, double, triples mean?
I want it in plain simple English please. The more I go thro the older posts the more confused I become. Is it natural? Help me out

[Kmchamplin]

Originally Posted by shutterbug

Another question
What do the terms catalina, WT, double, triples mean?
I want it in plain simple English please. The more I go thro the older posts the more confused I become. Is it natural? Help me out

Catalina-this spits out at the register...it is red on the edges and white in the
center strip. It is a coupon that you can use on your next shopping
trip.

WT- wine tags - coupons that people find on wine products that are good for
a variety of products

double/triple- means that their store doubles/triples the coupon value.

[shutterbug]

Thank you!! thank you

Originally Posted by Kmchamplin

double/triple- means that their store doubles/triples the coupon value.

Do stores double/triple coupons by themselves or do you have to ask them? Can someone give me an example about this doubling and tripling works? Does it mean that if I give $1 off something, I actually get a $2 off??
What stores double and triple? How do you get to know about it?
Gosh! I feel totally ignorant and silly asking such questions but Please help.

[Kmchamplin]

http://www.afullcup.com/upload/showt...=double+stores

Go to this link and you will see the stores that are known to double in your area. It will be posted in the store or advertised. Ask Cutyv if any of your stores double. Make her take you shopping!

[Barb]

Everything that you need to translate all the shorthand in our posts is here:
http://afullcup.com/upload/showthrea...t=newbies+read

The sales that are store specific are broken down towards the bottom. Read and post to your local store area's frequently as the people in them know the most about those sales...most times it is broken down to let you know EXACTLY how to do the deal...check out the FSOT and Live auctions area to get the coupons that you need.
Everyone is great here so most importantly keep asking questions.

[LyndaSLP]

Originally Posted by shutterbug

It is still fuzzy..extra inserts.am wondering where I can get them.I live in a apartment and I hardly know my neighbours. And as of what I know none of my friends are newspaper buying people. Well let me see what I can do about it

All the coupons I see are for 50c or max $1 off. How does TP cost just .12c after coupons? Am I missing something? or am I just shopping at the wrong store? I generally shop at Safeway near my place but also have Super Target, Walmart, Fiesta, Kroger and HEB near my place. Ocassionaly stop at CVS and Walgreens both close home. Which stores do I have to go? I used to think the deals at Big Lots was the best but I think I am missing out a lot.
btw I live in Houston and I know cuteyv thro some common friends. She mentioned about this site when we met last weekend.
Hi cuteyv!! Now I know why you like shopping more than Dim Sum. your secret is out!!! Btw everyone.. Cuteyv's first experience with Dim Sum was a little painful.I'll leave the juicy details to her!!
What is a coupon clipping service?
Are coupons available only in Sunday papers?
My sincere thanks to everyone for the input. I am learning and learning and any help to make me a smart shopper is welcome and surely needed
Miles to go before I sleep...............

shutterbug -- I didn't mean to confuse you. To be honest, the 0.12 TP example was just meant to be a hypothetical example. I was just trying to show you how if you have more coupons, you can buy more of product X when the price is good (price is good due to sale + use of coupons)

Coupon clipping service = place to order/buy coupons. Technically one can't sell coupons, so you are paying for the person to clip and mail to you. Thus, called a coupon clipping service.

Coupons found in the newspaper are usually only on Sundays.

You can also find coupons in magazines, doc offices, dentists, in the grocery store.

You live in an apt complex? Do you have a place to dump your newspapers? When I lived in an apt in VA, the complex had a newspaper dumpster -- ahh... if I had only know then what I know now, you would've seen me IN the dumpster scouring for more coupons!

[Shopz2Much]

When I started, I focused on a specific product and then branched out to a product category and then a department and then finally the whole dang store. It allowed me to NOT get too terribly overwhelmed and yet to better understand the principles of couponing/stockpiling and what can and can not be done.

I remember when I started out I thought that you could only use 1 coupon at at time. Yes, I'm serious. Now I know that I can walk up to the cashier and (generally) in one transaction buy 10 bottles of shampoo and use 10 coupons (just an example - and it varies based on your retailers "double coupon" terms).

[trekatch]

So I can trade coupons and I can sell them somewhere? I'm sooo lost!

[LyndaSLP]

Originally Posted by trekatch

So I can trade coupons and I can sell them somewhere? I'm sooo lost!

You can trade coupons here with other members. Post what you are looking for and what you have. Someone may have what you need and need what you have.

If you have a mass quantity -- you can try selling your time in collecting and clipping them instead of trading them. Usually when you have 10+ of the same coupon. Does that help make you un-lost?

[Barb]

Originally Posted by LyndaSLP

You can trade coupons here with other members. Post what you are looking for and what you have. Someone may have what you need and need what you have.

If you have a mass quantity -- you can try selling them instead of trading them. Usually when you have 10+ of the same coupon. Does that help make you un-lost?

You mean you can put a price on your time and effort to sort, clip and mail them.

[HollyHobby]

Originally Posted by trekatch

So I can trade coupons and I can sell them somewhere? I'm sooo lost!

We have a trading Forum that you can use to get rid of thngs you have or to ask if other members have anyhing you need!

http://www.afullcup.com/upload/forumdisplay.php?f=4

[shutterbug]

Thank you everyone!!
Still learning...
But still can't make sense of doubling and tripling. Can someone give me an example about this doubling and tripling works?
Kroger and safeway sale ads here tell triples upto 39c and doubles upto 50c. It does'nt seem to be great savings. If someone can guide me thro I'll be grateful

[Christie_Cat]

Put a calculator in your coupon box. Watch the sales.

If an item is .99 and you have a .35 coupon that triples, it's free.
If an item is .99 and you have a .50 coupon that doubles, it's free.

Pretty soon you'll be able to do math in your head even if you've never been able to before. Learn that if something is advertised for 3 for $5, that it's $1.67 (rounded up).

Memorize the fact that .35 tripled is $1.05. That way you can match up your .35 tripled coupon to the $1.67 item and know in a flash that it's .62. Make sense?

Stick to your calculator at first. These things will becomed ingrained in your brain after a while.

Give it some time. Don't panic. It's just like anything else, you'll learn through time and experience, okay?

You've come to the right place. We're all cheering you on!

[jennbrz]

Your Safeway triples... that's rockin' cool. My safeway doubles up to 1.00 So, my .55 becomes 1.00, .75 becomes 1.00 You should do pretty well if you can triple .50 Keep an eye out for the sales and start trading for 50/1 coupons. Each region of the country has different values on their coupons. So start posting for items you use and say looking for .50/1 coupons. You'll get the hang of it before you know. You'll be hooked. Like all of us.

[shutterbug]

Thanks again everyone..
Well the calculator idea is a good one..math has never been my strong point.
well I understand (vaguely!!) how doubles and triples work. But does the cash register automatically take off the required amount?
this question might seem really stupid but still just want to know...for doubles do i give two coupons or does 1 coupon automatically gets doubled?
also think i need to make a list of things I need coupons for and start hunting for coupons seriously