Couponing For Beginners | Matching Coupons With Sales & Stockpiling

Ok, so now you’ve cut out some coupons, you understand coupon lingo, and can’t wait to go use them. My advice to you: WAIT! You don’t want to fall into the trap of buying something JUST BECAUSE YOU HAVE A COUPON! You want to learn to get the most bang for your buck and to do that you want to get those weekly sales circulars out and match-up items that are on sale WITH coupons that you have. This way you will be getting MAX savings! Or, let us do the work for you and check out our weekly Kroger Ad Coupon Matchup each week.

:: How To Get Max Savings

Above is a picture of the ad from my local store with a GREAT example of how to get the most bang for your coupon buck!

You can get the weekly store ad either AT your store, on Kroger.com or the Kroger app, or you can get one in your Sunday paper.

What you could do: Look over the ad, search Kroger Krazy’s online coupon database to find current coupons and figure out your final cost. Or, you can simply head over to the Kroger Grocery Ad Matchup category where all the work has been done for you! 🙂 Scroll through the list and compare it to your Kroger weekly sales ad. Print and gather all of your coupons, use the printable list feature to print your list and off you go!

Before you run up to checkout with a hand full of coupons it would be wise to double check your coupons against the products you’re getting to make sure that all sizes and specifications are met.  Also check to see if your coupon has a limit written on it and follow those guidelines. It’s important to always practice good, ethical couponing.

So, say you DON’T have my match-ups available to you OR your ad shows something additional that was not in my ad. I will walk you through this next.

In the ad shown above Tide Detergent is on sale for $4.99 (as part of the mega event) and there is a coupon to save $2.00 when you purchase ONE detergent. When I use the coupon with the Tide purchase, I will be getting one bottle of detergent for just $2.99!

Buy (1) Tide Liquid Detergent – $4.99
Use $2.00/1 Tide Liquid Detergent printable coupon
Final cost is $2.99

*Please note that this is NOT a current sale, but is being used as an example only.

Why is it important to match coupons with sales? This brings us to the next topic – stockpiling.

:: STOCKPILING

STOCKPILING basically means getting your groceries at the very lowest prices, and then purchasing enough to last you until you can get to the next great sale. This way, you never pay full price for any groceries at all. Organize a space to store all of these items and before you go to the grocery store, check your stockpile first. Make sure you don’t purchase too much of anything with a short shelf life, and of course, always use the items that are due to expire first. The whole point is to get your weekly grocery bill down as far as possible, so set a personal goal for yourself.

In order to get enough of one great sale item to last until the next sale, you’ll need more than just one coupon for each item. That may mean purchasing multiple copies of the Sunday paper. For internet printables (IP), typically you are able to print two (2) copies from every computer or device in the house unless the limit is restricted by the site. If something is a super price (maybe even free) with a coupon, you’re not just picking up ONE item with your ONE coupon – you’re picking up as many as you can! This amount should last until the next sale. I have a small family…just my daughter and I – so I make sure I have at least 4 inserts each week.

By way of review:

• Don’t just purchase an item because you have a coupon. Wait until it goes on sale so you can purchase it at it’s rock bottom price.
• DO buy more than just one copy of the Sunday paper so that when an item goes on sale, you can get several to last you until the next sale.

Be sure to check out my other beginners posts: 

Couponing For Beginners | Get To Know Your Coupons

Couponing For Beginners | Where To Find Coupons