Couponing 101 for Coupon Virgins

A few people have asked for some of my basic couponing and frugal shopping tips.  While us Canadians can’t have anywhere near the success of the superstars on Extreme Couponers (we’re not allowed to combine coupons, generally, like they do in the US) there’s still many ways you can save money using coupons and other techniques.

If you’re new to using coupons, here’s a basic tip sheet for you to get you started.

1. Check your weekly newspaper for the coupon inserts.  Typically you will find coupons for diapers, wipes, shampoo, razors and home fragrance products in there.

2. Utilize websites like BrandSaver.ca and Save.ca for mailable coupons.

3. Walk the aisles in your local grocery or pharmacy store and take coupons on items your family purchases, even if you don’t need them that day.  I think people tend to only grab a shelf-coupon when they’re buying the item that day.  Take the coupon anyway and keep them in an envelope in your purse.

4. Learn about points programs and savings programs at the stores you shop in anyway.  If you don’t have a Sobey’s Club Card, you need one (I typically get $100 in free groceries a year, and usually save it up for a pre-holiday grocery shopping spree).  Get a Shoppers Drug Mart Optimum Card – I get about $250 in free products a year from SDM.

5. Make sure the credit card you’re using has a points program attached – you can even get a Shoppers Drug Mart or Sobey’s Club credit card and earn bonus points everywhere you shop.

6. Pay attention to double-coupon days, they’re out there.  Pharmasave (a western-Canada pharmacy chain) typically has a double-coupon weekend once every 3 months or so.  Your coupons are worth double and it can mean virtually free shampoo, Tylenol, and more.

7. London Drugs will allow you to coupon-stack which is the closest you’ll come to the coupon-piles that the people on Extreme Couponing have.  The rule with London Drugs, however, is that your coupons have to be different in order to stack them towards one product.  So, for example, you can use a $2 off Pampers coupon and a $4 off Pampers coupon together to get $6 off a pack.  OR, if you have a $2 off coupon from the newspaper insert and a $2 off coupon from a mail-out plus a $2 off coupon from another mail-out, you can use them all.

8. Walmart will price-match if you bring in the competitor’s flyer.  Why is this a good thing?  Typically sale items in stores sell out quickly and you’re left missing out.  Don’t just walk away and miss the deal – take the flyer to Walmart and pick up the product there, easy! (It also saves on gas when you don’t have to stop at another store if you’re going to pick up everything else at Walmart anyway!)

9. Check out deal websites like the forums at FrugalShopper.ca to learn from other coupon-users how to save money and get a heads up on coupon deals in stores or online.

10. Finally, tell your friends and family about your new quest to save money with coupons and be more frugal.  Ask them to keep an eye on coupons for you (my mom is an avid coupon hunter for me!) and soon you’ll have plenty of coupons to use.

Hope this helps those of you new to couponing get off to a good start!  Good luck – one day you will be like those of us that use coupons as the norm rather than the exception.  “Buy those diapers without a coupon?!  Never!!”