The Beginning Frugalite Coupon Primer

I’m writing this because so many younger people are experiencing their very first recession, and a lot of us have taken the basics for granted. Someone needs to start from the beginning, and explain as clearly as possible—this will be very important stuff to everyone in the near future. Here’s my contribution.

Coupons are nothing more than pieces of paper offered by manufacturers and stores for money off of a certain item. These represent tiny marketing and advertising gimmicks that try to persuade you to buy the item based on the promise of a discount at the register. Never mind the fact that you may not ordinarily use this product—it comes with a discount, and that should overrule any other common sense (as far as the marketing department sees it).

To make the most beneficial use of coupons, you have to have some understanding of baseball analogy, because this is the easiest way to explain it. If you understand the bases, you’ll get this too. The more bases you can use, the more effective your coupon use.

• First base—you find a coupon in the paper or junk mail, cut it out, and redeem it for the product. For most people, it ends here.

• Second base—you find a coupon, you notice an in-store sale, and combine the two at the same time (this is legal) on the same product. This results in bigger savings than just the coupon itself, and is known as a double-play.

• Third base—you have a coupon, see an in-store sale, and a buy-one-get-one-free (or a rebate) offered for the same item at the same time. Usually this combination will end up netting you the equivalent of free products after all is said and rung up. This is a triple-play.

• Home run—the planets align, the wind is from the east, and you have a coupon, an in-store sale, a buy-one-get-one-free product, AND a rebate. This rare but precious happening usually nets you a negative register receipt, meaning you’ve made more money for buying this particular item (after rebate) than you paid for it in the first place--it’s better than free.

Of course, do read the fine print on your coupons and store flyers--sometimes quantity limits are stated, and sometimes there's a cute little clause that states this offer cannot be combined with other offers. If that's the case. then you must honor the restrictions on the coupon/sale flyer.

As you can see, there are better, more effective ways to use those little paper advertising and marketing campaigns than what you’re doing now, and all it takes is a little more attention to what’s going on in your store and when—read those circulars and compare your list, your coupon stash, and your store ad, and look for ways you can make a play better than the regular first-base play.. Sure, it takes some organization and a little file-keeping, but you already have a coupon organizer, don’t you? How about a rebate organizer or a register receipt organizer?

Get started on your own year-round grocery baseball game today—or, you could do yourself one better by paying closer attention to the regular unit price of the item, the total discounted price after all sales/coupons/rebates, and the unit price of items that also do the same job. Chances are very good you can find a cheaper alternative right there on the shelf without all the paperwork hassles and quantity limits.