1. shopping
2. resources
3. coupons

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The Six Golden Rules of
Extreme Couponing
By Kristy Hill
T
he American reality show, Extreme Couponing, documenting men,
women, moms, dads and families using coupons to get groceries for
pennies or less, has left many Canadian viewers wondering, “Can I do
that too?”
The answer is—in a word—yes. Shoppers across Canada are doing just
that, and you can, too. Follow these six golden rules for extreme couponing,
use the tips and tricks and resources, and you’ll be on your way to extreme
coupon bliss, feeling like you have robbed the store. “Start the car! Start the car!”
1. Only use a coupon when the item is on sale.
The key strategy to extreme couponing is to pair coupons with an item on sale.
Keep a close watch on clearances and sales in the flyers and match it with a
coupon you have. For example: A box of granola bars is on sale for $1.75, and
you have a coupon for $1.50 off, thus costing you only $0.25!
Tips and Tricks
• Always get a rain cheque. If an item is on sale, but is out of stock, don’t be shy and
always ask for a rain cheque.
• Spend the time. It takes time to build up a coupon collection. When you first start,
spend a few weeks just collecting coupons, going through flyers and crosschecking
with the coupons you are accumulating.
• Be organized. Organize all your coupons in a binder and group them according
to type of product. That way, when you are flipping through flyers or shopping,
you can quickly check your binder to see if you have a coupon for an item on sale.
• Pre-order for more than 10. If you have more than 10 coupons for a product, call
the store and pre-order the product to ensure you get the amount you want and
won’t clear off the shelf.
• Check weekend flyers. The weekend flyers in your newspaper regularly publish
huge sales along with many coupons.
• Read the fine print. Some coupons state they cannot be used with other coupons
or sales
Don’t receive flyers at your door? No problem. Most
stores have online flyers you can view at your leisure or
subscribe to receive in your inbox each week. Many have
mobile versions as well.
2. Price-match with in-store coupons.
In-store coupons are great, but most likely won’t get you
close to paying less than a dollar or free. You can use an
in-store coupon to get an item for free by price matching.
For example, you have an in-store coupon for yogurt for
$1.75 off, making it $2.00. Another store has the same
yogurt, same size, on sale for $2.00. Present the flyer that
states the sale and they will bring the price down to $2.00.
Pair it with the in-store coupon and it’ll only cost $0.25!
Canadian stores that honour price-matching:
• Extra Foods
• London Drugs
• Price Mart
• Real Canadian Superstore
• Save-On-Foods
• Walmart >>>continued
September 2011
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3. Get multiples of each coupon.
By combining a coupon with a sale on a product, you can often get the item
for less than $0.50 or free, but that’s just the one item. In order to create a
stockpile of product, whether conservative or substantial, you will need to
collect multiples of each coupon.
How to get multiple coupons:
• Ask friends and neighbours to collect flyers for you.
• Become friends with someone who delivers the newspaper
(there’s often leftovers of flyers that don’t get into the newspaper).
• Call manufacturers and ask for coupons to be sent to you.
• Are you more adventurous? Go dumpster diving and rifle through recycling
bins in your neighbourhood.
Get Couponing!
Easy way to search for coupons online
*provided by SweetCoupons.com
Step 1: www.google.com
Step 2: Search “site: websaver.ca” or “site:save.ca”
Step 3: Click on the left-hand side, “more search tools,” and then refine
the “time” portion to find any recent updates.
4. Stack coupons anytime you can.
Sometimes you might have more than one coupon for the exact same product,
but each coupon is from a different source and has different UPC codes. These
coupons can be “stacked.” For example, Breathe Rights are on sale for $18,
you have three coupons for $3.00 off and each one is different. Use all three
coupons and you’ll walk away with only paying $9! Coupon stacking is also
great for travel-sized items, rendering them free almost every time.
Currently, London Drugs is the only Canadian store that allows coupon
stacking.
This allows you to only view the recently updated pages without
clicking page after page.
5. Bring coupon policies with you.
Every store has its own coupon, price-matching, coupon stacking and raincheck policies. To avoid hassles or delays because of uninformed cashiers or
even managers, print out coupon policies and bring them with you on every
shopping trip. Your collection of coupon policies will become your bible!
Websites for Coupon Searching
6. Use overage to pay for meat, produce and other.
It is quite rare to see coupons for meat and produce. So how can you buy all
your groceries for pennies or less if you don’t have coupons for everything?
You do this with overage.
Overage is when you’ve found an item on sale and your coupon amount
is greater than the cost of the product. For example, bread is on sale for
$1.00, you have a coupon for $1.50 off; your overage is $0.50. If you have 10
coupons and purchase 10 loaves of bread, you will have $5.00 in overage.
You can then use your overage to pay for meat and produce—rendering
your entire purchase free!
Currently, Walmart is the only store in Canada that allows overage.
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Couponing Resources
www.mrsjanuary.com
www.sweetcoupons.com
www.facebook.com/sweetcoupons thekrazycouponlady.com
www.mrssmithextremeshopper.com
www.rightathome.ca
www.mommysavesbig.com
www.bargainmoose.ca
www.mysavings.com
www.freesamples-canada.com
www.couponclick.ca
womenfreebies.ca
canadianfreestuff.com
www.freesamplescanada.net
www.smartcanucks.com
www.dealstreet.ca
www.simplyfrugal.ca
freestuffnews.ca
samples-4-free.com
perfectcoupondeals.com
www.canadasweepstakes.ca
couponsforcanada.com
www.thehealthyshopper.ca
www.coupons-canada.net
Coupons in the Mail
www.save.ca
www.gocoupons.ca
www.websaver.ca
www.livewellsavewell.ca
www.brandsaver.ca
save.ca/lifemadedelicious/coupons