Using coupons or money off vouchers can save you huge amounts of money off your everyday shopping. Using coupons to get the maximum discount or even free products does take a little planning but the money savings are very much worth it.
Getting started
Signing up to any supermarket or store loyalty cards where you usually do your shopping, this can easily be done online. Here are some links to sign up for free:
Points can be earned on all purchases you make and many stores send out money off coupons in the post. I regularly receive coupons from Sainsbury’s and Tesco, and for example £5.00 off a £50.00 shop or money off coupons for products they want to promote. Also sign up to any baby or parenting clubs such as Tesco or Sainsbury’s as you will receive additional coupons for many useful baby products.
Pick up any instore magazines when you are shopping as many are full of coupons. Here is a list of some magazines that do have coupons in them:
Asda
Boots
Morrisons
Sainsbury’s (free magazine, please note there is another one you have to pay for too)
Tesco
Waitrose
There are a number of coupon websites that you can sign up for free and print off coupons at home:
Once you have signed up and before printing off any coupons the best way to maximise discounts is to plan your shopping trip. Only print off coupons that you are going to use, otherwise you will waste time and cost of printing off a coupon at home.
I use a Supermarket price comparison site: www.mysupermarket.com
Using this site enables you to compare prices at all the major supermarkets to ensure that you are getting the best possible price for a product.
Planning your shopping trip
Take stock of what coupons you have and for what stores they can be used. Many of the coupons can only be used at a particular supermarket so make sure that you read the small print on each coupon. Also watch out for expiry dates, some coupons can expire quite quickly.
For example if you had a £1.00 off Clover 500g butter coupon and also a £5.00 off a £50.00 spend at Tesco coupon sent through the post...
Check the price of the 500g size Clover butter at Tesco, by logging onto MySupermarket or the Tesco website. The price is listed at £1.00 at Tesco and £1.50 at all other supermarkets. Therefore if you used your £1.00 coupon to purchase the 500g Clover butter at Tesco it would totally free.
The same method can be used for the printable coupons. Check what coupons are available and in particular note the size of the product and the shop it can be used at. Before printing a coupon out, you will not be able to see the expiry date, however most have 1 week validity from the date of printing. Check the current price of the product using mysupermarket or the shop you are going to purchase the item from and see if the item is currently on offer. If the item is reduced and the amount on the coupon brings the cost of the product down to a cheap amount or free then great, add it to your shopping list and print out the coupon.
Speaking from experience, only buy products that you would normally buy even at a discounted amount. If you are able to get items for free and you are not going to use them, then please consider giving them to a food-bank collection basket, they are usually located near the exits of most stores.
By combining coupons and when a product is on special offer there are quite a lot of savings to be made.
If you spot a coupon for a product that you normally purchase a lot of and the product has a long use by or best before date then you could stock up. For example in the October Tesco magazine there was a £1.00 off Hipp food pouches and the product is normally priced at £1.00, so it made the item free. I picked up a handful of the Tesco magazines each time I passed Tesco on my lunch break from work and I was then able to use one coupon per Hipp pouch and stock up on quite a few. The pouches are in date till July 2017 and the actual coupon had a December expiry date so I also had lots of time to use them. I now have a cupboard full of Hipp pouches that my Daughter loves as a snack and they were all free.
Stocking up on toiletry or cleaning products when on offer and/or discounted with using a coupon can be really good at saving long term on your shopping. On supersavvyme there are coupons for Flash bleach spray for 50p off, and this product is usually £1.50, but can be on offer for £1.00. Using a coupon can get it for 50p. The supermarket own brand cheapest price is 70p, so you are still saving money.
I usually write out a clear shopping list before I go shopping. I find this is essential when shopping with my Daughter as she can be a distraction and having a list keeps me on track.
Example of my shopping list:
Bananas 80p
Milk 4pts £1.00
Clover 500g £1.00 - £1.00 coupon = free (normal price £1.50, but on offer)
Tesco meat feast pizza £1.85
Flash bleach 500ml £1.00 – 50p coupon = 50p (normal price £1.50, on offer)
Fairy non bio gel 24 wash £3.50 – 1.00 coupon = £2.50 (normal price is £7.00, on offer)
2 x Huggies baby 56 pack wipes £1.50 each = £3.00 – 2 x 50p coupons then BOGOF so only pay 50p (on offer at Buy one Get one free)
Total cost before £16.65 and after offers and coupons £7.15 saving £9.50 and that it over 50% of the cost saved. This is just a small list but the more offers you can combine with coupons, the bigger the saving.
Things to note
Only buy products you really need, don’t just buy them because they are cheap, you will end up wasting money on items that are no use to you.
Always read the small print on the coupons, check product description including the size, the expiry date and which store the coupon is valid for.
Only one coupon can be used per product, however if a product is on Buy one get one free you can still use one coupon per product.
Preparing for checkout
When you have finished your shopping list at the supermarket and before you go to the check out, I would recommend a quick check that you are prepared before you go to the till.
Check through all of your coupons and go through the items in the trolley to double check you have the correct item stated on the coupon. Take out any coupons that you have not been able to use (products out of stock or could not find). Having your store loyalty card and cash/cards ready for checkout also saves time. Preparing for checkout is easier as it will stop you getting flustered searching for coupons at the bottom of your bag at checkout.
I hand over my loyalty card first to ensure that I earn the maximum points on my shopping, before putting through any coupons.
I then look at the total on the till then give the cashier one coupon at a time to scan, this is essential to ensure that each coupon goes through the till correctly. I have had numerous occasions where coupons have not scanned and then cashier has not realised and therefore you miss out on the discount. It is more time consuming but it ensures that all your coupons go through and you get the discounts that you are due.
On occasion coupons do not scan for whatever reason, do not panic! This can be for a number of reasons. The cashier may ask you to get the product out of your trolley to prove you have bought the correct product, most of the time they will see that you have bought the right item and ask a supervisor to override the till and put the discount through the till manually.
In my early days of couponing I did buy the wrong size product and it did not match the product description on the coupon, if this happens to you, just politely ask to put the wrong product back and get the coupon back off the cashier. You can always get the correct product on your next shopping trip.
If a coupon is refused by a cashier and you are sure that you have the correct product politely ask to speak to supervisor. Remain calm and explain that you have a valid coupon for the product that you are purchasing, this usually resolves the matter. If not just ask the product to be removed from your shopping and get your coupon back. I have had this happen before and I have emailed a complaint to the Supermarket concerned regarding what happened. They usually respond with an apology and they offer to send a gift card to compensate, which can be £5.00 or £10.00.
So there you go a guide to couponing for beginners, I hope that you all make some great savings.
No comments:
Post a Comment