Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Lori's Question - What Does it Mean to Stack Coupons?

I love to get questions - thanks Lori!  Stacking is one of the true joys of couponing. Stacking is simply using more than one TYPE of coupon to get an item for the lowest possible price. Notice the word type...that's important. Let me try to explain.

We all know what a manufacturer's coupon looks like - here are two examples for Venus razors and Garnier  face stuff. You can't use two manufacturer's coupons on one item - ever. Never, ever, ever!

Two of the best places to stack coupons are Rite Aid and CVS. I have a trip planned to CVS so I'm going to use it as my example.  First, I get together all of my manufacturers coupons that I plan to use.  Then, I check for CVS store coupons. Most of them will come from the magic coupon machine and look like this:


These are definitely stackable - let's say I had one for $1.00 off any facial product. I could use that on top of my Garnier coupon for a total of $3.00 off one product. Rite Aid has more store coupons than CVS does. They are listed monthly on their Facebook page and on the Rite Aid Video Values website. They are fantastic and often result in free products when combined with a mfg coupon. Rite Aid also has coupons in their weekly ads. These look like manufacturers coupons but are really store coupons. How can you tell?  Rite Aid store coupon codes start with the letters RA.

On to more stacking. This is another type of CVS store coupon.


This one was emailed to me and offers a general $2.00 my entire purchase. So guess what?  I can stack this one on top of my CVS store coupon on top of my manufacturers coupon. See the beauty??

The final layer of stacking (for now) is to use a mobile phone app to increase your savings. The easiest one (and one that is also available online) is Saving Star. You just sign up, add your store loyalty cards, choose the offers you want and that savings is added as cash to your account. Yep, it's that easy.

I also use the Endorse app and the Ibotta app for my smartphone. They involve a little more work, but offer large savings on top of coupons.  Right now, Ibotta is offering $1.25 off a bottle of Clean and Clear shampoo. They don't care about your coupons - even if you got the bottle for free,you can make $1.25. Both apps involved taking a picture of your receipt and the product's bar code.

Martin's has been offering a few store coupons each week on the side of their ad. You can stack a manufacturer's coupon on top of them also. Using this method, I was able to get All Laundry detergent for just .99 cents!  I also saw in the Food Lion ad today that they will be installing magic coupon machines in their stores. They will be store coupons and stackable.

Whew!  Are you crazy yet?  I recommend starting small. Try to stack a mfg coupon with a store coupon just once. Then add another layer. Then try the apps. Let me know if you have any more questions!








1 comment:

  1. We have the Food Lion coupon machines in VA, and they are amazing. I get a lot of great general coupons, like $1 off $5 in the meat dept, or $2 off $10 in the produce, plus a lot of specific store coupons that stack right on top of the manufacturer ones. The best part is that they are not specific to your MVP card, so people will leave behind coupons right below the machine and around the store that anyone can pick up and use.

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