Did you see my post last month on organizing your coupons? If you are starting to accumulate lots of coupons you might be wondering the best way to use them. Just heading out to the grocery store and using your .35 cent coupon on tuna fish is not the best way to utilize your coupon. If you know how to use your coupons you can make your money stretch farther than you thought possible!

1. Wait to use your coupons. Don’t use them right away. Wait closer to the expiration date for a good sale. For example, take a $1/1 Crest toothpaste coupon. When Walgreens, Rite Aid, CVS, Albertson’s or your local store has them on sale, THEN use the coupon on the sale price. many times these stores will have toothpaste on sale for $1, then you could get the toothpaste for free! Or when Walgreens offers Register Rewards on the toothpaste you can actually come out ahead when you use your coupon on the sale price, then get back a RR for the full purchase price!

2. Combine B1G1 free coupons with a similar sale. Let’s say that your store is having a sale on their Colgate toothpaste, B1G1 free. The sale price is $3.99 each. But let’s say you also have a coupon for a B1G1 free tube of Colgate. Use that coupon with the sale of B1G1 free and you will come away with two free tubes. Note that some stores do not allow this, so check the store coupon policy first. I know that Rite Aid used to allow this but they have since changed their coupon policy.

You can also use a cents-off coupon with a B1G1 Free coupon on the same sale. Lets say you are buying two boxes of pasta on a B1G1 Free sale. You can use a B1G1 Free coupon to get one item free, as well as a $1/1 coupon that you have for that item as well. The $1/1 coupon is for the box of pasta you are purchasing, the B1G1 coupon is getting your a free box for buying the first one. Make sense?

3. Combine your coupons with current rebates and rewards available. This is one of the main ways I have gotten ahead over the years. A Kraft rebate at Albertson’s a few years ago is an example. Kraft was offering a $20 rebate for purchasing certain items. I combined the sale prices at Albertson’s on those items with current coupons I had, which was $7 worth. I spent $14 plus tax out of pocket and got $20 back! I got paid to shop. Awesome!

This same concept is applied to Walgreens Register Rewards and Rite Aid +UP Rewards. You can combine the sale items with coupons, then get back the rewards immediately. It’s like cash in your pocket. Many times you can come out ahead.

4. Use manufacturer coupons with store coupons on the same product. Target, Fred Meyer & Walgreens are the stores in my area I do this at. These stores offer store coupons in their weekly ads or in their monthly coupon booklets. Many times there are manufacturer coupons (from the Sunday paper or printable coupons) that are for the same item. You can use these two coupons together!

For example, let’s say that you want to purchase Garnier shampoo at Walgreens for $3.99. Walgreens has a store coupon for $2/1. You also have a manufacturer coupon from the Sunday paper for $1/1. Use them together to get the shampoo for .99 cents.

5. Use your cents-off coupons to get free items. Did you know you can get many free things with regular cent-off coupons? You can! One way to do this is by purchasing trial size items. If you have a $1/1 coupon for Tide, use it on the .99 trial size. Just make sure you read the coupon to make sure it doesn’t mention that trial sizes are excluded. Many stores will apply the overage to your total as well! Walmart usually does. Target and Walgreens would adjust the coupon down to .99.

If you can’t use the coupon on a trial sized item, often you can use it on a full size item to get it for pennies! Wait for the item to go on sale before your coupon expires. Use patience!

How do you make the most of your coupons?