Supermarket Secrets: Part Two

Now you have probably read Part One of Supermarket Secrets, and you have a general idea of how shopping the deals works: you have to wait for the best sales, use your coupons with sales, and stack coupons for maximized savings.

If you have read my Couponing Basics post, then you also understand how to collect coupons and how to organize them in an easy and manageable way. And finally, if you read my Choosing Your Stores post, you understand that different stores differ in coupon policies, and you have to decide which stores you will shop at.

Now I will offer some helpful and practical advice to send you on your way to savings:

1. Finding sales
2. Matching coupons

You're probably thinking, "Okay. I get it. I have to save my coupons, and use them with sales. But how do I know the best sales? And how do I find coupons to match, when I'm not cutting them out every Sunday?" The purpose of this section is to answer these questions.

Finding Sales:

• The first and obvious place is the store circular (you can get it in the Sunday newspaper, in the front of the store on a rack, or on the store's website). Every week, each store puts out a new store ad. You can look through the ad to find all the best sales. The problem with this, however, is that in the beginning you might think something that is advertised is a great deal, when in fact it is not the "rock bottom price" that I talked about in Part One. Over time you will learn what is a great deal and be able to simply look at the store ads. For now, though, you should begin by taking advantage of the internet.

• Visit money saving blogs. I will post deals for Publix, Target, and Walmart Supermarkets on a regular basis. Whatever store you shop at, though, you can probably find a blog out there that posts the best deals each week, along with coupon match-ups for each item that is on sale.

• Hot Coupon World is one of my favorite coupon sites. I recommend this site to all beginners. It is a great resource, because it has everything on one website. There are forums for every store you can think of: grocery stores, national chain stores, drug stores, etc. Try looking under "grocery store forums" for your store's deals with coupon match-ups.

Matching Coupons:

• Again, visit money saving blogs and Hot Coupon World for posted coupon match-ups with sale items. This is how I find all of my deals. In fact, I have been couponing for well over a year now, and I rarely look at the store circulars. I mostly just research deals and coupon match-ups on the internet. Blogs and Hot Coupon World are also great, because there are usually direct links to any available printable coupons for the items.

• Coupon databases are great tools. These basically allow you to search for any coupons available for specific items. Coupon Mom has a great one. Signing up is free. Once you're signed up, simply click on "grocery coupon database," type in the item you're looking for, and a list of all possible coupons that have not yet expired will come up. They will be labeled by the date of the insert, and the type of insert (SS, RP, PG, etc). Go here to read about labeling the different types of inserts, if you're not sure what all of this means.
  

• Hot Coupon World also has a great coupon database. The reason I really like this one is that it lists all coupons available from inserts, tearpads, store booklets, flyers, ads, blinkies, on the web (printable), etc. The only downside to Hot Coupon World is that they do not list the coupons by region, so sometimes it will list a coupon that is not necessarily in your region. Most coupon inserts on Sundays are pretty much the same, but a few coupon values and types can differ depending on the region you are in. On Coupon Mom, you can search by state/region, so that is convenient.

That, in a nutshell, is an explanation of how to find the best deals! Now on to Supermarket Secrets: Part Three...