Centsible Mom: How to save big bucks with coupons

I look at coupons. I clip them. I stick them in my wallet.

And then I forget to use them.

But I want to be better at it, so I started to follow a Facebook page called Tucson Couponers, where people give tips and post photos of their hauls.

It’s amazing how much money they save.

A recent post on the group’s timeline had a photo of a huge pile of stuff, which member Jennifer Hicks said had a retail value of approximately $190. Know how much she paid? $20.72. Crazy, right?

That’s what I want to learn to do. So I’ve enlisted the help of Hicks, and a couple other Tucson couponers, to give us some of their best tips.

Here’s what they had to say:

Jennifer Hicks, an office manager and mother of one, is an extreme couponer, who shops every day, usually at 6 a.m., and spends eight hours shopping the deals on Saturdays. Not only does she shop for her family, she also shops for the nonprofit organization Wings for Women, which helps homeless and impoverished women.

Hicks has been couponing seriously for about six and a half months. She got her start when a woman standing in line behind her at Target showed her how to get a good deal.

“A few weeks later, I got a message from a friend who happened to spend 15 bucks and saved over $200 at Fry’s and I was like, ‘How the hell did she do this?’” Her friend showed her the basics, and Hicks took it from there.

“Ever since then, I ran with it. I spent endless hours walking up and down the aisles at Fry’s, Safeway, Walmart and Bashas’ to figure out how to coupon,” she remembered. “For the first month, I probably slept four to five hours a night, just trying to figure it out ... how the sales work.”

She says a lot of the best deals aren’t advertised. You find them by walking up and down the grocery store aisles, or on the Catalina coupons you get at check out.

One of the best ways to get good at couponing is to follow lots of Facebook groups and blogs about deals and coupons, Hicks said. “The more groups you follow, the more deals you’ll land.”

Knowing store policies is a big help in planning your shopping trips. For example, Safeway and Fry’s will double your coupons up to a dollar, Hicks said. Bashas’ doubles to face value of the coupon, so if your coupon is for 30 cents, you’ll get 60 cents off. And, she price matches at Walmart.

Stacking coupons is where the big savings can come in, Hicks said. Target, CVS, Fry’s, Safeway and Walgreens all issue store coupons and allow them to be stacked with a manufacturer coupon. Hicks said she got $8.99 bottles of Tide laundry soap for $2.31 by using this strategy, which is great for Hicks since it’s one of her favorite things to stock up on.

“Going early is a great tip because from midnight to 6 a.m. they’re stocking the shelves,” she said. “If you go at 6 a.m., you’ll find the product 95 percent of the time. Everyone tells me ‘your hauls are amazing,’ and it’s because I go so early.”

To bring the out-of-pocket price down on food items Hicks doesn’t have specific coupons for, she uses her Walgreens register rewards. I was surprised you could do this, but printed right on top, it says “manufacturer coupon,” which means you can use it anywhere.

Sometimes, it can be tricky to get the deals, because the stores have gotten stricter on enforcing coupon policies. But Hicks has found a way around that, too. She hits multiple stores in her area. “No one can limit how many times I choose to shop.”

Admittedly, couponing can get in the way of your home life, if you’re not careful, and it can end up costing you more money, Hicks said.

“You forget about what else is important because it’s time consuming and addicting,” she noted. “And you find yourself buying stuff you don’t really need.”

The art of being a good couponer is perfected by practice, learning the tricks and doing the legwork. Hicks is happy to share her deals and some tips, but doesn’t share all of her secrets. “It’s competitive,” she said. “Some stuff people need to learn on their own.”

Elizabeth Perry, a retiree and active cyclist, calls herself a “crazy couponer,” and has been doing it for more than 35 years.

Learning the system for each store is part of the expertise needed. One of Perry’s favorite places to save with coupons is Target.

Since Target accepts both store and manufacturer coupons, you can stack them. And you can get printable coupons at Target.com.

It doesn’t stop there. If you have a smartphone, you can download the free Target Cartwheel app and click on the deals you want, such as 5 percent off berries or bananas. Plus, if you have a Target Red card, you will save an additional 5 percent. Bring your own bags, and get 5 cents for each bag used.

And, if you sign up to receive texts from Target, they’ll send you new digital coupons every week.

“When you go to check out, you hand over your paper coupons, then your digital text coupons,” Perry said. Lastly, show them your Cartwheel bar code. “It takes some organization, but it will definitely save you lots of money.”

Perry also recommends looking at thekrazycouponlady.com for advice. “They give you the links to print your own coupons and match-ups to all the local stores.”

Michele Stewart, a human resources recruiter and mother of three teenagers, doesn’t consider herself an “extreme couponer,” but she doesn’t go to the store without her coupons. Ever.

“I’m not paying regular prices for anything,” Stewart said. “You have to carry them everywhere you go because you gotta be ready to save.”

One of Stewart’s favorite strategies is to pair a coupon with in-store sales to get the best deal. “That’s when you maximize your savings.”

By doing so, Stewart created a situation where CVS actually owed her money at checkout. “I had coupons for everything I bought, and it was all on sale,” she said. “At the end of the transaction, they ended up owing me money.” The store couldn’t actually give her cash, so she ended up getting an item that equaled the amount owed to her.

Stewart says she hasn’t paid for toothpaste for about a year, by combining coupons with sales at Fry’s. She said every coupon is worth a dollar at Fry’s, so when she sees Colgate toothpaste on sale 10 for $10, she uses the dollar coupon combined with the sale and gets it for free.

Favorite products to stock up on are laundry soap and toiletries because they’re things she will always need. “Another thing about couponing is you can’t be brand specific. I’ll use everything ... whatever is on sale and whatever I have a coupon for.”

What about those pesky stipulations some coupons have on them, such as using one coupon per person?

Well, Stewart says the cashiers often don’t notice them. But, if they do, she sometimes has her daughter tag along to get the items or she goes through the line twice. “You do what you have to to get your savings.”