Coupon Lingo

Hello! I hope you are enjoying my series Coupons for Beginners If you have not been following along or are just now seeing this, you can catch up with Coupons for Beginners, and Coupon Basics.

When you are first plopped into the couponing world it can be very confusing. When I first began learning to coupon I felt like I was losing my mind. Reading lines like this one:

"Use $3/1 and $2/1 SQ and GB $4 OYNO!"

made me want to cry. I was like "What is a MQ? What is an SQ? Grab Bag? They misspelled Oh no?" The translation of that line is:

"Use a $3.00 off one Manufacturer Coupon and a $2.00 off one Store coupon and you get back (a coupon) for $4.00 On Your Next Order!"

So in the interest of not forcing you to sit and wonder what I am saying...here are some Couponing "Vocabulary words" you may or may not be familiar with:

General Terms:

Blinkie – Red SmartSource box that spits coupons out with a red blinking light. These are generally located in front of/nearby the item they are intended to be used on. If they are for one of your favorite products that is NOT on sale at this store - you CAN take a few (2 or 3 - not the whole box :) ) and use them at another store.

BOGO/BOGOF/B1G1F - Buy one get one. Most grocery stores the items are just 50% off - but Harris Teeter is sometimes different. Most stores that run BxGxF (sometimes stores run Buy 2 Get 1 or Buy 2 get 3 promos) will require you to buy the actual specified quantity.

Catalina - Coupons that come from the printer beside the register tape. They are typically manufacturer coupons and are rumored to be usable at any store. Sometimes these can be for random amounts off of your next order coupons. (Register Rewards are Catalinas)

Filler - Item added to purchase so you can use a coupon or qualify for something.

FLIP - Food Lion Internet Printable coupon

HT - Harris Teeter

IP – Internet printable coupon

OYNO - On Your Next Order

Rolling – Used with multiple transactions. First transaction prints a coupon off your next order and you ROLL it onto the next transaction with the intent to reduce your Out of Pocket Cost.

OOP – Out of Pocket

MFG - Manufacturer

Q - Coupon

MFC/MFQ/MQ - Manufacturer Coupon

SC/SQ - Store Coupon

Stacking - Using 2 coupons together. Usually a manufacturer coupon with a store coupon

Overage - Extra money in your favor on a transaction. ex: Using a $1.00 on any Muir Glen tomato product Coupon on the 89¢ cans of tomato paste at Publix generates 11¢ of Overage.

WYB - When You Buy

DrugStore info:

IVC - Walgreens in ad coupon (Instant value coupon)
RR –Register Rewards - catalina Money off on your next order from walgreens
ECB –Extra Care Bucks - CVS instant rebate "coupons"
SCR - Single Check Rebates - Rite Aid rebates that are mailed to your home.

Newspaper Inserts

GM – General Mills insert
P&G – Proctor and Gamble insert
RP – RedPlum insert
SS – Smart Source insert

If you didn't finish reading about Coupon Basics yet feel free to hop back over THERE to do so. If you did finish reading Coupon Basics then I hope you learned something today from the two posts and please be sure to tune in soon when we learn (Where to get coupons).

Other posts in this Series:
Couponing For Beginners
Coupon Basics
Coupon Lingo
Where do I get coupons??
Coupon Organization
Setting and Sticking to your Budget
Meal Planning 101
What is a Stockpile?
Sale Strategies

Coupon Basics

Hello! Welcome to the next post in my Coupons for Beginners series. If you are just coming in to the series, that's fine. Sit down, take a load off and prepare to learn!! You can always catch up with the introductory post "Coupons for Beginners" later. Today we are examining the basics of coupons. Specifically the little paper coupon in your hot little hand ;).

Topics of importance in this article will be:

• 
  
  The anatomy of a coupon.
• 
  
  What types of coupons are there?
• 
  
  Coupon Lingo
• 
  
  Coupon Fraud? What's that!

The Anatomy of a Coupon

As you can see from my coupon here, I am going to soon be selling my very own brand of cereal. It comes in Quarts instead of Ounces ;). Okay, all kidding aside - I thought it might be helpful to come up with a coupon mock-up for us to look at together while I show you a few important landmarks on a typical coupon.

Here are the basic parts of the coupon you should be familiar with:

• 
  
  Coupon Category: See in the upper left hand corner where the coupon says "MANUFACTURER COUPON"? This means the coupon is put out by the manufacturer and can be used at any store. Store coupons are limited to specific stores (or stores that accept competitor coupons) and may say STORE COUPON or be branded in a more specific manner.
Some additional coupons may print with a specific store logo on them but state "MANUFACTURER COUPON" on them. (Another type of coupon included here would be some of the Kroger "Best Customer" coupons that they mail to you that have a Kroger logo on them but specifically state "MANUFACTURER". Your results will depend upon where you are attempting to redeem this particular kind of coupon. It's a situation where "Your Mileage May Vary (YMMV)." Publix will accept all of these types of coupons AS LONG AS they are from a store that is considered a competitor. If you are unsure, I highly recommend that you ask at the customer service desk about coupons like this before you shop, that way you don't waste time or energy shopping for items you may decide to leave behind if they won't take that coupon.
• Expiration Date: The upper right corner of the coupon is the normal location for the expiration date. Not always, but pretty frequently, you can find it there. This coupon expired 12/1/1975.
• 
  
  Coupon "Value": This coupon is for $1.44 off ONE box of cereal. in coupon matchups this might be reported as $1.44/1. Note the requirements for box size. You must buy at least a 10 Quart box. Now, THAT is a LOT of cereal ;)
• 
  
  The Fine Print: This is made up of two separate sections. A message to the consumer and a message to the store who redeems the coupon. Sometimes you will see specific limitations for coupons in this section. A common one is "LIMIT: ONE COUPON PER PURCHASE." This confuses many people. Going back to our example, this means you can use ONE coupon per box of cereal. You cannot use 4 coupons on the SAME box of cereal but if you have four coupons you may buy four boxes of cereal and use a coupon on each box all on the same transaction. Sadly, some cashiers believe this statement means "one per transaction" and will make you check out with multiple transactions.
• 
  
  UPC or Bar Code: The important part here is the grouping of numbers below the barcode. We are only going to look at one number. Do you see the baby number "5" off to the left? All by himself? Yeah...him. He tells us that this coupon WILL double as long as the store doubles to or above the value of this coupon, REGARDLESS of any text on the coupon that says otherwise. The reason for this is that coupon scanners cannot read, so they rely on the barcode to TELL them whether or not to double coupons. The cashier can suppress doubling and it is their right IF the coupon says "Do not double or triple" on it. The number "9" in that location will always prevent doubling. This number will always be either a "0", "5" or "9." The 5 allows the system to double it, the 9 prevents doubling and I have read that the 0 forces the system to double the coupon but so far that is unverified information as I have never personally run across a coupon that starts with a 0 there.

Coupon Categories

There are several categories you can break a pile of coupons down into. I will share all of the ones I can think of :)

Manufacturer vs. Store vs. Total Amount Coupons.

• 
  
  Manufacturer Coupons- Issued by the manufacturer. You can use these anywhere. They are typically for a dollar amount off of a particular product. ($1.00 off 3 boxes of cereal)
• 
  
  Store Coupons- Issued by the Store. Can only be used in a store of the issuer. Sometimes accepted as competitor coupons. Sometimes also come as "Total Amount" coupons.
• Competitor Coupons - Coupon issued by a competing store to where you are shopping. (example: You are shopping in Publix and have many Kroger Catalina coupons. Those are Competitor coupons) (NOTE: A Catalina coupon is that little slip of paper that prints on the printer beside your receipt printer.  Register Rewards at Walgreens is an example of a Catalina Coupon!)
• Total Order/Total Amount Coupons - Coupon issued by the store OR a manufacturer stating a total dollar amount off the order. Sometimes these have no strings: (Save $4.00 off your next order!) and sometimes they have limitations: (Save $5.00 off your next purchase of $30 or more.) I have seen this type of coupon range in value from 50¢ off your next order all the way up to $15.00/$50.00 purchase.

Coupon Lingo....Confused yet???

When I first began couponing, I went through life confused for several weeks.  Always trying to figure out this abbreviation or that one and it was so frustrating!  I hope to fix all of that for you :)
Coupon lingo can be very confusing. I have placed the Couponing Lingo information in a separate post in case you want to bookmark that post and use it as a handy reference guide.

Coupon Fraud - I didn't know that was illegal!?

While listening to the radio a few months ago, I almost drove off of the road because of something I heard! This particular station has a game called "Are you cheaper than a (Producer's Name)?" The producer IS pretty cheap, this lady who called in said that she had actually photo copied coupons onto newsprint with her color copier. Front and back...so it would look like a regular coupon. That is fraud! You absolutely can't do that! So I want to be SURE I address this subject before we are too far along.

I don't want anyone to break the law accidentally. There are PLENTY of ways to save tons of cash legally. No need to commit fraud!  It should go without saying but a lot of folks don't know this so I'm going to go on ahead and say it...do not ever, ever, EVER Photocopy a coupon. Printable, insert or otherwise....I've overheard some people say that the stores/manufacturers can't tell who printed the coupons anyway so they photocopy them. If you read that microscopic print that makes up the line around your coupon...you will find YOUR IP Address there. :) They WILL find you....and it won't be pretty :(

I hope that you enjoyed todays installment of Coupons for Beginners and I hope you are looking forward to tomorrow when we will answer that timely question "(Where do I get coupons??)"

Catch up with the other posts in this Series:

Couponing For Beginners
Coupon Basics
Coupon Lingo
Where do I get coupons??
Coupon Organization
Setting and Sticking to your Budget
Meal Planning 101
What is a Stockpile?
Sale Strategies

Couponing for Beginners

When you are new to anything it is easy to feel overwhelmed. When I first started shopping smarter and using coupons like a mad woman, I was VERY overwhelmed. What helped me was having a very dear friend show me the ropes and introduce me to a few blogs. After that, I was constantly fed tidbits of information from the blogs I read. Based on some comments I've received, I think there are several of you feeling very overwhelmed. My goal is to help get rid of that feeling!

I am starting a series of articles that will help break information down into bite-sized, easy to understand morsels. I want to help you learn the skills necessary to shop smarter, stick to a budget, save money and live within your means.

The method behind my "madness" includes such tactics as:

• Meal planning around Sales
• Learning to Shop Smarter using your local coupon matchups
• Tips and Tricks for shopping chain stores such as Kroger, Publix, Walmart, Target and More!

Topics covered in this series include:

• Coupon Basics
• Where do I get coupons?
• How do I store or organize my coupons?
• Setting a Budget and sticking to it
• How do I create a Meal Plan?
• What is a Stockpile and why do I want one?

So sit down, pull up a chair and put your feet up! I hope you enjoy and learn a lot from this series. If something is unclear, needs further explanation or you have ANY questions, please feel free to email me ([crazycouponcarol][at][gmail][dot][com]) or leave questions in a comment. I am happy to address the question on the spot...and it might be a subject that many have questions about and I may create a whole post to explain it :)

Look for the first installment of this series coming very soon.  Be sure and subscribe to get my money saving tips delivered to your email and then you'll never miss a deal!!
Upcoming posts in this Series:

Couponing For Beginners
Coupon Basics
Coupon Lingo
Where do I get coupons??
Coupon Organization
Setting and Sticking to your Budget
Meal Planning 101
What is a Stockpile and why do I want one?