DISCOVERING THE ART OF COUPON SHOPPING

My friend Rachel has introduced the idea of "coupon" shopping to me. Yes, I knew coupons existed, I just didn't understand how to use them to the best of my advantage. I went to Dillons yesterday and saved 44% on my grocery bill! I paid $39 for $70 worth of groceries. Without going into too much detail I wanted to share a little of what I've learned this week.
1. Dillons doubles coupons up to $1
2. You can download coupons onto your Dillons card. (who knew?!?!) I explain this below.
3. You can save some major money by using all these coupons when Dillons happens to have the same products on sale. This means you need to do some planning by only shopping for things when they are on sale and you have a coupon(s) for that item.
4. The Kansas City Star newspaper has tons of coupons in it!!! Several savvy couponers suggest that you buy at least two copies so that you have more coupons when certain items are on sale.
5. There's some great sites that teach you how to "coupon shop." The first two sites listed are places where you can print coupons from your computer. The rest are sites that explain coupon shopping in more detail.
Here they are:
http://www.slickdeals.net/
http://www.coupons.com/
http://www.moneysavingmom.com/
http://www.comicalcouponcents.com/
http://www.iheartcvs.com/
http://www.becentsible.com/
http://www.mommystayshome.blogspot.com/ (I really like this site!)
http://www.couponmom.com/ (one of my favorites too)


HAPPY SHOPPING!

Here are 3 sites that I found where you can load coupons onto your Dillons card. These coupons do not double, but can be used along with a paper coupons or coupon you've printed online.

The first site is http://www.shortcuts.com/ just follow the instructions. You'll need your Dillons card w/you so you can enter the number onto the site.

The second is http://www.cellfire.com/ You need to have a cell phone number to activate this one, but you can manage your coupons account from your PC. You also need your Dillons card.

The third is http://www.pgesaver.com/ (thanks Kristin for making this more simple!) You need your Dillons card for this one as well.

I have confirmed with Dillons that at check out you may swipe your card and use a coupon from the newspaper, etc. at the same time for the same product! Woo Hoo!!! I got 4 things FREE at Dillons yesterday by doing this! (EXAMPLE: I had a coupon loaded onto my card for .50 off of toilet paper. I also had a paper coupon for .50 off of toilet paper. The toilet paper was on sale for 1.50. So, with my paper coupon doubling to $1 plus my .50 e-coupon loaded on my card, the TP was FREE!!!

Another site I found today that literally is a tutorial of how to use coupons is:
http://www.ehow.com/
when you get there type in the search engine "how to utilize coupons" and it'll take you to several different articles to teach couponing strategies. This is very beneficial if you're going to do this seriously.

Hope this helps!

~ Heather