And Your Total Is … $0

This article focuses on ways to cut spending at grocery/drug stores by taking advantage of free item offers, coupons and rebates.

Bottom line: Take advantage of the deals that manufacturers and stores offer whenever possible and stock up when you can get items for free or very cheap. You’ll never forget how great it feels the first time you walk out of a store with a bag of items and a receipt that reads $0. It’s a shopper’s high that never ends in buyer’s remorse.

Look for Free Item Coupons

It pays to look through the coupon inserts in your Sunday paper.

• Look for “free item coupons” which allow you to get a product completely free. But beware the fine print: Some coupons specify a maximum value. If your store sells the product for more than the maximum value, you will need to pay the difference or find another store with a lower price.

• Keep your eyes open for “buy one, get one free” coupons or “buy a product, get a different product free” coupons. Although you will need to spend money on the first item to get the other for free, it may be worth it if the first item is a product you were already planning to purchase.

Think Small to Save Big

With the popularity of warehouse stores like Costco, shoppers are being taught that bigger means cheaper. However, you can get items for free at your local grocery store when you match coupons to the lowest-priced item, which may be the smallest.

• When using coupons, buying items in smaller quantities can be a better deal than a larger item with a lower unit price. For example, say your store sells one-pound packages of pasta for $1. It also sells two-pound packages for $1.75. Without coupons, the two-pound package is cheaper per pound. However, you have a $1 off coupon, which can be used on either size. Now the one-pound package is cheaper than the two-pound package; it’s free. And if you have multiple coupons, simply grab as many one-pound bags of pasta as you have coupons. Grand total = $0.

• Likewise, if you have a coupon for money off an item that can be bought at the meat counter, deli or produce section, consider buying the item in the amount that equals the value of the coupon. For example, say your store’s seafood counter has cocktail shrimp on sale for $4 a pound, and you want two pounds. You have four coupons for $2 off shrimp. Asking the counter for two pounds of shrimp will get you one package of shrimp costing $8, which you can use only one coupon on. Instead, ask for four packages of one-half pound each. Each package will cost $2, and you can use a coupon for each. In the first scenario, your total cost will be $6. In the second, it will be $0.

• Use coupons with the wording “on any size” on trial or snack sizes. For example, say you have a coupon for $1 off Colgate toothpaste, any size. Your local drugstore sells trial size tubes for 99 cents. Use the coupon and get the toothpaste for free. Some stores’ checkout systems may not honor a coupon of which the value is higher than the price of the item. When you step up to the register, it may help to tell your cashier that you have a coupon for more than the price and ask how the store handles that situation. If the register rejects the coupon or the cashier tells you that they can’t give you cash back (the extra penny), ask politely whether they can deduct the price of the item manually, bringing the cost to $0.

Redeem Rebates

Rebates reimburse you for the cost of an item or set of items, in part or in full, after purchase. Rebates can be the easiest way to get higher-priced items for free, but you need to be able to pay for the item upfront and wait a few weeks to be reimbursed.

• Look for stores that offer “free after rebate” or FAR promotions. Some drugstores, such as Rite Aid and Walgreens, have monthly rebate programs that offer several FAR items per month. Since the programs typically reimburse you the retail price of the item, use a coupon when you buy the item to make a little money. For example, say Skintimate shaving gel is an FAR item priced at $2.99. You use a $1 off coupon, bringing your total to $1.99. The store will reimburse the retail price of $2.99, and you will have just made $1.

• Keep an eye out for “try me free” rebate forms in the newspaper, on store shelves and on products. Like store rebates, these manufacturer rebates will reimburse you the price of the item before coupons. So always try to use a coupon when you buy the item. This will offset the postage you pay to mail in the rebate form.

• Cash in on rebates that offer a specific dollar amount when you buy X number of products by purchasing the products on sale and with coupons to lower your out-of-pocket expense as much as possible. Recently, Colgate-Palmolive offered a $10 refund when you bought two Colgate Total Toothpastes and any two other products listed on the rebate form. The form specified that trial sizes were excluded. Target had full-size Colgate Total Toothpaste on sale for $1.74. Two other items on the list, Ajax detergent and Palmolive detergent, cost $1.87 and $1.29, respectively. Total for the four products was $6.64. I used coupons for the items, bringing the price down to $4.24. By redeeming the rebate, Colgate paid me $5.76 to buy their products. Even if I didn’t have coupons, I still would have made $3.36.

Coupon Connection

Clueless about where to find coupons? Try these sources:

• Sunday newspaper. Look for glossy inserts from SmartSource and Valassis. Also look for coupons in store ads.

• The Internet. If you have Internet access, you are sitting on a goldmine. Check out coupon sites such as www.wow-coupons.com, www.smartsource.com and www.boodle.com. In addition, check manufacturer and store Web sites for coupons.

• In the store. Next time you visit the grocery store, look around you. Coupons abound.
  • In aisles, look for coupon-dispensing machines, as well as tear pads affixed to shelves and product displays.
  • On products, watch for peel-off coupons and hanging coupons. Also look for “wine tags,” coupons hanging from wine bottles or located on shelves in the wine section. Wine tags are valuable because they often offer money off a category of items, such as produce or seafood, instead of a specific product.
  • At the customer service desk, ask whether the store publishes a monthly or weekly coupon book.
  • At checkout, see whether there is a machine that dispenses coupons with your receipt.