Since September is National Coupon Month, I thought that today, September 1st, would be the perfect day to reiterate some tips on making the most of coupons when shopping. For this task I turned to Sok Verdery, founder and CEO of CouponShack.com, a coupon site that finds and compares discounts, and lets you search by store, brand, category, or product.

Here are 7 tips on how coupon usage can save you hundreds of dollars each year at the grocery store. Sure, some of the tips are no brainers but they’re worth repeating.

1. Check the weekly circulars and sites like CouponShack.com for current grocery coupons. Plan your menu for the week around the sale and promotional items. Whenever possible print out coupons at home, from sites like CouponShack, and bring them with you to the store. As long as your coupon has a UPC code, the supermarket should accept it.

2. Do self-checkout to ensure that the coupons are used properly. This way you don’t have to wait until you’re in the car and reviewing your receipt to discover a mistake. If you do it yourself, with self checkout, you’re in control. (I love this tip!)

3. Save up coupons for when the store is offering buy one, get one free deals. Not only will you be getting one item for free but also you’ll be saving money on the item you still have to pay for.

4. Look for grocery stores that offer double coupons. You can see a partial list of stores by state that honor double coupons here.

5. Don’t be shy about asking for “rain checks” when an item on sale is out of stock. This allows you to come back and get the product for the discounted price once there are more on hand–even after a sale has ended.

6. If a coupon is expired, try to use it any way. It doesn’t hurt and sometimes you will find that they are still active.

7. With dollars’ off coupons on limited items, make multiple purchases to maximize your savings. I did this recently at a clothing store that was offering $10 off when you bought two pairs of jeans. Now, if I bought four pairs of jeans in a single transaction, I could use the $10 coupon only once. However, if I split the purchase into two, I got $10 off my first purchase of two pairs of jeans, and then $10 off the second purchase of two pairs of jeans.

Let us know if you have additional tips and shopping secrets to make the most of using coupons.