Coupon stacking sounds like some kind of competitive shopping event, doesn’t it? Well, it’s actually a trick that many frugal shoppers use to save the most money at the supermarket. I’m embarrassed to say that I hadn’t really heard the term before a few months ago but, thankfully, I’d been coupon stacking for quite some time without even realizing I was doing it.
So what is coupon stacking? It’s figuring out a way to use more than one coupon to save money on a single item. “Coupon stacking is when you combine a manufacturers coupon with a store coupon,” says Teri Gault, CEO and founder of The Grocery Game, an online site that teaches you how to best “invest” in your groceries at the lowest prices possible. (My husband is a fan of the site, now that he’s doing our grocery shopping on a regular basis.) That is, you would clip coupons from your Sunday paper, or print them off the web from your favorite coupon site–I like Coupons.com, but know people also use Redplum.com and Smartsource.com–and then you would combine it with a coupon from the store where you are grocery shopping.
For example, many times our local grocery store will have a deal like “Get $6 off your order if you buy six or more products” and then they’ll identify a specific manufacturer. Well, if I happen to have a coupon for that manufacturer and for the product that I can get extra money off of–and I was going to buy it anyway–I end up saving more.
Here’s another way you can use this notion of coupon stacking at a place like BJs Wholesale Club: If buying a three-pack of toothpaste, you can use the coupon that you would find in the BJs booklet mailed to members, plus three coupons from the Sunday circular–one for each individual tube–for additional savings on the grocery bill. Who knew such a combination was possible at a warehouse club?
If you want to coupon stack, this gives you a good reason to cut out and organize your coupons and hold onto them for as long as possible. At the same time keep an eye on your grocery store’s circular for advertised deals. (According to Gault, The Grocery Game often finds out about unadvertised deals, too.) Then when you see those coupon stacking opportunities, you can spring into action!
Let me know what your experience with coupon stacking has been and which online sites you like to use to optimize your coupon stacking!
READ LEAH ON HOME GOES STRONG
We recently tried to use a coupon printed from an on-line source at the SuperFresh. They denied it, saying they don’t accept that kind of coupon! Have you experienced this?
I wish I could take better advantage of coupon stacking…but we use so few items for which there are coupons that we rarely have the opportunity. I love it, though, when the coffee I like is buy 1, get 1 free and I have a $1 off coupon.
Neither Giant nor ShopRite nor Stop and Shop has ever turned down an online coupon that I printed out. Guess I won’t try to use any at Super Fresh! (I might call someone in corporate about this!)
Leah
I’m testing out Grocery Game to see if it really cuts my overall grocery costs, so I have help with what I do.
I always thought warehouse stores ONLY took their own coupons, in part because the coupons usually name a size product not found at a warehouse. We’re Costco people. I wonder if I could bring outside coupons in.
Roxanne:
I got that BJ’s info right from a BJ’s person. You might want to ask about Costco’s policy. Who knows? Maybe they do take those coupons after all.
Let me know how the Grocery Game goes.
leah
Amy Johnsonbaugh from Sprint here. Another way to save money using coupons is right on your mobile phone. Sprint customers can download apps that help them save money such as these:
My Coupons (Android) MobiQpons (BlackBerry) Cellfire (most phones) – provides coupons for restaurants, clothing stores, groceries and more; simply show the cashier the coupon on your Sprint phone to redeem. With My Coupons, users can also share coupons with friends by texting the coupon to any phone, email, Twitter or Facebook account. Even includes many freebies and two-for-one deals.
Amy:
Thanks for posting this information here. I’m not a Sprint customer but for my readers that are, this is good information to have.
Leah
I love coupon stacking. I am a fan of the Grocery Game as well.
Great site to get the most out of coupons!
i have just recently started couponing the past 3 months and im loving the savings im getting but would like to save more. i want to start stacking but im still confused about a few things. are you allowed to use more than mc for the same item as long as they arent identical? for example if i had a mc for $1/1 gain and another for $2/1 gain could i use both of em for the one bottle to get $3 off? thanks for the help this site is very helpful.
Carol…I have the same question….or something like this scenario:
So my question is about coupon stacking. I understand matching up store coupons with manufacturer’s coupons but i’m wondering about manufacturers coupons combined together?
Say i have a store that’s offering cambell’s chunky soup 2/$3
no store coupon
but i also have manufactures coupons for $2 off of 6
$1.50 off 5
$1 off 3
$.50 off 2
and $.40 off one
could i use these all together for 6 cans to make it less than $.70 for all 6?