What does "overage" mean in couponing?

Overage is when the value of your coupon exceeds the value of the item. For example a $2 off coupon for a product that only costs $1.75 results in 25c overage.

Some stores allow this, some do not.

Some stores will adjust the value of the coupon to the price of the item if their register beeps to alert them to this. You will still get the item for free but with no overage.

Some stores will allow it if there are items in your transaction to absorb the overage. Purchase the $1.75 item and a 35c pack of gum. Use your $2 off coupon and pay 10c. You absorbed your overage with the second item.

Walmart does not require you to have items in your transaction to absorb overage. If you bought the $1.75 item and used a $2 coupon they would give you 25c back!

Another way overage occurs is if you stack a store coupon with a manufacturer coupon.

Learn more about coupon terms.

What is a "catalina" coupon?

A catalina coupon is coupon that prints at the register after your purchase.  They are called "catalinas" after the company that makes the machines that print them.

A catalina can be a manufacturer coupon.  These are often triggered to print based on something you purchased.  At Winn-Dixie, if I purchase Gerber products, I'll usually get Gerber coupons printed.  Sometimes you'll get a coupon for a rival brand, for example, if you purchase Maxwell House coffee you might get a coupon for Folgers.  I've gotten catalinas coupons for FREE products!

Walgreens Register Rewards are a type catalina coupon that are store coupons.

Sometimes stores will have a special promotion where you get a coupon off your next order when you buy a certain product or amount of products.  I see these most often at Winn-Dixie.  A recent one that comes to mind was on Green Giant boxed frozen vegetables.  The promotion was buy 3 boxes and get $1.00 off your next order (OYNO), buy 4 boxes, get $2 or buy 5 boxes, get $3.  When you buy the required item(s) a coupon prints that says "Save $1.00 on your next shopping order."  When you shop again, include your catalina in your coupons you use and you save!  Simple as that! 

You can use coupons on the products you are buying for the deal.  For example, if a $1 OYNO coupon is supposed to print when you buy a $3 product and you have a $1 coupon on it - use it.  You'll pay $2 for the product and get $1 back to spend later!

No expiration date coupons

I'm sure you've come across a coupon that says "no expiration date".  Have you ever wonder if it really means no expiration date?  Well, I can tell you it does.  No register beeps, no questions asked.  Really, no expiration date!

My mom was a couponer.  When I got married, she gave me a handful of coupons she had been hanging on to that had no expiration dates.  Mostly General Mills and Kelloggs cereals, Betty Crocker and Duncan Hines cake mixes and frostings.  I've wondered recently just exactly how old these coupons are.  If you've been a reader of my blog for long you know my mom is not around for me to ask her about these coupons.  I'm sure she would be proud of my coupon blog and money saving achievements.

This coupon is one of the ones she had given me.  I was trying to figure out exactly how old it was.  It looks like it might have been cut out of a magazine.  When I turned it over there was some writing that looked like the bottom part of an article.  I tried to take a picture but it's too blurry to make anything out.  But what I found at the very bottom was a date....1986!  This coupon came out of a magazine from 1986!  So I put it to the test.  I used it last week at Winn-Dixie....and it worked!  A coupon that was 24 years old (almost as old as I am!) still worked!

So see....never throw away a coupon especially if it doesn't have an expiration date!

10 Tips to Better Couponing - Guest Post

Ruth at Living Well, Spending Less has given us her 10 Tips to Better Couponing!  Here's her list:

1.  Clip as little as possible.  It is impossible to avoid clipping all coupons--how else would you use them--but you can save a ton of time each week by simply filing your entire newspaper insert by date and only clipping coupons when and if they are needed.  The best way of filing these inserts is to use either an accordion file or a portable hanging file folder box.  Printable lists of which coupons are included in each insert are published here on SouthernSavers.com each week.  (Some coupons vary by region, but generally the lists are pretty accurate.)  That way if you need to buy a specific item, you can scan the list for a coupon that might work.

2.  Keep your clipped coupons organized and accessible.  Even if the majority of your coupons stay filed by date in their inserts, you will still amass a lot of loose coupons, whether they be a hot coupon you printed or coupons that come in the mail.  To organize these loose coupons, I use my trusty The Couponizer Book which was my first organization method when I started couponing.  (It is still a great tool, it just doesn't fit all the coupons I am now working with!)  A smaller accordion envelope with labels by category would probably also work well for this purpose.  Both are small enough to carry along with you to the store, in the event you come across an unadvertised special.

3.  Be on the lookout for great printable coupons.  There are literally hundreds of coupon and frugal living blogs out there  Spend some time looking through them, then follow the ones you like best in a RSS feed reader.  New coupons pop up all the time, but the really good ones tend to go fast.  5 minutes a day scanning the headlines for a hot deal could eventually save you hundreds of dollars.

4.  Don't expect to use every coupon.  Even if a coupon seems really good, it might not be a great deal if that item happens to be at its highest price point in the sales cycle.  As much as possible, try to wait until items go on sale.  Experience and practice will tell you when an item has hit rock bottom.  Trust me, patience will pay off.

5.  Prepare before you go.  DON'T try to wing it!  This is important!  For my weekly trip to Publix, (the store I get the vast majority of my groceries at), I probably spend an average of 2-3 hours preparing my list and gathering coupons.  I use the printable list tool SouthernSavers.com (CouponMom.com also has this feature for other regions.)  I look through the list and check all the items that look like a good deal with coupon match-ups, or items that are on sale that I know my family wants/needs.  I print a copy of the list with coupon match-ups, then methodically go down the list and find the coupons that are listed, whether they be printable (which I then print) or located in an insert.

6. Go to more than one store.  Sure it's a hassle, especially if you do most of your shopping with kids in tow.  However, different stores have different deals each week, which doubles your chances at savings.  Additionally, if you have a bunch of non-sale staple items to buy, it is generally better to get those items at the store with the lowest overall prices, while stocking up on deals at the higher-priced stores.

7.  Stockpile, stockpile, stockpile!  I've said it before, and I'll say it again:  the key to saving a ton of money with coupons is to build a great stockpile!  If you buy large quantities each week of the few really cheap sale items, you will eventually have a great variety of products to choose from--your own little mini grocery store.

8.  Buy multiple newspapers.  One insert a week won't cut it for big-time savings.  For my little family, I buy at least 6 (and sometimes more if I know it is going to be a good week.)  Call the newspaper in your area and see if they will cut you a deal--perhaps deliver extra inserts if you order multiple subscriptions.  Ask friends and family members or neighbors who don't coupon if they would mind giving up their inserts.  You could even collect them from businesses like hotels or restaurants that provide Sunday newspapers for their guests.  Be creative.  But stock up!

9.  Invest in a black and white laser printer.  The vast majority of coupons are now acquired online, which means you will be printing a LOT of coupons.  A laser printer will save you a lot of money on toner in the long run.  After my last $25 ink jet cartridge lasted me all of 3 weeks, I bought the Brother HL-2140 Personal Laser Printer (available on Amazon for $79.99) and a refurbished replacement Brother TN360 High Yield Black Toner Cartridge for $36.99.  Even at the rate I print, I should now be set for at least a year, which means in that time the printer will have paid for itself 4 times over.  Along those lines, stock up on cheap printer paper at office supply stores whenever you can!

10.  Learn the rules of the game.  Be familiar with the coupon policies of the stores you shop at.  Learn about the different drugstore programs, whether you go to CVS, Walgreens, or Rite-Aid.  Know what it means to "stack" store and manufacturer's coupons.  Likewise, learn the terminology and abbreviations that are frequently used.  I  have a beginner's guide to couponing on my site, living well, spending less.

Happy savings!

Thanks for the great tips Ruth!  

You can check out the Couponing Lingo page for more details on the terms she mentioned in point #10.  You can also check out store coupon policies here.  (Just keep scrolling until you find the store you're looking for)

For more help for couponing beginners - check out these posts.

What is a "catalina" coupon?

A Catalina is a coupon that prints at the register at the very end of your transaction (after you pay).  It prints out of a machine (called a catalina machine) next to the register, after your receipt prints. 

 

Catalinas are usually triggered by an item that was purchased in that transaction.  They can be manufacturer coupons or store coupons good on items or a dollar amount good as cash on your next purchase.

 

Sometimes there are special catalina promotions.  For example, the promotion could be to buy 3 specified items and receive a $3 catalina good on your next purchase.  (Here is an example from a Winn-Dixie promotion)

 

Walgreen's prints Register Rewards that are good as cash off your next purchase.

Other stores that participate in catalinas are Winn-Dixie, Food World, Albertson's and most recently Target.

What is a "money-making" deal?

Every now and then, I like to make a post to help out any couponing beginners in our midst.

When you see a deal on a blog that says it's "money maker" or it results in a "profit" it sounds too good to be true, right???

Well, it is true.  Coupons CAN make you money!

Here's an example I used to explain a "money maker" deal in my couponing class:

I once made $10 from buying a product at Wal-Green’s that I would not have normally bought.  It was a $10 product.  Wal-Green’s was offering $10 in RR if you bought that product.  That automatically made it FREE.  I had a $5 coupon and there was a $5 MIR that was available that I sent in for. 

Look at it like this: 

$10 product - $5 coupon = $5 OOP

$10 RR back to use on a future purchase ($5 more than I paid for the product so a $5 profit). 

Sent off for rebate – received $5 check.  Total of $10 profit.

Ways coupons make you money:

• Full rebates - When there is a rebate offer on an item and a coupon on that same item, this will result in a profit.  If the item is $5 and you have a $1 coupon, you will only pay $4 for the item.  But when you submit a rebate, you get the FULL cost back - you would get $5 back.  Resulting in a $1 profit.  Sometimes these profits can be higher.  I got an $8 rebate back on a razor that I got for FREE!

• ECBs/RR/SCR - These are CVS', Walgreens' and Rite Aid's rewards programs.  We'll use CVS Extra Care Bucks as our example.  If there is an item that is $7 and CVS is offering $7 in ECBs back when you buy the item then that essentially makes the item free.  (ECBs are as good as cash on your next purchase).  If there is a $2 coupon on the item then you would only pay $5 for it.  But you would receive $7 back to use on another purchase - making it a $2 profit!

• Gift Cards - Some stores (most of the time, Target) has a gift card deal where they will offer you a $5 or $10 gift card for buying a certain amount of a certain item or brand.  You can use coupons to get the amount you spend on these items down - sometimes to even less than the gift card offer!  If you have to buy 3 items to get a $5 gift care and you use coupons and only pay $4 for the items, you still get the $5 gift card - you just made $1!!

• Overages - Coupon overages is another (usually small) way coupons make you money.  You can read more about overages here.

Hope this helps to clear some things up for you!

What does it mean to "STACK" coupons?

When you STACK coupons you are using TWO coupons on ONE item.  Now, this is generally not allowed.  But there is one instance where it is.

There are two kinds of coupons, MANUFACTURER coupons and STORE coupons.  I cannot take two manufacturer coupons for 50c off macaroni and cheese and use it on one box of macaroni and cheese.  That is not allowed. 

What IS allowed is using a manufacturer and a store coupon on the same product.  For example, if I have a 50c off apple juice manufacturer coupon and a store coupon for 50c off that same brand of apple juice, I can use BOTH to get $1 off of the juice.

Who has store coupons?  Winn-Dixie, Target, Publix, CVS and Wal-Greens are among the stores that do this.  There are many more, these are just the ones that I cover.   Winn-Dixie, Target and Publix mail coupons to their shoppers. 

• Winn-Dixie mails them to their Reward Card holders and Baby Club members.  
• Publix has various Baby and Preschool Clubs and Newsletters to sign up for to receive their store coupons. 
• Getting on Target's mailing list is a mystery, though if you've ever had a wedding or baby registry with them, you'll likely get coupons mailed to you.

Some stores have printable coupons available.  Coupons printed through a store's website may not always be store coupons, some may be manufacturer coupons - but it will always be clearly marked on the coupon.

• CVS printable coupon website
• Winn-Dixie printable coupon website
• Target printable coupon website
• Save-a-Lot printable coupon website

Other stores have store coupons in the store:

• CVS prints coupons on the end of your receipt or at the price scanner machines when you scan your Extra Care card
• Wal-Green's has coupons in their weekly ads as well as a monthly book of store coupons located in the stores.
• Publix has Yellow and Green flyers in the front of their store with store coupons in them.

Hope this helps you with your couponing!

More Couponing Lingo and Frequently Asked Questions