Coupon Strategies – The Power of Timing

So, you have all your coupons organized. Now what? There are many different coupon strategies but the most important strategy to understand is how to time your coupons. There is much more than just presenting it to the store clerk, the key to this process is when you present your coupons. TIMING is essential to fully maximizing your savings.The manufacturers want you to use your coupons right away. Then, in the next four to eight weeks you are more likely to purchase their product again because it is on “sale”. A “centsable” shopper waits to use their coupons when an item is on sale.

For example, we had several ricotta cheese coupons for $1.00 off. This product is normally $3.79 at our local grocery store. We waited six weeks to use the coupon until the cheese was on sale for $2.00. With our $1.00 off coupon, we only paid $1.00 — a savings of 74%! Since we had six coupons, we bought six and froze five of them to use later. If we had not waited for the sale, we would have paid $2.79 for the ricotta cheese — only 26% off!

Here is another example: We had accumulated several $1.00 off Purex laundry detergent coupons. We waited for Purex to go on sale for $2.50 and then used six coupons to get six Purex laundry detergents for $1.50 each — 62% off.

In order to achieve this level of savings, you need to know when the item you are buying is at the store’s lowest sale price or “rock bottom price” and if you have coupons to match. To determine if the item is at rock bottom, you will need to keep a price book and log the prices of that item for about six months. Once you determine it is a good price then you need to check for matching coupons.

This would take a lot of time and effort, but there is an easier way! Look on our website Becentsable.net each week to see which products each store has at rock bottom prices and the coupons currently available.