coupon shopping help?!?

[Rogue]

ive seen this amazing show on tv called extreme couponing ... i rlly need help with that THEY GET EVERYTHING FOR FREE! i want to try that please i need help can u answer these please?!

what is price matching? and how can u use it... do u just compare magazines at the store?
can we print the coupons or do we have to collect from the magazines? where do u get coupons?
do u need a card so u dont have to pay?
how can the store owe u money?
please answer what u no or dont anser the questions just say what u no about coupon shopping .. i really want to do this.. i want to do this right! too i never tryed this and never thought coupons really save this much, i never save them i always throw them out i just relized this thing thanks sooo much!! i really hope i can get as much information as possible <3

[Roddy]

First realize that the show you saw is responsible for many stores no longer doubling coupons and even putting very strict limits on coupons.

If you can find a store that doubles coupons. A few stores will still do this. Some will only do it on certain days of the week. Find the coupons you want. You will find the coupon inserts in many Sunday Newspapers. A few magazines like All You have lots of coupons. Coupons can also be printed on line.

redplum.com
smartsource.com
coupons.com

Three generally trusted sources for coupons. There are others as well but beware of any place that makes you fill out surveys or other such nonsense to get coupons. Most of those places are just trying to get your email address to spam you to death.

Match your best coupons to sale prices at your stores. Some stores offer their own coupons to print and you can use a regular manufacturer coupon with them to save more. It's possible to get stuff for free but it's much more rare than that show suggests. Some stores have 'loyalty cards' that will save you money when you check out.

Price matching is when one store will agree to match the sale prices of another local store. Walmart often does this but only for the items they carry. It really only comes in handy if you don't want to drive to two different stores.

Be aware that the show often vaguely mentions 'clipping services'. In other words they buy many of the coupons they use. There are clipping services offered on the web and eBay also allows the sale of coupon services. (you can not legally buy or sell most coupons, you can only pay for the service of clipping them and sending them to you)

Coupons for some items are very rare. It's rare to find coupons for produce and fresh meat. Currently there is one for $2 off pork ribs if you by brand X of barbecue sauce. Yesterday I found .55 cents off two dozen eggs.

Overage is when your coupon exceeds the value of the item you are buying. A few stores will allow it. Walmart for instance will allow overage to be applied to the rest of your bill. Not all stores will do this. You need to find out the coupon policies of the stores in your area to find the best possible deals.

Companies sometimes offer spur of the moment coupons and deals on their web sites. The easiest way to keep track of these is to make a Twitter account and start following people who search out these deals every day and post the links to them. That way you can keep up with the deals and coupons just by going to your Twitter account instead of looking for them yourself. I have included some below. There are many more you can search for on Twitter and follow. These coupons and freebie deals often go very fast so you have to check your account often. I check my Twitter account three or four times a day and still miss many good deals and freebies.

Be aware that many of the coupons and deals they find are on Facebook pages. They often require you to "like" them in order to get the coupons and freebies. This means you will need a Facebook account. Just like Twitter it's free but Facebook will ask you to confirm that you are a real live person and not a computer bot by asking you to confirm with a credit card or mobile phone number. Use your phone number.

Always read any 'terms' carefully before agreeing to any deal. You don't want tons of spam in your inbox. Always use a freebie email address when signing up anywhere. Gmail keeps most of the spam separated for me.