Caroline’s Coupon Tips – Coupon Descriptions

What if my coupon says one coupon per purchase, am I only allowed to buy one item and use one coupon?

When you see language on a coupon that says “limit one coupon per purchase”, that means ONE coupon per ITEM purchased.  If you are purchasing 4 items, you can use four coupons, but if you are buying only one item, you can only use one coupon.  This is basically stating that you can not buy one item and use multiples of the same coupon multiplying your savings.

If you see language on a coupon that states “limit one coupon per transaction”, that means that you can only use ONE of THAT coupon in your transaction.  An example of this would be a coupon for $3.00 off when you buy any FOUR Kraft Cheese products that states LIMIT ONE COUPON PER TRANSACTION.  If you intended to purchase more than four Kraft cheese products and use more than one of these coupons, you would have to do so in separate transactions in order to comply with the terms of the coupon.  Most coupons do not state one coupon per transaction, but you will see this occasionally on store coupons or high value coupons for multiple items.

If a coupon shows a picture of a jumbo
size product but the coupon doesn’t state the size requirement on the
coupon and just says ANY can I buy any size that I want?

YES!  That is a really exciting thing to realize when you first start to
coupon.  If a coupon specifically states a size requirement, such as
$1.00 off any 24oz or larger Cascade Dish Detergent, you MUST purchase a
24or larger product.  If a coupon states $1.00 off ANY Cascade Dish
Detergent you could purchase the 5 packs that are $.97 at Walmart!  So
that’s FREE or possibly a little bit of overage that will go towards
your other purchases!  Be careful with this though, if the coupon does
not state a size but says (excl. trial) that means that you can NOT
purchase a trial size such as a tiny bottle of shampoo instead of a full
size bottle of shampoo.

It is also important to realize that if a coupon states a particular product in their line, such as a coupon for $1.00/1 DIET PEPSI or Pepsi Max, you can not use it on regular Pepsi.  You must purchase the product that is STATED in the description of the product.  Another example of this might be a coupon that states $2.00 off any 2 Honey Nut Cheerios 18oz box.  You can not use this coupon to purchase two 18oz Frosted Cheerios, the ONLY proper use of this coupon is to purchase Honey Nut Cheerios because that is specifically what the coupon states.

My P&G coupon says limit 4 like coupons in one transaction, what does that mean?

Proctor & Gamble has started limiting you on the number of items that you can purchase in one transaction when using their awesome coupons.  An example of this would be the AMAZING $1.00 off any Cascade coupon that was scoring everyone FREE Cascade 5 packs from Walmart and Target.  The proper use of this coupon is to use NO MORE THAN FOUR of the same coupon PER TRANSACTION.  P&G is aware that they put out high dollar coupons and I am positive that they want to get their product into your home, but they do not want to get their product ONLY in your home, they also want others to have the opportunity to try their product as well, so they limit you to the number that you can buy at one time.

If I have a B1G1 Free coupon, can I purchase TWO items and use TWO B1G1 Free coupons to get them both free?

The answer to this question is a big NO.  I understand that there are several coupon groups out there and forums that will from time to time state that this is permitted.  I also understand that there are cashiers that have allowed this in the past, however, this is NOT the proper use of a B1G1 Free coupon and the store will not get reimbursed from the manufacturer if accepting the coupon improperly.   When you have a B1G1 Free coupon, you MUST purchase TWO items for each coupon.  You will pay for one item and the manufacturer will pay for the other when you use this coupon. 

If you live in a state that is considered “TRUE BOGO”, which means that on a Buy One Get One Free sale, the first item rings up at full price and the second rings up free.. you have an even better deal when using a B1G1 Free coupon!  In these states (Florida is one of them), if an item is on Buy One Get One Free, and you have a B1G1 Free coupon, you will get BOTH items for free!  It is a little hard to make sense of it, but the way it works is this:  The cashier will ring up item ONE for $1.00, the second item will ring up at $0, when the cashier scans the coupon it will ask what the purchase price of the product is, she will enter $1.00 which results in both items being FREE!  Most stores that have BOGO sales allow you to use this coupon in this manner and it is proper use of a B1G1 Free coupon. 

That’s it for today!  Join me each week as I discuss different topics regarding couponing!  If you have a particular question or would like for me to address a specific topic, please email me at mycouponexpert@aol.com and  I will add it to my schedule.