Super-Couponing: Basic Q & A – How Many Coupons Can I Use?

I love perusing savings/frugal/couponing blogs. There are tons of ways to save on everyday things and lots great ideas out here in cyberspace on how to go about it. These blogs are often very helpful and can point anybody with an interest to the right way to start saving.

I'm finding, though, in my hours of lurking on such sites that many questions keep cropping up over and over and are almost prefaced or followed by some form of "I'm really new at this and could use your help!" With that being said, I thought I'd put together a few posts on some of those popular questions with straightforward answers; hopefully it will help someone in their quest to combine coupons with sales for maximum savings.

Q: Can I use more than one coupon per item? (Or, I have $1 off a bag of kitty treats and the bag costs $2, so can't I use two of the coupons to make the item free?)
A: This one question (and all of its possible variations) seems to be asked the most. As for the kitty treats version, the answer is a flat no. But there is a way that you might be able to combine more than one coupon to create a larger savings for you (more on that in a minute). First off, though, a general rule of thumb is that you cannot use two manufacturer coupons per one item. Manufacturer coupons are those that are put out by a product's company for a specific product; they usually have "manufacturer coupon" printed somewhere on them. While all stores have their own coupon policies, generally you can only use one of these manufacturer coupons per item that you buy.

With that being said, some stores may have their own coupon for certain items (a store coupon). Some stores also may (and, please, check your local store's policy on this as they all differ!) let you combine a store coupon with a manufacturer coupon for one item. Here's a real world example: recently, my grocery store ran a "buy one, get one free" sale on frozen pasta. There was a $1 off two frozen pasta items manufacturer coupon out there plus the store issued a $1 off two frozen pasta items coupon. They allowed shoppers to use both coupons for two frozen pasta items, which made the total savings $2 off of two items, even on top of the buy one, get one free promotion (yes, it was a pretty sweet deal in which both bags of ravioli cost about $0.79 out of pocket).

Something to keep in mind, though, is that it can be helpful to become familiar with a store's policy regarding coupons and the combining/stacking of them. While one store might let you do this, another store might have a strict one-coupon-per-item-period policy. Also, it never hurts to keep a printed copy of said policy with you; you will run into employees who just aren't familiar with it or who like to make it up as they go along. Yes, seriously. Sometimes transactions can go smoother when questions arise if a hard copy of the policy is there for consultation.

The bottom line? Generally, you can use only one manufacturer coupon per item; sometimes you can use a manufacturer coupon plus a store coupon for an item. Again, check your store's policies since they vary!

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