Coupon Stacking - How To Utilize Multiple Coupons To Save More Money!

I get questions all of the time regarding the terminology and abbreviations that are commonly used in our couponing world.  One of the most frequent and in my opinion, one of the most important is STACKING.

Coupon stacking is simply the art of using more than one coupon when purchasing an item to maximize your savings. There are some rules to it, but that is basically it in a nutshell. 

The most important thing to remember is that you can only use 1 MANUFACTURER coupon, no matter what you're stacking with it. I am not familiar with any stores that will allow you to use more than 1 MANUFACTURER coupon - PER ITEM. If you are purchasing multiple identical items, you can generally use 1 MFR coupon for each one. Always read the fine print on your coupons as there may be limits per day/trip/shopper.

BUT, here is a lovely twist to add to the excitement:  Some stores will allow you to use more than 1 STORE coupon at a time!  Target is a great example of this with their in-ad, digital and Cartwheel app coupons. CVS will also allow you to combine some of their own coupons together. 



Here is a basic stacking scenario:

Safeway has Orowheat Bread on sale for $2.50. They have an in-ad STORE coupon for $1.00 off any brand of bread. The MANUFACTURER has offered a coupon in the Sunday insert for $1.00 off 1 loaf of Orowheat bread. You may combine these as follows:

Buy (1) loaf Orowheat Bread for $2.50
Use (1) $1/1 Safeway STORE coupon
Use (1) $1/1 Orowheat MANUFACTURER coupon
Final Price: pay just .50 after stacking both coupons



Now for a CVS multiple STORE coupons + (1) MANUFACTURER coupon stacking scenario:

CVS has Irish Spring soap on sale for $5.00/12 pack. The Big Red Machine (BRM) prints out a $1.00 off any Irish Spring product coupon. It also prints out a $2.00 off $10.00 any soap product coupon. You just happen to have two MANUFACTURER .50 off Irish Spring soap coupons that you printed online from HERE. Here is how you would stack them:

Buy (2) 12 packs of Irish Spring Soap at $5 each (total of $10.00)
Use (1) CVS $1.00 off coupon
Use (1) CVS $2/$10 coupon
Use (2) Irish MFR .50/1 off coupons
Final Price: pay just $6/2 or $3.00 for each 12 pack
- you had to buy 2 packs in order to meet the requirement of spending $10 for the CVS q which in turn allows you to use 2 mfr coupons as you have 2 individual items.

And that folks, is how we roll STACK!

In upcoming How To installments, I will talk about yet more ways to STACK onto these scenarios to save EVEN MORE MONEY with rebate apps, paperless coupons and actual Rolling deals. Oh yeah! $$$$$$