Target 101

     Okay, well, here's another in our series of couponing 101 posts. This time, I'll do my best to teach you how to get the best deals at Target.
     Starting us off, we have the Target corporate coupon policy. You will probably want to print this off and carry it with you. I personally have never had a problem at my Target, but I know people who have. You are not doing anything wrong by using coupons, and they actually get paid anywhere from 2 to 16 cents per manufacturer coupon they get. So, really, you are making money for them. So carry the corporate policies, and if you run into problems, show the cashier their own corporate policy. If it still doesn't work, ask for the manager. I would also suggest keeping their corporate phone number (1-800-440-0680) with that coupon policy, so that if you are still having problems, you can call corporate while you are right there in the store. Corporate wants to know when their employees are not following the policy. 
     So that you don't have to go read the policy right now, I'm going to give you the basic gist of it.
-Target will accept 2 types of coupons: Target coupons and Manufacturer coupons. They will accept 1 of each for each item.
-You will not get cash back if the coupon is valued over the price of the item. They are supposed to adjust the price of the coupon down to match the item.
     Now, a couple things about Target coupons.
-There are a few places to get Target coupons:
   1-From the register. Every so often, a catalina will print out with your receipt. I don't have any way of letting you know when or what items to buy to get these, but they are nice bonuses.
   2-From the mail. Target will periodically send out coupon booklets in the mail. These are full of coupons that you can then use with manufacturer coupons to get fabulous deals.
   3-The internet. Target has coupons on their website. Now, a word about these coupons. They aren't all Target coupons. Unfortunately, there is not really any way to tell before you print them if they'll be Target coupons or Manufacturer coupons. Once you print them though, look at the top of the coupon. If it is a Target coupon it will say so. If not it will say Manufacturer coupon. The manufacturer coupon you can technically use at any store that accepts internet coupons. However, you may have some difficulties with them, because there is generally a target logo on it. If you ever have a problem, show the cashier that the top says "Manufacturer Coupon" and that there is a valid manufacturer address on the coupon.  Stores get money for every manufacturer coupon you use.  So, if the coupon has a manufacturer address listed, the store will get money back when they send the coupon in to them.

Now, price matching:
     Target does price match. They call it their Low Price Promise. However, this is a bit of a convoluted policy. If you want the whole thing, you can go here to view it.
     Couponing to Disney has a great, detailed post on this, but I will give you a few of the finer points here.
-In a nutshell, they state that they will match the price of an item in a competitor’s printed ad that is priced lower than at your Target store.
 -The competitor's ad must be local and current, and the item has to be the identical item. The problem with the identical item bit is the ads that say 'selected varieties'. In that case, you'd be able to get the one pictured, but depending on your store, you may not get any of the other items included.
-If you have Target coupons, they must be used first. So, for example Kmart is selling Oreos for $2.00 and Target’s price is $2.50. And you want to price match and have a $1 Target Store Coupon and a Manufacturer’s coupon you want to use. Instead of just price matching and accepting both your coupons- they will take that Target coupon first and if it makes Target’s price cheaper than KMarts price (which it will- now the Oreo’s become $1.50) they will not match the price. You will still be able to use the manufacturer coupon though.
In my opinion, the best times to use the price-matching is when it is either a store that does not accept manufacturer coupons, or if there is a gift card deal involved. 

And finally, clearance items!
Target has great clearance sections hidden all over the store. They are generally on the 'inside' end-caps. So, walking along main aisles, you are not very likely to see them. You can find all sorts of random things on clearance in these end-caps, and they will accept your coupons on them.  Another way to find clearance items, is right after the holidays. Yes, there will be a holiday clearance section, but if you are... say... back looking at the refrigerated cookie dough, and you see a package that looks like the holiday that just passed, you may want to go price check it because it will probably be on clearance.

So that is how Target works, as best as I can tell you. I hope that helps.

Walgreens 101

Okay, I know some people have been telling me they aren't quite able to figure out how to get the best deals at some of the stores, and I know that when I first started out, Walgreen's was one of the most difficult stores to figure out. SO... Walgreen's is going to be my first in a series of 'store 101' posts. Hopefully these are helpful.

About Register Rewards
-A Register Reward (RR) is a coupon that prints out with your receipt. You don't have to ask for it, it will automatically print if you fulfilled the requirements listed in the ad.
-You can only get 1 Register Reward per transaction for a certain product. So, if you have 3 coupons for toothpaste, and want to get the RR with it for all of them, you will need to do 3 transactions.
-However, you can buy multiple DIFFERENT items that all have a RR on the same transaction, and you will get all of them. So, you have a toothpaste and a tampon RR you are trying to get, you can buy both in the same transaction, and get both Register Rewards.
-Do not pay for a transaction with a Register Reward from the same item, if you are expecting another RR to print out. If you use a $2 Carefree RR to pay for a Carefree item that offers a RR, the new RR will not print.
-A Register Reward counts as a manufacturer coupon in the count. 
          -Walgreen's will only allow you to have 1 Mfr coupon per item. So, say for example you have 3 coupons from the Sunday paper, and you want to use a RR as well, you will need to have 4 items. The Register reward counts as a mfr cpn in this instance. 
Other Walgreen's Info
-You must always pay sales tax. This doesn't seem like a big issue right off the bat, but it can cause you some interesting issues. Where that becomes a problem is with the super-duper deals where you get things for less than free with coupons and previous RRs. So, say for example, you have a $5 RR. You are buying shampoo, and you have a coupon that makes that item $4.99. YOU WOULDN'T BE ABLE TO USE THE RR! They won't adjust the coupon like most places will. You will have to buy a filler item. Now, they do have things like pencils for 10 cents, so it doesn't have to be a huge deal. Or, I usually find something in their ad that week that is a killer deal without coupons, (and I don't have any coupons for) and I'll use that as my filler, so it is at least something I will use. 
-Walgreen's does not have a corporate coupon policy. Managers can decide at any given time whether or not they want to take your coupon.  So, the deals that I post may not work for you at your Walgreen's, if you have a manager who is clueless on how to use coupons. I've not generally had a problem with the Orem Walgreen's if someone needs a new one to go to.
-Most places, it is 'generally understood' (so to speak) that you give the manufacturer coupons to the cashier first, and then the store coupons.  However, if you've been having problems with it beeping at you, Melea, over at Freebies2Deals talked to one of the managers and he said to give the store coupons first. So if you've been beeped too many times, try switching that around.


As an extra note: Your Walgreen's may not restock on Monday or Tuesday, so you go, thinking to get the deals, and the shelves are empty. Ask which day your Walgreen's restocks. It may be that they restock on Wednesday, and so if you wait until mid-week to hit the store, you'll get the best deals, and the best availability.

I hope this helps keep confusion at bay.

Abbreviations

Okay, so first of in our 101 section...
I use a lot of abbreviations. I forget that I didn't know what all the abbreviations meant starting out. So I don't explain the abbreviations. So... here is a list of the abbreviations I use (that I could think of) and what they mean.
RR- Register Reward-from Walgreens, a coupon for dollars off your next purchase. Some other stores give similar things, but they are called catalinas
cpn- coupon
mfr cpn-manufacturer coupon
RA cpn- specifically... Rite Aid coupon. I use an abbreviation for the store name to differentiate between store coupons and manufacturer coupons
SCR- Single Check Rebate-from Rite Aid. A program they do where you can put in your receipts online and at the end of the month request a single check for all of the rebates you got
SS-Smartsource-coupon packet from Sunday papers, will generally have a date next to it (m/dd) tells you where i found the coupon
RP-Red Plum-coupon packet from Sunday paper (only Daily Herald) though some people can have it delivered in the mail
PG-Proctor & Gamble-coupon packet that comes monthly in the Sunday papers
OOP-out of pocket-the amount you will spend from your budget, though you may get some money back later
WYB- when you buy
b1g1-buy one get one free, unless modified to say something else
MIR-Mail in rebate
I hope these help you out

Couponing 101

Okay, I've had a number of people ask me about various things, so I figured I'd start up a 'couponing 101' section so that you can get answers. If I leave something out, don't hesitate to post your question. I will try to answer it, either in the comments, or I'll do a new post so everyone can see the answer easier.