Savvy Shopper Street Team member Donje Putnam is writing a series of couponing articles designed to help shoppers begin their coupon adventures. Here is the second article in the series:

If you read my last blog post on couponing (and if you haven’t, you should), then you remember I wrote about coupon organization, earning your binder, and the language of savings. In this entry, I’m going to teach you a bit more of the lingo and check out Hampton Roads stores’ coupon policies.

More lingo

So now you know what DND and stacking are, but what about Blinkies, Hangtags, BOGO, or B2G1? These are just a few of the terms that couponers use to describe important details like where they got their coupons, what sort of coupons they are, and how successful they are at redeeming them.

HTH (“Hope that Helps”) or YMMV (“Your Mileage May Vary”–this one cracks me up, I always imagine the “fine-print car-commercial” voice reading it) are terms couponers use to describe what happened when they redeem coupons at the store. For example, I had a B2G1 (“Buy 2 items, Get 1 free”) for Coffeemate. I heard it through the Savvy Shopper grapevine that a fellow couponer successfully stacked this coupon with a $1.50 off one Coffemate coupon. But when I tried the same thing at the new Target in Hampton, this did not work for me. I cried a little, then I moved on. The lesson is that different stores interpret the allowed use and combination of coupons differently. Sometimes you just get lucky. Thus, YMMV.

Speaking of luck, the next time I went to the same Target I had a coupon for $4 off any Pace product. The Pace Salsa I bought was $2.50, this time the coupon rang up fine and I actually made money on that one. HTH.

You’ve probably heard the term BOGO from the Payless commercials, but for the sake of thoroughness, that’s “Buy One Get One.” But sometimes the “Get One” means “get one free” and sometimes it means “get one half-off”.

Blinkies are those little red coupon dispensers in the grocery that have blinky lights on them. Hangtags are coupons or rebate offers that hang on the necks of bottles. Just so you know, there are a lot of Hangtags in the wine section that have NOTHING to do with wine. Some are discounts on meats or other things that might go with that wine, so check them out if you happen to roll through that aisle. But enough about terminology, let’s discuss…

Where to shop with coupons

I think every shopper has his or her favorite store. Mine are Target and Harris Teeter. They seem to be the most liberal with their coupon policies. Because I’m so helpful, I’ve included links to the coupon policies from those stores below. Many stores don’t publish an official coupon policy, so you have to get your information through other shoppers and, of course, YMMV.

I heart Target

Who doesn’t heart Target? Target has good prices, especially on drug and beauty items. And they also have really smart registers. If you have a coupon for a free item, sometimes the register can actually find the item for you without the cashier having to scroll all the way up the page to find it manually. But sometimes, even the smartest registers complain that your item is not there. So make sure to keep track of your couponed items while checking out. Usually at Target, the cashier just pushes the over-ride button and moves on. At other stores, I’ve actually had to dig back through my bags, find the item in question, and call over the manager. In general, Target has fairly generous coupon policies. They allow you unlimited Internet or regular coupons and they let you stack them with their own Target coupons. In fact, one of my favorite places to print out coupons is Target.com.

One final savings tip for Target shoppers: They give you a 5 cent discount for using your own reusable grocery bag, but you usually have to remind the cashier.

Harris Teeter

At Harris Teeter, I find the everyday prices a bit high, though I like the quality of their meats and produce. What wins my frugal heart over is double and — drum roll — triple coupon days.

These are the days we couponers live for! During these glorious times, the value of coupons up to 99 cents are doubled or tripled. The Savvy Shopper can usually let us know when the triple coupon days are coming (subscibe to the e-mail newsletter), so you can get a hold of the sales paper and match your coupon with what’s on sale for even more savings.

Additionally, I’ve registered on the Harris Teeter website to receive a weekly email with my E-Vic discount item of the week. This single item, offered to me at a fabulous discount, sometimes warrants a visit to HT all on it’s own, especially if I have a coupon for the item too. One such deal was a sale on Ball Park Franks for 98 cents. I also happened to have a 75 cents off coupon as well, and so I stopped in and got them for 23 cents! Woo-hoo!

The downside is that Harris Teeter is a bit more stringent with their coupon policy than some other stores. They only allow you to use 3 printed internet coupons (none for free items), and no more than a total of 20 coupons when double or tripling. You also have to have a VIC card (and a calculator) to participate in the coupon multiplication.

Food Lion

Food Lion has recently lowered a bunch of their prices, they have some great prices for MVP members, and Food Lion is also the closest grocery store to my house, so I tend to watch their deals closely. I could not find an official coupon policy onlne. But I know I have had trouble with coupons worth more than the product, or coupons for free items that I printed out from the internet. They don’t ever have double or triple coupon days, but you can still get some good deals here if you watch the sales.

Kroger

Kroger has the ideal combination of good prices, and good coupon policies, but it is all the way across town from me, so I don’t go there often. For those of you who can make the trip, note that they double coupons up to 50 cents every day. Often, they offer 10 items for $10, which are good for stocking up on cheese, hand soap, peanut butter and the like. You can also get 4 cents off for each the reusable bags you use at Kroger. It’s probably worth the drive, but my lazy self sacrifices for convenience at times. (Please don’t tell anyone–they’ll kick me off the Street Team).

Farm Fresh

Farm Fresh offers double coupons up to a dollar on Wednesday, and up to 99 cent every other day. The extra penny difference in Wednesdays may not seem like a big deal, but there are a lot of coupons out there for exactly one dollar. So, save them up and go to Farm Fresh on Wednesdays.

Farm Fresh also gladly accepts my beloved internet coupons and–here’s a secret–they will price match! That’s right, just like Wal-mart, if you find an item in a sales paper for less, they will adjust your price. This is another store that is across town for me, so I don’t go there much, but I do enjoy shopping there even though I once spent entirely too much time looking for powdered drink mix because they have those weird half aisle signs. I actually worked up a sweat. (I’ve gotta stop getting the majority of my exercise from shopping.)

Walmart

I do not heart Walmart. I really love their prices, but it always seems to take me forever to check out at that store! If you don’t mind spending the time though, they do accept almost any coupon at face value.

Drug Stores

Street Team member Sarah Chappell does an awesome job on drug store coupon matching. I bow to her expertise.

We Street Team members would love to hear the successes that you’ve had and where you think the best deals are. Follow the Savvy Shopper on Facebook and Twitter (remember to use the #hrshop tag). Tell us about your adventures in savings. Where do you shop with coupons?

Get started: Coupon clipping 102