It’s been a while since I’ve written a “for Dummies” post and I thought I’d go ahead and write one tonight. I get a lot of questions about Buy One Get One FREE deals and how to use coupons to get items for cheap or possibly FREE. If you use coupons properly, you can actually save a lot of money on BOGO promotions. Many stores have actually changed their coupon policies when referring to BOGO deals, but I’d like to cover the way to use coupons to produce the maximum amount of savings possible. You will have to check your store’s policy to see if they allow you to use coupons on the bogo deals this way. Even though some stores have changed their policies, let’s act like we are shopping at a store that doesn’t have any specific rules when shopping buy one get one free deals.
*These scenarios are completely hypothetical. There aren’t coupons or deals to correspond with what I am talking about tonight. Target’s coupon policy does not allow you to use coupons in the way I demonstrated below, but I wanted to give you an idea of how you could use store & manufacturer coupons together on a bogo deal. Again, check your store’s policy*
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1st Scenario: Dove Bodywash is BOGO at $3.99 a bottle
In this scenario, I want to explain how you can use (2) manufacturer coupons to reduce the price of this item. In keeping with the BOGO rule, (not all stores apply) you can use a coupon on each item. YES! You can even use a coupon on the FREE item. Here’s what your purchase would like if you had the following coupons:
Buy (2) Dove Bodywash: $3.99 BOGO; you’ll pay $3.99 for the 1st bottle & the 2nd is FREE.
Use (2) $1/1 Dove Bodywash coupon, from SS 8/21
Final Price: $1.99 for both bottles
Ok, since you are technically purchasing (2) items, you are allowed to use a coupon on each one. You have (2) manufacturer coupons for $1 off that you got from the Smartsource insert on 8/21. ($3.99-$1.00-$1.00=$1.99 total for both)
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2nd Scenario: Dove Bodywash is BOGO at $3.99 a bottle
In this scenario, I want to show you how to combine manufacturer and store coupons to lower the price even more! Keeping with the “stacking” rule, you can use (1) manufacturer coupon & (1) store coupon on each item. Well, it’s the same when you are buying BOGO items (not all stores apply). Let’s assume you are shopping at Target and you have the following coupons:
Buy (2) Dove Bodywash: $3.99 BOGO; you’ll pay $3.99 for the 1st bottle & the 2nd one is FREE.
Use (2) $1/1 Dove Bodywash coupon, from SS 8/21
Use (2) .50/1 Dove Bodywash coupon, (target.com)
Final Price: .99 for both bottles
It’s the same concept in this scenario. Since you are technically purchasing (2) items, you are still allowed to go by the “stacking” rule which states you can use (1) manufacturer coupon & (1) store coupon PER item (not all stores apply). ($3.99-$1.00-$1.00-.50-.50=.99 total for both)
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3rd Scenario: Dove Bodywash is BOGO at $3.99 a bottle
The final scenario, I want to cover using BOGO coupons on a BOGO deal. This is where people get confused because they see posts us bloggers make about getting both items for FREE, but we don’t go into detail as to how this is possible. Let me break it down for you. This is what your purchase would look like if you had the following coupons:
Buy (2) Dove Bodywash: $3.99 BOGO; you’ll pay $3.99 for the 1st bottle & the 2nd is FREE
Use (1) Buy One Get One Free Dove Bodywash coupon, from RP 7/31
Final Price: FREE for both bottles
Ok, looking at this deal, you’re probably wondering…”how am I getting both these items for free?” Well, when you have an item that is bogo at the store AND you have a bogo coupon for that same item, they basically cancel each other out. If the store promotion says you buy (1) and get (1) free, then when you use the bogo coupon, you are getting the first item FREE with the store’s promotion. The second item you are getting for FREE with you coupon! Get it? I know it’s confusing, but the best way to look at it is, if you have a bogo coupon and a bogo deal for the same item, just know that you can pair the coupon with the deal and both items are FREE at checkout. These are my favorite deals, but don’t think they come around all that often because they don’t. Keep your eyes peeled on the bogo deals and search your binders & databases for corresponding coupons.
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I hope I’ve cleared a few things up for you guys tonight! I would love to make posts like this more often, but I find myself fingering through mounds of information to post each day. I’ll try to make a little more time for teaching articles. If you’re still confused or would just like to learn more about couponing, I will be offering classes soon! I’m working on a few things with the online software, but it’s coming along quickly. Happy Couponing! 
Don’t be a Coupon Dummy!
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