Win a 100 Coupons!!!

Welcome to Monday's Coupon Challenge. How many coupons can you use and how much can you save in one shopping trip?

This should be an easy week. There are a lot of great coupons circulating for free products and items that become almost free when you match them with a good sale.

The Rules: There aren't too many.

• Use any store you want on any products you want.
• Post your scenario on your blog and add your link to the bottom of this blog. If you don't have a blog, leave your scenario in the comments section below.
• Be sure to include where you found your coupon in your scenario. If you printed the coupon, please include a link so all the readers can use it.
• I need to know your total dollar amount of the sale, total number of coupons used, and percentage you saved.
• You can enter multiple stores.

The Prize: Let's make this fun!!! I will mail a potluck of 100 current grocery coupons to the reader who uses the most coupons and saves the most for this challenge. If you have a wishlist posted somewhere, I will try to choose coupons from it. The deadline for this challenge is Saturday 8-16-2008 at midnight. I will announce the winner Sunday.

Here's a few coupon tips that I use:

On BOGO sales - You should be able to use 2 coupons. In many instances, this could make the product free.

Store Coupons - You should be able to stack store coupons with manufacturer coupons. Notice I said, you should be able to stack. Sometimes stores have different policies, even if they are the same chain.

Competitor Coupons - Check with your store to see if they will accept competitor coupons. Our Publix has a big banner hanging in their entrance stating they will accept manufacturer coupons for non-pharmacy items. Target and Food Lion are a couple competitors that print some valuable coupons occassionally. I am going to try Walgreens and CVS coupons this week to see if they will accept them. Has anyone had any luck with these?

Printable Coupons - When printing coupons on the computer, print the first coupon, hit your back button a few times and you should be able to print multiples. The limit is usually two but sometimes it's higher. As always, if you use the link on this site, you will be supporting this blog. Thanks!!!

Trial sizes - I love using coupons on travel sizes. Many times I end up getting the product for free. Wal-Mart and Target have a great selection of travel sizes. They are great for traveling, purses, diaper bags, gym bags, and sending with kids on their overnights. I also stock the kids bathroom with travel sizes so if they accidently spill the bottle, they won't spill a full size amount. Plus travel sizes are nice in those emergency situations when you can't get to the store to buy more immediately.

Stores get paid for accepting the coupons you turn in. Sometimes they forget this and need to be gently reminded. They are not giving you the discount, the manufacturer is. They are simply the middle man. The manufacturer reimburses the store.

Know your store's coupon policy. Check out your store's policy on their website. If it's not posted, call the customer service. They should be able to answer your questions.

So what can you do with your coupons this week? We want to hear from you!!!