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Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Maximize your Savings at Shop 'n Save


It's possible to save a ton of money at Shop 'n Save, as anyone who watched TLC's Extreme Couponing  episode with Rebecca's knows. 

But, it doesn't happen with out some strategic planning and a little time.  I always look the time I spent planning and shopping verses the money I saved.  I doubt many people could find a part time job for that kind of money

Seven Steps to  Maximize Your Saving at Shop 'n Save

1. Shop on a $10 off $50 Thursday
Shop 'n Save offers this promotion chain wide about once a month.  $10 is automatically deducted from you bill when you purchase $50.  Consider a second trip, or taking a another person with you, if you need to purchase more than $50 of groceries.

2. Use a $5 off $50 coupon from the Entertainment Book
Yes, you can use one of these coupons on a $10 off $50 Thursday when you spend right at $50.

3. Catalina Checkout Coupons
Shop 'n Save often offers Catalina deals where when you purchase the a required amount of participating products, you will receive a coupon at checkout good for money off your next order.  If your shopping twice, purchase the Catalina deal offer on the first trip and use it on your second.

4. Store Coupons
It's not uncommon for Shop 'n Save to have a store coupon in their ad.  You can use both a store coupon and a manufacturer coupon on a purchase. 

5. Coupons for a Free Product
Save any coupons you have for a free product to use at Shop 'n Save. 

6. Coupon Match-Ups
Match your coupons to what's on sale and use high value coupons on your purchases.

7. Pay With a Gift Card
If you have $5 off $50 coupons from the Entertainment Book, stop at Customer Service before you shop and purchase a $50 gift card.  Use this gift card (you only paid $45 for) to pay for your purchase.
Shop n Save no longer lets use an Entertainment Book coupon when purchasing a Giftcard

The Numbers
$50 purchase
-$10 automatically deducted on a $10 off $50 Thursday
-$5 when you use a $5 off $10 coupon from Entertainment Book
-$10 Catalina coupon from previous purchase
-$1 in-ad store coupon
- $5 coupons for free products
-$14 manufacturer coupons
= $5 + tax

Shop 'n Save doesn't offer in in-ad store coupons or $10 Catalina offers every week, but I'm sure you can see how these strategies add up quickly.

34 comments:

  1. you can also shop the crestwood SNS on thursdays that are not a 10 off 50 week and use sappington farmers market 10 off 50 coupon and save 10 every week

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  2. So, by purchasing a gift card with a $5 off $50 coupon, then spending $50 in a purchase, using another $5 off $50 coupon at the register and then paying with the gift card, we will be able to use, essentially, 2 $5 off $50 entertainment book coupons in one transaction? Is that right?

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  3. Hi Anonymous - Yes, but hopefully, it will take a lot more than one transaction to use up the gift card.

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  4. Please help - I'm confused! SnS coupon policy states that they only accept coupon values up to 50% of the price of a product. So, will they also accept "free" coupons?

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  5. stacey that only applies to internet printed coupons..they will not accept IPs for free products, however free product coupons from the manufacturer,newspaper, vocalpoint, kraft first taste, etc they will accept.

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  6. Oh my gosh! You are the woman! I was just going to email a request to you today to do this. Thank you for showing me how to shop at Shop N Save!

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  7. I would like to add that in my experience SNS will not allow internet printable cpns for free items they must be manufacturers cpns.

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  8. Hi All - The only coupon policy SNS has published pertains to Internet Printable coupons.

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  9. It states on the Entertainment Coupon that it can not be used to purchase gift cards.

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  10. Hi Anonymous - The SNS Entertainment Book coupons state NON Shop 'n Save gift cards. You can use a coupon to purhcase a SNS giftcard.

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  11. Wow these tips are totally awesome! THANKS! I can't ever figure out how the people on extreme couponing get those deals!

    Oh and buying a gift card at $5 off then using another $5 of coupon at check-out, GENIUS!!

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  12. will they match prices with walmart or walgreens?

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  13. and where would i find Entertainment Book? Im not local. I will have to make an hour long trip which is okay if i can get the best deals possible.

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  14. Hi All

    Kelly - I'm not the genius. I learned most of these stategies from my readers.

    Anonymous 1 - No, SNS does not match prices.

    Anonymous 2 - I buy Entertainment books with my RR and ECBS, but you can buy Entertaiment books online and sometimes the coupons on ebay.

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  15. I hope I don't sound like a total moron, but the coupons I print off of the internet (like from coupons.com) say "Manufacturer's coupon" on them. But do I understand correctly that SNS will not accept them for free items? Does that also include BOGO coupons?

    Thanks!

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  16. Don't ever feel bad about asking a question. There is a "learning curve" with couponing and there is only so much you can get your brain wrapped around at one time.

    B1G1 coupons are not the same type of coupon as a coupon for a free product because they have a purchase requirement. Some cashiers might not want to accept a B1G1 printables because they don't understand the difference. If you run into this ask to speak to Customer Service and/or the store director.

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  17. Don't feel bad about asking questions. We've all had the same one as you do.

    A B1G1 coupon in not the same type of coupon as a FREE items because there is a purchase requirement. If a cashier refuses to take your B1G1 printable coupon because they see the word free and don't understand the difference. If you run into this situation, ask the cashier to call Customer Service and or the manager.

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  18. I do not understand! I keep saving my coupons. I know stores accept 1 store and 1 manufacturing coupon. Where the heck are all of the store coupons? I saw an episode where they got 100 bottles of gatorade free. Did they have 100 in store coupons and 100 manufacturing coupons. If so, how did they get them if you can only have 2 print outs per computer. This person only had 3 computers. The math isn't adding up, what am I missing? I have looked at Schnuks, Shop N Save, Walmart, Target and Dierbergs. Target is the only place I find store coupons. I even went to Kroger, and you can only use ONE coupon per purchase. Any Advice??

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  19. Hi Anonymous - We don't have many store coupons here in St Louis except for Target and Walgreens, but occasionally you'll see a store coupon in SNS or Dierbergs ad. Dierbergs also has four store coupons in online each week.

    TLC's Extreme Couponing is very misleading. Every market in the country has different coupon policies. I would imagine most of the coupon used by the people on the show are purchased online.

    But that doesn't mean you still can't save money in the St Louis area.

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  20. Thanks for this post. Because of this post, I was greatly able to maximize my savings at Shop n Save today.

    Check out http://senseofcents.blogspot.com/ to see what I got!

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  21. Hi MIchelle - Great shopping trip! Thanks for the link so we can all see what you bought.

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  22. It says on my Entertainment Book coupons for 2012 that you can't use the $5 coupons on ANY gift cards. I just started couponing and didn't have last year's Entertainment Book, so I don't know, but perhaps SnS has changed their policy?

    Either way, we still can use the $5 off coupon on coupon Thursday for groceries, right, even though it says it's not valid with any other promotions?

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  23. @Susie

    Hi Susie! Yes, you need to use the $5/$50 coupon on your grocery order. They no longer let you use one to purchase a SNS giftcard.

    I need to update this post. I fogot all about how the changes effected this post. Thanks for bringing the to my attention.

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  24. Thanks, Jeri, for all the help and coupon inspiration! This blog has been so helpful in getting me into the fun (and confusing) world of couponing. :-)

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  25. Do you know if there is a policy regarding or against using multiple of the same ad's coupons at once? The current Arm & Hammer litter deal there is so good and that would be much easier than having to go back to the store or get back in line after dropping off the litter I just purchased to use another coupon.

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    Replies
    1. Hi Gina - I haven't been to SNS this week, but other readers are reporting they are using multiple coupons in the same transaction. If you have questions on how your store will handle this, stop at Customer Service or talk to a manager before you shop.

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    2. Unless the SNS cpn says a limit of X then you can use it multiple times. I did 4 chicken cpns in one transaction 2 different times and had no problem.

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    3. This past week they allowed more than one store coupon per transaction, including the use of like coupons. I did a transaction where I used 8 of the same in-ad coupon. (I didn't clear any shelves and made sure there were still plenty of that item for others to purchase).

      This time around, the stores had the in-ad coupons printed on green paper and attached to the item or a display around the item. Customer Service also had pads of the coupons and so did some of the cashiers.

      And, sadly, the entertainment books being sold this year have coupons for Schnucks, not Shop N Save. That will be good for the Schnucks triples/doubles, assuming we can use them like we have at Shop N Save.

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    4. Thanks for sharing your experience with the SNS coupon.

      How many Schnucks coupons in the new Entertainment books and what are their value?

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    5. My sister was nice enough to send me a picture of her Schnucks coupons from the Entertainment book.

      Each coupon is only valid for a certain period of time. One is good through 10/31/13, so if you don't get your book before then, that one isn't useful.

      Other dates are: 11/1-12/31, 1/1-3/31 & 4/1-8/31

      Delete
  26. Does anyone know when schnucks and dierbergs are going to have there next triple coupon week?

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