How To Read A Coupon

One thing that was a little confusing to me was how to read a coupon.  This was one of the topics I had some trouble finding where the information was clear and concise.  So I would like to help you better understand this coupon wording as I previously stated earlier about reading the fine print. Let's look at some of the wording besides the self explanatory ones.

On the coupon below we see at the top it states Manufacturer's coupon and then the expiration date next to it.  Since we already went over what a manufacturer's coupon is (refer to post titled "Different Types of Coupons") let's focus on the expiration date.  You can use this coupon before or on the expiration date but not after. ( Note that you can donate all your expired coupons to military families overseas.  For more info on this visit www.krazycouponlady.com [fantastic site for deals btw]).

Ok, now that we got that covered, look at how it says "Save $1.00 off any 2 Colgate Toothpaste".  Notice it says "any".  This means you don't have to buy the toothpaste that is pictured on the coupon.  There are plenty of different types of the toothpaste such as Colgate Total, Colgate Optic White, Colgate Sensitive so on and so forth.  So you can buy any combination just as long as it's Colgate and you have two of them.  Now I would like to direct your attention to the "FINE PRINT" underneath the word Toothpaste on this coupon.  It says "except trial sizes".  You can NOT use this coupon to get a trial sized.  Now if that fine print wasn't there than that means size doesn't matter.....  Some coupons will say 4.0oz or higher indicating just that.  You have to get the ones that are 4.0oz or higher or whatever size is being indicated at the time.

Now take a look below at a different coupon but look closely on wording that is on most manufacturer coupons.  Let's break this down shall we!

• Consumer- That's You!!
• Limit one coupon per purchase- A lot of people get this confused because well.. it's confusing.  What this means is, let's use toothpaste for ex, if you are buying one tube of toothpaste but you have 3 of the same coupon you cannot use all three coupons on that one tube of toothpaste.  You can use 1 coupon for 1 toothpaste.  If you want to use all three coupons, you will need to be buying 3 tubes of toothpaste.  Per purchase means per item, not per transaction.  Make sense? 
• Good only in USA bla bla- self explanatory..lol same for the void part.
• You pay sales tax- meaning you will only get discounted for what's on the coupon not on tax.  When you start getting the hang of using coupons you will find that you can get a lot of freebies.  So you get the item free from the manufacturer but you have to pay the government their portion..mmhhmm. 

 The Retailer part is really not important.  That just tells the store how much they will be reimbursed for you using the coupon.

The next coupon, in the fine print section, says in bold "Limit one coupon per transaction".  What that means is if you have two of these coupons you use one then get back in line and do another one with the other coupon.  You can also let the cashier know that you will be doing multiple transactions if you have more than one.  

Another example pictured below shows in red "Limit one coupon per purchase".  Then it goes on and says "Limit of 4 like coupons in same shopping trip".  What this means is you can only use up to 4 coupons in one day in that particular store.  You don't need to split them up into transactions because it doesn't say "Limit one per transaction".  So you can use all four together.