Time now for stretching your dollar where we give you
tangible tips to help you make the most of your
money. And today we're talking all about the art
of couponing and ways to bring down your totals of
the register as we navigate rising costs. Joining me
now, for how to get more of the best
deals is Beverly Harz, a personal finance and credit
card expert for us News and World Report. Beverly
. Thank you for joining. Thank you for having
me. What are the best ways to take advantage
of couponing? You know, one of the best
ways to take advantage is to start with a list
before you go to the grocery store, you wanna
have a list and you wanna have all your coupons
in order. Now, there are a variety of
ways that you could get coupons. You know,
if you want to engage in some extreme couponing,
there are many ways to do that. There are
so many uh apps on that you can get for
your phone. There are so many websites such as
coupon mom or crazy coupon lady that you know,
where you can get coupons there and you can combine
your coupons, uh, and, and all you
need to do really is to know the store that
you're going to, you need to know what their
policies are with coupons. You know, can you
, uh, use two coupons when you get,
you buy one and get one free? Can you
use a coupon? You know, for both of
those, uh, you know, the, the
most important thing to do is to stay organized and
when you get to the checkout line, you need
to have your coupons in order and you need to
know which ones go with which product? Yeah,
that always helps me. Right. With any personal
finance topic, I guess really anything in life organization
does seem to make the process go smoother and seems
to help. At least, I think with some
of the anxiety I do see here, social media
probably no surprise. I think bringing back kind of
the crazy couponing if you will. I know you
mentioned a few sites, there are blogs Beverly just
how real is this craze and what are some of
the biggest amounts that you can take home when couponing
? You know, you can really save a lot
of money. You know, I know of people
who have saved thousands of dollars every year. You
know, when they really get into extreme couponing and
like anything else, if you put a little effort
into your couponing, you're gonna save a little.
But if you want to get into extreme couponing and
it does take a lot of time, you're gonna
save a lot. So if you're dedicated to saving
a lot of, you know, you are gonna
have to spend some time on this. But,
you know, as I mentioned, there are so
many ways to save this way and so many different
coupons, so many different places to go online.
There are multiple websites, you know, such as
retail me, not, uh coupons dot com,
many websites where you can get uh you know,
coupons. And one thing I do, you know
, I used to always forget to use my coupon
when I got to the checkout. So now I
wrap my coupons if it's a paper coupon around my
credit card and I use a cash back credit card
. So I get rewards on groceries. So I
try to double my um my profit there. I
think groceries are, you know, the key take
away. We got to eat right to survive.
And especially in, in this inflationary environment, there's
been just so much focus that it's, it's the
basic essentials that people are spending extra on just to
get by. I want to ask about credit card
cash back offers. Beverly. How does this fit
into that? And can real money be saved there
? Oh, yes, you can save a lot
of money. I use the cash back credit card
every time I go grocery shopping and one of my
cards gives me up to 6% cash back on groceries
. So, you know, you have to understand
your rewards program. You have to use the right
credit card at the right time. So be sure
that you you're ready with that credit card. You
know, when you go to the grocery store,
uh many cash back cards also come with other type
of rewards. You know, we've got such terrible
inflation. So many people living paycheck to paycheck.
So save at the grocery store with your cash back
cards. But also know what other rewards you get
with that credit card, you might get gas purchases
or you know, online shopping. So know what
your rewards are and that way you can save on
groceries and on other items to really help your cash
flow. Let's talk about store credit cards. I
know oftentimes you walk into a store really any time
, right? And they kind of try to sell
you on their store credit card looped into a rewards
program. What are our viewers need to know about
those options? Well, a store credit card,
it can be good if it's a store where you
shop all the time. Ok. The problem with
the store credit cards is that they tend to have
, you know, small credit limits and very high
APR S you never want to carry a balance with
the store credit card. Now, some stores,
especially grocery stores also have rewards programs. You know
, I'm in a rewards program. With one of
the stores that I go to and I use my
rewards to, uh, get discounts on gas.
I'll buy my gas there as well. So,
you know, look at the rewards programs and see
how you can use them to help you save money
, not just on groceries, but in some other
areas as well. What about tips for digital coupon
in Beverly? What do people need to know?
And does it make sense to use those? Sometimes
? I'm sure people should check whether they can get
more money with those digital coupons in store or online
. Yes, that's a great question. And what
I would recommend is doing both, you know,
print coupons really come through those Sunday papers and it
could actually be fun, you know, like looking
for treasure. Uh, but you also want to
get into digital couponing with real extreme couponing. You're
gonna stack your coupons, you're gonna get coupons from
many different areas. And it might also help,
you know, if you take a, you know
, just a pen and a pad to the store
with you because sometimes you have to make decisions,
you know, at the, at that moment,
suddenly something's on sale check and see if you have
a coupon for that as well and see if the
store will let you get the store discount, plus
the manufacturer's coupon. And sometimes you can't, never
, hurts to ask. Never hurts to ask.
Right. That's a great point. Uh, Beverly
Harz, personal financing, credit card expert for us
News and world Report. Beverly. Thank you.