Holy Crap a lot can happen in 10 days.

So I follow The Krazy Coupon Lady RELIGIOUSLY. In her blog there is an entire section on extreme couponing for beginners. She claims that if you follow her way of doing things you will be "converted to the KCL way in 10 days (or Less)." She also states that "you will have a year supply of toothpaste, soap, razors, and lysol wipes (among other things) before you can blink." Well let me tell you- I was just thinking about it and just 10 days ago I had my very first KCL couponing experience when I bought 27 bottle of V8. It is hard for me to believe that I have only been at this seriously for 10 days! Since my journey began I have had several "scores". I got all of this at Target for just pennies on the dollar. Before coupons my total was $13.36 --> after coupons $.34. I was so very excited that I just kept on. I am serious y'all - couponing is my crack. :) KCL was not lying when she said that I would have my own stockpile in no time- I have officially become one of those nut jobs on TLC's Extreme Coupon that like to just go stare at their stockpile like they are a giddy school girl waiting for an invitation to the dance. I did not understand why on earth they would want to go look at all that stuff 50 times a day... and now I get it. It brings me such a sense of accomplishment to know that I havesaved my family BOO-COO money! I recently went and bought a shelf so that I could start a second pantry because I was running out of room for all of my prizes. Here is my new pride and joy. The best part is when I remember that I have bought EVERYTHING- shelf included- for less than $50.

Seeing Double!

I have been trying to figure out how to know if a coupon will double or not. I found this and thought it might help others because it helped me.

Will coupons only double if they have a “5″ at the beginning of the bar code?

In short, this is a simple answer: yes. But I thought it might be helpful to explore it further, because there are often questions about which coupons do and do not double and why.

So, pull out a coupon and look at the barcode. Chances are it will start with a 0, 1, 5, or 9. It may or may not state “Do Not Double”, but in general, that doesn’t matter. The computer doesn’t look at the words on the coupon, only the barcode, so unless the barcode itself tells it not to double, it will still double.

Coupons that begin with 0 or 1 are usually store coupons, and these definitely won’t double.

Most insert and printable coupons begin with a 5. Most computers are programmed to automatically double coupons that begin with a 5 – assuming, of course, that it falls within their doubling rules (ie, a 50¢ coupon will double but a $1 won’t, at least not in our area).

Most catalinas and blinkies (the in-store coupons found in the little red boxes) begin with a 9, and computers are programmed so that those coupons will not double.

So, if you have an insert coupon for 50¢ off one product and, say, a blinkie for 50¢ off one product, chances are that the insert coupon starts with a 5 and will double and the blinkie starts with a 9 and will not.

There are exceptions to this rule. I have occasionally found blinkies that stated “Do Not Double”, but the barcode began with a 5 and so it did double. I’ve also seen an insert coupon that did not stated “Do Not Double”, but the barcode began with a 9 and so unless your cashier notices that it didn’t double and does it manually, it will not doubled. (This particular coupon was for Mountain High Yogurt, FYI.)

And of course, we are talking about how the computer reads the coupon – not the cashier. If for some reason the store is manually doubling coupons, the cashier may not double your coupons that state “Do Not Double” even if the barcode starts with a 5. Or, as has been the case with Albertsons sometimes, sometimes the computer will double your coupon and then the cashier will override it because it states “Do Not Double”.

So, clear as mud? Even with all the “usually”, “mostly”, “except for”, and “sometimes” circumstances mentioned, hopefully this gives you a clearer picture of what determines whether or not a coupon will double.