Everybody wants to be an Extreme Couponer until it’s time to clip those coupons. I tried it and the way my laziness is set up… it didn’t last very long. But this was before almost every retailer launched their own app, complete with digital coupons straight from the manufacturer. This makes couponing so much easier for those of us with multiple kids, full-time jobs and other responsibilities. The great thing is that a lot of big retailers make things easier for you, so you can coupon everywhere with ease. Even still, this can get overwhelming for beginners.
I chose to start couponing at Dollar General because they offer both manufacturer and store coupons via app, there are a lot of store locations to choose from and there are tons of online couponers who offer detailed breakdowns to learn from. So my goal is to show you how I learned what I know so that you can start your journey too! I am by no means an expert but I have had some success couponing this way.
This post will primarily focus on finding deals on household items at DG. It is possible to coupon for food items, even at DG because they sell food too, but I haven’t ventured into that lane yet and I’m okay with that! For whatever reason, I find it particularly irksome to pay full price for stuff like detergent and paper products, especially after finding out that I could pay as little as $2 per item with a little strategic planning. Whenever we are getting low on supplies I start planning my trip or trips.
Everything I know about couponing and trip planning, I have learned from YouTube & Instagram. I stumbled across a few pages of ‘coupon influencers’ who make detailed videos and posts about what they buy, the coupons they use and their tips and tricks. In the beginning, I basically copied their trips item for item to get confident in the process. Couponing with Toni & Couponing with Greg that Dude are my favorite couponer-personalities. I would suggest you follow their pages, along with Nathalia_Saves. These pages post very detailed breakdowns of upcoming deals along with spur of the moment deals.
You can also join Facebook groups for couponing at certain stores but I find that it’s easy to get lost in these groups because there isn’t always a consistent breakdown of pricing or coupons used. As a newbie, this can add to the confusion you already and cause you to give up altogether. Also, in these groups, people tend to post after the deals are dead which doesn’t help someone looking to go out and buy.
Dollar General Couponing
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But back to what you came to see! The awesome thing that sets Dollar General (and Family Dollar) apart is the $5 off of $25 coupon they have available almost every week on their app. When you stack this store coupon on top of the MFG coupons you will come away with the best savings. The catch is 1. you have to make an account on the app and 2. the coupon is only available for use on Saturday. You’ll get the best savings if you fill your cart with items that are on sale and have coupons available.
Some people like to write out a list. I like to make an excel sheet with a column for each item’s regular or sale price, coupon amount and out of pocket amount. Keep in mind, the cost of the items before coupons must meet $25 in order for you to use the $5 off DG coupon.
Pro Tips:
1. Have a backup plan in case an item or two is out of stock. The downfall of using the $5 off coupon is that your total has to meet that $25 min. changing an item last minute can be stressful because if the cost isn’t the same your out of pocket amount can go up.
2. You can only use these coupons once. If you find a good deal and want to stock up, you’ll need to make multiple accounts and do separate transactions in order to use coupons more than once. 
This is a great place to start. I’ve had some really successful trips since I’ve learned to coupon this way. Earlier this year I got enough tissue to last my family 6 months and I only spent $25! The screenshots of my transactions and a photo of my haul are on this blog. Outside of the savings, the best part about that is that I only had to prepare for about 20 minutes before I went out to the store.
Do you coupon? Let me know your tips below 🙂
