ECB: Extra Care Bucks — These are the vouchers that are printed with your receipt and act as money toward your next purchase at CVS Pharmacy.
MIR: Mail-in Rebate — These are items that you pay for at the register, but then mail in either a rebate form or a barcode to receive money back from the company.
PG: Procter & Gamble — This is one of the three types of coupon inserts you will find in your Sunday newspaper.
RP: Red Plum — This is the second type of coupon insert you may find in your Sunday newspaper.
RR: Register Rewards — These are the vouchers printed with your receipt and act as money toward your next purchase at Walgreens.
SS: Smart Source — This is the third type of coupon insert you may find in your Sunday newspaper.
WYB: When You Buy — This is a quick and easy abbreviation for when you need to purchase multiple items to get a bigger savings.
Now that you have some of the lingo down, let’s use a real world example of what you may see. Here is one from last week that we can use:
Oral-B Super Floss 50 ct., Ultra or Satin Floss 55 yds., or Satin Tape 27 yds. — $1.99
Use: $1/1 Oral-B Floss or Floss Picks, 30 ct. (7/31 and 8/28 PG)
Get back: $1 ECB
Final price: Free
Yes, this may look confusing to an untrained eye, but let’s break it down.
First, the bold information is the description of what is on sale, along with its sale price. These are the items you can use coupons on. So, starting off, our price for floss is $1.99. We can use a $1 off of 1 Oral-B Floss or Floss Picks coupon that ran on either July 31 or Aug. 28 in the Procter & Gamble insert of your Sunday newspaper. This will drop the price of your floss down to 99 cents. Although we will pay 99 cents up front, when we purchase it we will receive $1 in Extra Care Bucks, which will be printed with our receipt and will be good for $1 off our next purchase at CVS. In theory, this cancels out the 99 cents we just paid, making the final price for the floss free.
I know the world of couponing can seem overwhelming at first, but I hope this quick tip will help take away some of the confusion. I promise, the more you start to use coupons, the more all of this will make sense. Before you know it, you are going to be the one holding up the line at the grocery with a stack of coupons and a pride in knowing you are saving money. Happy couponing!
Contact this reporter at JessicaGarringer@gmail.com.
COMING SUNDAY: Couponing deals of the week.
COMING MONDAY: How to organize your coupons.
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