Probably one of the most confusing aspects of Couponing is using Store Matchups. I often get asked what all the random numbers and letters mean that are listed next to the coupons on the matchups so I thought today we would decode these insert coupons and I’ll help you understand just what everything means.

Decoding Insert Coupons

Here’s a standard matchup that would be listed in the store deals section. There are three parts to each matchup

1. The Item Sale Price (This is the first line in bold)
2. The Available Coupons (In the example this is the next 2 lines)
3. The Final Price after the Highest Value Coupon is applied.

Within the Available Coupons you have 2 Different types of Coupons

• Printable Coupons
• Insert Coupons

The Insert Coupons are what give people the most problems because it can be confusing to know what this part means: (RP 03/04/12). If you are new to couponing you may have seen these numbers and letters and wondered what they meant, so here’s the quick guide to decoding these coupons:

$1/3 Kellogg’s Cereal, exp. 4/15/12 (RP 03/04/12)

Let’s Break Down the Entire Coupon:

$1/3 – The First part is the Value of the Coupon ($1) and the second number is how many items the coupon applies to. So in this case you would save $1 off 3 Items.

Kellogg’s Cereal – This is the Description of the Items that you can use the coupon on. In this case this coupon is for Kellogg’s Cereals.

exp. 4/15/12  – The Expiration Date is the last day the coupon can be used. So in this case April 15th, 2012 is the last day this coupon can be used. On 4/16 the coupon is no longer valid.

RP – This is where it gets tricky, this is the Code for the Insert where the coupon is found. There are 4 Main Inserts that come in the Newspapers, each of them has a code to make it easier to find your coupons:

RP = RedPlum Insert
SS = Smartsource Insert
GM = General Mills Insert
PG = Proctor & Gamble Insert

03/04/12 – This second date is the Day the coupon was found in the newspaper. I put the date on the front of each insert on the Day I take it out of the paper. So if I pulled Coupons out of the Newspaper for Sunday March 4th I would put the Date 3/4 on the front. I know these Coupons are from the 3/4 Sunday Newspaper. This Date helps me go back and find these coupons quickly.

Finding your Coupons Quickly -

If you don’t want to clip all your insert coupons you can store your coupons by the date they are in the newspaper. Then when you see a coupon listed on a matchup that you want you can pull out the folder for the Date the Coupon was in the Newspaper and look for the Correct Insert. This is the quickest and easiest way to keep all your coupon inserts organized.

Don’t forget you can sign up for our Daily Email Updates and get access to all of our Extreme Couponing Classes where you can learn the basics of How to Shop for Free!