Thrifty Thursday (on Friday): Electronic Coupons

I was planning on starting an entire series on coupons, but thought this was more timely to discuss now, as I got an email with about 200 electronic coupons for Kroger.

I know most of my readers are local to the Central Ohio area, but I'm sure these resources exist even outside Central Ohio.

If you shop at Kroger, as I do, there are electronic coupons available on their site here: Kroger E-Coupons

You need to create an account with them and enter your Kroger card number with your account.  Then go to that site that I've linked and load up to 150 coupons to your Kroger card.  They won't double, but you can use them with any paper coupons you have to double your savings**.

For instance, there is a coupon on there to save $0.40 when you buy 6 Yoplait yogurts (which usually run between $0.40 and $0.50 apiece, depending on sale).  Say they're $0.50 apiece--buy 6 and it costs you $3.  $0.40 off doesn't sound like much, but when you combine it with a printable coupon from Coupons.com that's also for $0.40 off 6 (but will double), it's $3 - $0.40 - $0.40 - $0.40 = $1.80 for 6 or $0.30 apiece. 

Here's another deal you could do.  Betty Crocker Warm Delights are sometimes marked down to $1.50 apiece.  Load a $0.75 coupon from Kroger's site to your card and print off a $0.50 coupon from Coupons.com.  $1.50 - $0.75 - $0.50 - $0.50 means you get $0.25 overage.

You don't just have to use Coupons.com coupons--I just know you ALL have access to those!

You can also load electronic coupons through these sites:

Shortcuts (works for both Giant Eagle and Kroger)
Cellfire (I've never used this b/c I didn't have free data stuff on my phone, but it seems like there are good coupons there!)
P&G E Saver (these look like the same ones you can load from Kroger's website and that they're linked up so if you load them from Kroger's website, they aren't available from P&G's)

There are quite a few deals to make items free or near free when combining electronic coupons with printed coupons.  Can you find any others?  If so, post in the comments!

Next week I'm planning on discussing resources for coupons--there are a lot of them!

** Disclaimer:  I don't believe this is the intended useage of these electronic coupons.  I don't think you're supposed to use them in conjunction with other manufacturer's coupons for the same item.  But it works as long as the cashier with scan the coupon (which they have no reason not to, since they don't know you have the electronic coupon loaded).