Coupon queen shares how to roll a deal

Grand Rapids, Mich. (WOTV) - Considered a more advanced form of couponing , rolling is the term used to describe using a reward or bonus from one transaction to pay for another that also produces a reward or bonus. For the average coupon user those rewards are simply a great way to pay for other items they are already buying, but for the more extreme coupon user it's a way to get more on a limited budget. 

What bonuses or rewards are commonly rolled?

Anything that is considered an on your next shopping order offer that prints at the register. National Catalina offers commonly from grocery stores, Register Rewards at Walgreens, UPRewards at Rite Aid and Extra Care Bucks at CVS. And though earned the same way initially by purchasing a required dollar amount or quantity, the rules for redeeming them to make them roll vary by store.

National Catalina offers and Register Rewards print from a little machine at the registers. Extra Care Bucks print at the bottom of your receipt. UPRewards print on your receipt if you opt to get the print out, otherwise they are loaded to your Wellness card for redemption starting the next day at 6am.

What do you need to know about redemption?

National Catalina offers are manufacturer offers and are easily rolled. The requirements for the offer to print at the end of the transaction are calculated before manufacturer coupons. If the offer says buy $15 and get $5 off your next order, you can select $15 worth of items, use your coupons to pay under $15 and the reward will still print. (That is because coupons are considered a form of payment that the store gets reimbursed for.) After the offer prints, you can choose to do the same offer again and use the $5 from the first transaction to pay for the second transaction and it will again produce the $5 bonus again.
Note: some offers appear to be National Catalina offers because they print the same way, but in the case of Meijer specifically may be a Custom Coupon which is a store offer and not rollable.

Register Rewards from Walgreens are earned the same way, but are only rollable on offers for items that are from a different manufacturer than the one that produced the offer. Buy Huggies and get a Register Reward? Using it on a Cottonelle offer that is supposed to give a Register Reward is a no go, they are both Kimberly Clark products. Want to use that offer from Huggies to buy Charmin that produces an offer? You are good to go, Charmin is a Proctor & Gamble product.

With the exception of having to wait until the next day to use the UPRewards at Rite Aid, redemption on UPRewards and Extra Care Bucks at CVS works the same way. There aren't any real restrictions when you redeem to get the offers to roll. Want to use them on the same item again because you haven't reached them limit? Go for it. Want to use several accumulated rewards to pay for one item? Do it. Any rewards you are due will still come to you.

Why would you roll an offer?

By rolling offers you end up spending less out of pocket. Instead of putting out $20 for 5 items and walking out with $15 in rewards that you have to remember to use later, it's very easy to pay $5 out of pocket and walk out with $5 in rewards at the end if you plan it right.

For more savings tips visit Deals in the Mitten 's Store Policies 101 and Creating a Stockpile 101 guides.