Learning the Coupon Language

This cheat sheet is brought to you by our pal GINA!

For all my newbie frugal friends, I thought I would share some of the terminology you will commonly see and what the abbreviations or terms mean. It can get quite confusing and I myself am still learning. This list is by no means all inclusive and I would love to hear form you if you have something to add.

Here is an alphabetical list of some of the terminology you will run into out there in the world of frugal living.

BOGO, B1G1F: “Buy 1, Get 1 Free”

Blinkies: coupons found in the little red boxes with blinking lights near the products in the grocery store

BTFE: Box Tops for Education

Catalinas: these coupons are typically generated at check-out for specific items, or to be used as cash on your next purchase.

CPN: coupon

ECB: Extra Care Bucks, these are printed on your receipt and can be used like cash at CVS, must be used with your CVS card, and other rules apply

FAR: Free after rebate

IP: Internet printable coupon

MFC, MFR : manufacturer’s coupon, I have been spelling this one out but will use the abbreviation from now on. These come from you guessed it manufacturers and are mostly found in your newspaper

MIR: Mail in Rebate

Peelie: coupons found stuck on product packaging that you peel off

P&G: Proctor and Gamble coupon insert from newspaper

OAS: “on any size” Some coupons specifically state on them that they can be used on any size product.

OOP: out of pocket expense, how much you actually paid for something

Overage: when you save more than the items costs, store policies vary and you may or may not get to “keep” your overage

RP: Red Plum coupon insert from newspaper

RR: Register Rewards: Walgreens version of the ECB (see above) spendable like cash at Walgreens, earned by purchasing specific products

SS: Smart Source coupon insert from newspaper

Stacking: Using a MFC with a store cpn or other deal on the same item (doable at CVS, Walgreens, and Target quite easily)

Store coupons : Store specific coupons

Tear Pad: pad of refund forms or coupons found hanging from a store shelf or display

V, Valassis: Same as Red Plum

WSL: while supply lasts.

WYB: when you buy

Your Mileage May Vary (YMMV): This one is new to me and basically means that your savings may be different then what is posted because of regional variances such as sale prices and cpn availability.

Hope this helps and let me know if you have some to add to my list, I will do an updated post with your additions.