You've got to know when to hold 'em - Part 1

Your coupons, that is.

There were some pretty awesome coupons in last Sunday's (5/17) paper. Especially the $2 of A-1 sauce coupon. My husband LOVES that stuff.

Apparently a lot of other folks do to. The A-1 section at Harris Teeter Monday had a serious dent in it. And if you needed A-1 for Monday night's dinner, then using that coupon was a great way to get some for less money.

But if you wanted some for, say a Fourth of July cookout, then you should have held onto your coupons a bit longer to see if you could pair it was a sale for even greater savings.

The key to holding is the coupon's expiration date. If it expires this week, go ahead and use it. But if you have a few weeks before it expires, hang on to it for a bit. I often do this with coupons that are worth $.99 or less hoping that a grocery store will have triples before it expires. That's a great way to get the biggest bang out of your buck. (If a store doesn't have triples or a good sale before the expiration date, then by all means, use the coupon. Some savings is better than no savings at all.)

And that A-1 coupon? That special sauce is on sale this week (5/20-27) at Lowe's Foods for $2.50/bottle. The A-1 marinade is on sale Buy One, Get One free (regular price $3.15 each; sale price $1.57 each). Sunday's $2 off coupon makes the marinade free (if you buy one bottle at half price) and the sauce just $.50 a pop. Now that's a price I can stock up on!