Big does not always mean better when making purchases with coupons. I have found that I pay little to nothing when purchasing in smaller quantities and using multiple coupons. Two lessons you can remember from this week’s column: read the fine print of your coupons and check out the travel size section of your local stores.

I can provide several examples of how shopping small has provided me with huge savings just this week alone.

Proctor and Gamble had a huge push on coupons during the last few weeks. I have received coupons for products in the mail, online and from various newspapers. This mass production of Proctor and Gamble coupons has caused me to acquire multiple coupons for the same item for several different products.

It is important for shoppers to read the fine print of a coupon.

One of the first items I saved money on was body soap. I had several coupons for a particular brand of body wash or soap. At first glance of the coupon, it looked like you received a $1 off the body wash. If I purchased the body wash I would have paid approximately $2.50 for the body wash with the coupon. After reading the fine print, the coupon was for body wash or any bar of soap. The coupon did not put a size limit on the product. At my grocery store, they sold three of the bars of soap in a pack for $1.03. So, I paid three cents plus tax for soap.

I was also able to purchase three small bags of cat litter this week for $1.50 thanks to coupons. If I would have purchased the same cat litter in one larger bag I would have paid approximately $3 more for the same quantity.

I also would encourage shoppers to check out the travel size section of your local department store when making purchases. During this week’s trip to the travel size section, I received a travel size of laundry detergent for pennies.