Extra perks while couponing.

When you begin the whole process of couponing and looking for sales, it can seem very consuming. I think some things can easily become a ritual if you know what to look for.  Here is a store by store list of things to get into the habit of checking either before you go on a coupon excursion, or while you are out and about.

*CVS: Always scan your card at the Red Machine. There are valuable coupons that you can stack with manufacturer coupons. They have about a two week expiration period, and they are famous for giving you stuff for FREE! FREE is my favorite number baby!

*Rite Aid: Grab a rebate pamphlet next to the weekly flyer. Many times you will purchase an item because of the rolling rewards, and unbeknownst you there could be a rebate attached to it. Rite Aid Single Check Rebates program is processed once a month (rebate period). The deadline will be on the flyer. No envelope necessary. You can submit them online.

*Walgreen's:There is almost always a monthly booklet at the front of the store with store coupons inside. You can stack these with manufacturer coupons in conjunction with possible additional sales and rewards.

*Target: I visit http://www.totallytarget.com/  before I make a trip. Target is famous for unadvertised gift card deals, and I like to find out about them BEFORE I walk into the store. Please note, this site is not run by Target.

*Walmart: Okay, Walmart makes me a little suicidal when they have 2 registers open. But If I MUST go there, I peruse this site before I go. There is a “Walmart” tab.  http://www.dealcatcher.com/

*Market Basket: These guys rule in so many ways. Above and beyond being some times more than 20% cheaper than the competition, they tape coupons to the products for you. After I check the service desk, I will walk down EVERY ISLE. Even if I don’t need anything in that isle, there could be a great coupon that makes a product next to nothing at a future date. Market Basket has physically handed me a coupon that made a product free that same day.

*Shaw's: Besides the double couponing aspect of Shaw’s, many times they are offering a gimmick of some sort at the front of the store. I check the Facebook fan page to see if I need to be looking for something. https://www.facebook.com/Shaws

Also, and this is kind of a given, but at the Grill & Grab, they reduce meat all the time. I almost don’t buy meat any other way. And of course, I go down every isle to look for tear pad coupons to use on a future date. Again, the same as Market Basket, there have been many times when a tear pad or peelie coupon made an item free that was not otherwise on my list.

Obscure coupons and deals 11/05

*J.C. Penney $10/$25 purchase 11/04-11/07

http://f.jcpenneyem.com/i/2/95827765/main.html

*Hallmark $5 off purchase of $10 in cards at Participating Gold Crown Stores.

https://www.facebook.com/HALLMARK?sk=app_160552987369443

*Clabber Girl baking powder coupon $.50 on Smartsource.com. This coming week at Walgreens it is on sale for $.50 w/ in ad coupon making it free. Just remember to scan both coupons. Print this coupon twice and get 2. Remember the meet the coupon ratio criteria at Walgreens.

http://www.smartsource.com/smartsource/index.jsp?Link=MKRU3JAAR6CCY

*T.G.I. Fridays $5/$15 Restaurant coupon. The URL is a Pet Smart Perks pdf for T.G.I. Fridays. LOL.

https://secure.petsmart.com/petperks/_webassets/TGIFridays.pdf

*Free Sample of Prilosec.

https://prilosecotc.hostedwebform.com/?vid=11_17465218_547e7a71-dd9a-459b-b530-dab0a3486e40&src=C3adb0lO&id=138983_CD11311&SID2=2135&SID3=11311

*$1/1 Perdue Simply Smart. Print and save.

http://www.perdue.com/simplysmart/?ref=email

*Free Sample of Atelier Orange Sanguine Cologne on FB page.

https://www.facebook.com/AtelierCologne?sk=app_259383294072199

Shaw's 11/04-11/10 Wish Big Win Big!!

Okay guys, ready for another gimmick? I bet some of you already have you game boards. Shaw’s is starting their “Wish Big, Win Big” Holiday Giveaway from purchases made today, Nov. 4- Feb. 9, 2012. This is really (if not exactly) like McDonald’s Monopoly. You request a game board at the checkout, and any applicable items that you buy, you will receive a “Bonus Ticket”. You match up those tickets to the game board to win the qualifying prize. Hey, I’m not greedy. I’ll settle for the $5,000.

Please note, in order to achieve bonus game tickets, you must meet the criteria of each sale, i.e. Del Monte canned vegetables are 10/$10. You must buy all 10 to get the ticket. I will mark each bonus ticket item with a J. However, if I miss some of these items, it is probably because the sale price was lame. My main goal is to save money, not spend extra trying to win a game.

Produce:

*California Crimson seedless grapes $.99 lb.

*Imported green or white asparagus $1.99 lb.

*Granny Smith or Gala apples $1.19 lb.

*Cortland Apples (in totes) $.69 lb.

*Farm Stand Celery Hearts $2.69 pkg. J

*Romaine Hearts $2.69 ea. J

*Sweet Grape Tomatoes 1 pt. 2.49 ea. J

Meat and Fish:

*Philli- Gourmet sandwich steaks BOGO

*80% lean ground chuck $1.99 lb.

*Whole Turkey $.49 lb.

*All Perdue fresh poultry 33% off

*Large Cocktail Shrimp (41-50 ct.) and Fresh Atlantic Salmon $6.99 lb.

*Mahogany Clams or Prince Edward Island Mussels $2.49 lb.

Dairy:

*Kraft Shreds (shredded cheese) 3/$10 J

*Shaw’s Butter- Buy 2 Get 1 Free Shaw’s biscuits or crescent rolls. J

*Yoplait Greek yogurt 10/$10- Use $.50/2 printable doubler.

www.smartsource.com

*Yoplait 4-6 oz. cups (excludes Greek) 10/$6- Use $,40/6 printable doubler, any variety.

www.coupons.com

*Smart Balance products 2/$6- For milk only use $.75 printable doubler .

www.coupons.com

*Almond Breeze 32 oz. $2.49

*Garelick Farms 32 oz. Egg Nog- $2.99 (not a fabulous price, but Egg Nog is in the house!!!!)

Frozen:

*Birds Eye frozen Veggies 10/$10

*Shaw’s Frozen veggies $.99

*Bertolli or PF Changs’s 24 oz. dinners. $4.99 ea. (must buy 2)- Use $1/1 PF Chang’s printable

http://bricks.coupons.com/Start.asp?bt=vg&tqnm=yiuqdwv74744861&o=91712&c=UL&p=m2URHjTS

*Newman’s own Pizza 2/$10- Use $1/1 printable.

http://bricks.coupons.com/Start.asp?bt=vg&tqnm=ybcmalp3445001&o=80588&c=NO&p=iMzDfrRl

*T.G.I Friday’s or W.W. Smart Ones $2.99- Use $1/5 Smart Ones or $1/1 T.G.I.F’s both available on... J

www.coupons.com

*Ore-Ida Potatoes 16-32 oz. 3/$10 J

*Friendly’s Ice Cream cartons $1.99 (limit 4)

*Stone Ridge Ice Cream cartons $2.99 J

*Tai Pei Frozen Dinners 12-14 oz. 2/$5- Use $.75/1 doubler from 10/02 S.S.

Grocery:
*Progresso Classic soups 10/$10- Use $1/4 from 10/02 G.M. insert or $1/4 from:
www.smartsource.com

*Nestle Tollhouse (every time I write this I think of the ‘Friends’ episode) milk chocolate baking morsels 2/$5- Use $.50 printable doubler. J

http://www.verybestbaking.com/Coupons-Promotions/Coupons-List.aspx

*Nature’s Pride Bread 2/$5 J

*Poland Spring Water BOGO J

*Dynamo Laundry Detergent B1G2  (sweet)

*Stove Top Stuffing 2/$3 – Possibly use $3 off Butterball Turkey WYB 4 Stove Top Stuffing’s.J

www.coupons.com  

*Del Monte canned veggies 10/$10 J

*Special K or Keebler snack crackers 2/$5 (okay, maybe this is cheating, but there are $.75/1 Special K Q’s at Market Basket at the desk) After Q doubles, they are $1 ea. Oh and did I mention J?

*Tostito’s 2/$5 J

*Campbell’s Cream of Chicken, or Mushroom $.88- Use $1/5 “Great for Cooking” printable. J

http://www.campbellkitchen.com/coupon.aspx?fbid=H5Ggum5worM

*Fiber One Breads BOGO- Use $1/1 from 10/02 S.S. or printable $.55/1 doubler. Print 2.

http://coupons2.smartsource.com/smartsource/index.jsp?Link=QYDM7WABYRIGG

*Bumble Bee Solid White Albacore 10/$10

*Swiss Miss Cocoa $1.49- Use $1/3 from 10/02 S.S.

*Tetley Tea bags 2/$5- Use $.75/2 printable doubler.

http://www.tetleyusa.com/Promotions_Coupons.php

*Musselman’s Apple Sauce 48oz. 2/$5- Use $.75/2 printable doubler.

http://www.musselmans.com/coupons/coupons.aspx

*Jolly Time Popcorn BOGO- Use $1/2 from 09/18 S.S.

*Swanson Brothe 32 oz. 2/$2- Use $1/2 Printable.

http://www.campbellkitchen.com/coupon.aspx?fbid=H5Ggum5worM

*Dunkin Donuts ground coffee 11-12 oz. $6.99- Use $1/1 from Shaw’s “Cornucopia of Savings” booklet.

***General Mills promo- (select) N. Valley granola bars, Chex Mix, B.Crocker fruit snacks, and G.M. cereal $1.88 ea. Must buy 5 participating items. J

Use assorted following:

  *Chex- $1/2 from 10/02 G.M. insert.

  *Cheerio’s (& other qualifying cereals) $1/2 from 09/25 S.S. (exp. 11/05), $1/3 from 10/02 G.M. insert, or any other qualifying Q from:

 http://www.couponnetwork.com/#
 http://www.boxtops4education.com/earn/clip/Coupons.aspx

  *Nature Valley- Use $1/2 from 10/02 G.M. insert or possibly $.50/1 N.Valley Thins (if included) doubler from:

www.smartsource.com
http://www.couponnetwork.com/#page=2

Rolling Rewards

Many of you are heavily into couponing, and so this blog will be old news. But for those of you who only dabble, or just started, I want to give you some tips on “rolling” your rewards.

This term is used for the concept of swapping out drug store sale items attached to dollar rewards for new sale items attached to new dollar rewards. It is the habitual spending and renewing drug store rewards before they expire.

Tip #1:

They ‘DO’ expire. Rite Aid and Walgreens are approximately 2 weeks. CVS tends to be a little longer, but I always stay within the 2 week gage. I cringe when I lose my rewards.

Tip #2:

If you lose your rewards, with the exception of CVS, you will lose them for good. You can go to CVS.com and print your unused rewards within a certain time frame of accumulation. But there is a chance that won’t show up on the screen if you wait too long. Designate a place for them. Purse pocket, wallet, binder. They are the same as cash. No one likes to lose a $10 bill. Same thing.

Tip #3:

In rolling rewards for ‘like’ rewards the same week of a sale, realize that if there is a multiple limit on a certain product (for example Gillette Proglide razors come with $5 in rewards per razor, limit 4), if you swap out a $5 Proglide reward for another razor, you may not get the next reward. At Walgreen’s, there is always a limit of 1 because they have no card. Therefore you will most assuredly NOT get another ‘like’ reward. Consider that it is like telling on yourself. The skew number on the reward identifies the product from which it came. Therefore the software recognizes what you are doing. Instead, alternate rewards. Proglide for Lysol, Lysol for Proglide, etc...

Tip #4:

All the cumulative deals like “Buy $50 worth of P&G, get $15 in rewards” need to be achieved to the penny. If you are a person who rounds things off, just know that you need to intentionally overshoot the criteria by at least $1, or you could miss the mark by something silly like $.02. However, if this happens, the software keeps tally, so you can just buy another qualifying item to achieve that reward. Your tally for those kinds of rewards should appear on your receipt as how much you have spent towards the reward.

Tip #5:

In the spirit of the previous tip, Rite Aid gets tricky. You accrue points equal to every (theoretical) dollar spent. You do not get docked for coupon use. You still get the points. When you tally 500 points, you get 10% off any non-sale item. 1000 points equals 20% off non-sale items. This becomes a little mind boggling when you are shooting for the same type of P&G reward. You have to accommodate for any items in that bracket that are not on sale. In other words, if you buy a Venus razor for $10 full price, your price will be $8. Therefore only $8 will go towards the $50 criteria. However, coupons do not usually affect the criteria the same way. The ad would have to read “applicable after coupons” or something to that effect.

Tip #6:

As always with Coupon Couth in mind, if you have an issue, take yourself out of the line of customers, and fix it with a manager when those customers are served. Don’t be the person that is remembered for making a stink. Remember, all rewards programs are a privilege. 

Market Basket week ending 11/6

This is not an awe inspiring week at either store, but I feel these are the best deals. Feel free to add anything I missed.

*Pasta Prima assorted Ravioli $1.99- Use $1.50 FB Q. Please note if you have  already printed this, it will not work again.

https://www.facebook.com/pastaprimafoods

*Crystal Geyser 24 pack water $2.99

*Reynolds Parchment paper 2/$4. Use $1/2 Q from 10/2 SS

*Bailey’s coffee creamer 2/$3- Wish there was a Q.

*Progresso light soups 4/$5- Use $1/4 Q from 10/2 G.M. insert or 10/23 SS

*Campbell’s Chunky soups 4/$5- Use $1/4 from 10/09 SS

*Honey Nut Cheerios 12.25 oz. $2.99- Stack store $1/1 Q with $1/2 Cheerios Q from 9/25 SS or $1/2 G.M. cereals Q on coupons.com = 2/$3

*Boneless Chicken breast $1.99 lb. This deal almost always beats any BOGO Perdue deal at Shaw’s insomuch as Perdue is over $4/lb. 

Shaw's last minute grabs week ending 11/3

I am sure you have made a Shaw’s pit stop or two already this week. Just a couple suggestions to benefit to the max out of everything that otherwise would be mucho deniro.

*Two days left to utilize the orange booklets. There are $1 coupons for produce, bakery, seafood, and Shaw’s private label items (Essential Everyday, Wild harvest, Stockman & Dakota). There is no minimum price requirements on these items. Just a couple tips.

Many Halloween bakery items will be on clearance. Use the $1 bakery Q with these. I bet they will be almost free.

There is a $1 Q in the Holliday book for the combination of Essential Everyday pasta and sauce. The pasta is on sale for $.88. The Q will only take off the $.88 but because they are both Shaw’s private label, (2) $1 orange Q’s worked for this transaction.

Make Guacamole!!! Avocado’s are $1.29 ea. Therefore $.29 ea. after $1 produce Q. Onions and tomatoes are also pretty cheap. Go nuts!!

Don’t forget the $5 Q means after all other Q’s are used, so your purchase has to be at least mediocre to meet the criteria. So, if this is you plan, you may as well get something in return. Focus on a couple items that give you CAT’s for the purchase.

*T.G.I. Friday’s meals for one 2/$6- Get $4 Q on future order WYB 4. $1/1 Q on coupons.com, or $1/1 Q from 10/23 SS make purchase of 4, $8 OOP, w/ $4 CAT Q at checkout.

*Purina Dog Food- $11.99 w/ $1 CAT Q WYB 1. Use $2 printable site Q.

http://bricks.coupons.com/Start.asp?bt=vg&tqnm=ycrgcrc37867018&o=58368&c=NP&p=XmU5kRjc

*Lysol cleaners 2/$5- Get $1 CAT Q WYB 2. Use corresponding Q from Lysol site.

http://registration.rb.com/lysol.com/coupons/

*Smart Balance buttery spreads 2/$6 (I really hope this is the bigger size)- Get $1 CAT Q WYB 2. Use $.75 doubler on site.

http://www.smartbalance.com/coupons/current

*Ghiradelli Chocolates 2/$6- Get $1 CAT Q WYB 2. Use $1.00 Q on site.

http://www.newintensedark.com/

*Tyson frozen chicken $4.99- Get $2 CAT Q WYB 2. Use $.75 doubler from 10/2 SS.

*Fuze 10/$10- Get $1 CAT Q WYB 4.

*Simply Orange juice or drinks (singles) 10/$10- Get $1 CAT Q WYB 5.

Other obvious deals- Concord locations only.

B1G2 below-

Dorito’s-

Coke products (6 pack)-  

Edy’s Ice Cream (limit 6)-

Fresh Express Salad blends (6-12 oz.) 

Obscure coupons and deals 10/25

*CVS $10 gift card for $5. Want to get a friend started in couponing? This is perfect!

http://www.savemore.com/DailyDeals/National

*Restaurant.com 80% off (some $25 Gift Cards as low as $2) Use code PUMPKIN. Good until 10/31.

http://www.restaurant.com/consumer-promotion/cj_dlp.asp?prti=1647&aid=10435748&pid=3706744

*Yankee Candles B2G2 printable coupon. Get some Christmas shopping done early. You will seldom do better than this for Yankee Candle. Expires 11/27.

http://www.yankeecandle.com/assets/email/oct25_1/coupon_Q4B2G2.html

*Free Gem Spinner II Water Quest app. For Android. Hurry, this will go fast.

http://www.amazon.com/mobile-apps/b?ie=UTF8&node=2350149011

*Old Navy Outer wear Event. Save additional 25% online or in stores. Online code is “ONSAVE25”. (Please click on the “Details” tab.)

http://oldnavy.gap.com/?tid=onaff3706744&ap=2&siteID=onafcid239

*Cool Whip  Seasons Delight $.75 coupon (great doubler, expires 11/24)

http://bricks.coupons.com/Start.asp?tqnm=yjyreto49945581&bt=vg&o=94036&pt=&lang=&ws=&ct=&ci=&cl=&cp=&eb=1&c=KR&p=7ff011bd139597baffca4fc03a57e132&z=&r=&pc=&tc=