There are lots of great bloggers out there that have posts we can all learn from. Here’s one that I’ve seen this week…
- FiveCentNickel (one of my favorite finanical blogs) did a great post on the behind the scenes tactics of Going Out of Business Sales. In today’s market this is a must read…
**I’m going to try to start a regular post of Other’s Wisdom so if you are ever web surfing and find something that should be shared email me the link. **
Here is the list of what is Free or almost free at the stores that Southern Savers covers. I didn’t have time to go through the comments on the weekly deals so if you know of one I missed comment here and I’ll add it to this list and the regular weekly lists!
Click on the store name to see the coupon matches that make these items free!! For more Free finds check out the Festival of Frees at The Thrifty Mama.
Kroger
Chef Boyardee – .38¢ ea
Manwich – .20¢ ea
Yo-Plus Yogurt 4pk – FREE
Multi-Grain Cheerios – FREE plus overage
Nature’s Bounty or Sundown Vitamins – various types FREE
Cottonelle Toilet Paper – FREE
Colgate Toothpaste – FREE
Publix
Hunt’s Tomatoes – .20¢ ea
V8 Juice 64oz – .05¢ ea
Muir Glen Tomato paste or Sauce- FREE
Pam Cooking Spray – FREE
Jolly Time Pop Corn – FREE
Russell Stover Chocolate Bags – .50¢ ea
Viva Paper Towels .29¢ ea
Cover Girl – some products FREE
Bi-Lo
Tabasco Sauce – FREE
Hefty Plates – .34¢ ea
Kellogg’s Cereals (select varieties) -.89¢ ea
Totino’s Rolls – FREE
Hefty One Zip – .16¢ ea
Gatorade – FREE
Food Lion
Hunts Ketchup – FREE or .36¢ ea
FL Salsa – .39¢ ea
Hefty Cups – .40¢ ea
CVS
CVS Childrens Aspirin – FREE
Extreme Energy 4pk – FREE
Earinse – FREE
Excedrin 10ct – FREE
L’Oreal Revitalift – FREE plus profit
Gillette Hair Care – FREE
CVS Cottonballs – FREE
Stayfree Pads – FREE plus profit
Mylanta – FREE
Happy February!
With a new month comes new coupons from Coupons.com.
There are lots of new General Mills/Betty Crocker items.
There is also a new .50/1 Cottonelle!! All you Kroger readers know what that means… free toilet paper…
Print them now if you want them. Coupons.com coupons all have print limits, when they are reached they are gone. They will expire in one month so you have a while to use them, but at least you will have them when the sale comes.
Because there are so many CVS posts today with weekly deals x2 (thanks to CVS’s craziness) and monthly deals all starting on the same day… I am putting this weeks Grand Plan in it’s own post. It is also in the main weekly post too, but this way everyone can find it.
What is it? This started as my way of showing everyone a way to roll ECB’s every week. It is my exact plan for CVS though some weeks I just don’t make it. This week with monthly and weekly deals starting at the same time I’ll be there Saturday night around 7pm rain or shine. Want to join me? :)
Here’s my plan: (These deals can be found in the weekly list and monthly list)
**Some asked for a starting plan using no ECB for the first transaction, scroll down…**
My Grand Plan: This is what I plan on doing with the coupons that I have. I have thrown in one thing that my family needs this week (paper towels) and it is great to get it for FREE, ah how I love extracare bucks!!
#1
Buy:
(1) Children’s Aspirin $1.99
(1) Extreme Energy Shot $4.99
(1) Earinse $7.99
(2) Electrasol Powerball Tabs $2.99
Use:
(2) -$2.50 off Electrasol coupons
Total Due: $15.95 pay with $3, $5, $7.98 ECB (have cashier “downgrade last ECB buy .03¢)
Get Back: $14.97 ECB ($1.99, $4.99, $7.99)
#2
Buy: (2) L’Oreal Revitalift Cleansers $5.99 ea
(2) J&J First Aid pads $4.99 ea
Use: (2) -$2 off L’Oreal
(1) -$3/2 J&J products
Total Due: $14.96, pay with all ECB from #1 (have cashier downgrade by .01¢)
Get Back: $16 ECB ($10, $6)
#3
Buy:
(1) Excedrin 10ct $2.49
(1) Gillette Razor $7.99
(1) Gillette Shampoo $4.99
(1) Bounty Basic 8pk $5.99
(2) CVS Cotton Balls $1.99 ea
Use:
-$4 off Gillette Fusion
-$2 off Gillette Shampoo
-$1 off Bounty
(2) -$1 off CVS Beauty Item
Total Due: $16.46, pay with ECB from #2 and .46¢
Get Back: $11.49 ECB ($2.49, $4, $3, $2)
Total Value: $63.87
Total out of pocket: .46¢
ECB remaining: $11.49
Starter Plan
#1
Buy:
(1) Children’s Aspirin $1.99
(1) Excedrin 10ct $2.49
Total Due: $4.48 (pay out of pocket)
Get Back $4.48 ECB ($1.99, $2.49)
#2
Buy:
(1) Gillette Hair Care item $4.99
(2) CVS Cotton balls $1.99 ea
Use:
-$2 off Gillette
(2) -$1 off CVS Beauty item
Total Due: $4.97, use ECB from #1 and .49¢
Get Back: $5 ECB
Total Value: $13.45
Out of pocket: $4.97
ECB remaining: $5 (use this to just keep on going…) Read More→
Sariah asked a question in comment to the last post about my number of 10% of people coupon. That was my rough estimate.
Searching for exact numbers for an answer I found this and found it very humorous. Because of the “average weekly savings” reported I’m sticking with my 10% coupon number… these folks don’t coupon, they just pretend…
According to recent research from the Promotion Marketing Association’s (PMA) Coupon Council, many consumers are already taking advantage of the savings opportunities. The recent PMA Coupon Council Internet survey of 1,000 people found that:
- 89 percent of the overall population report that they use coupons when shopping (for grocery, household and healthcare items at supermarkets).
- 97 percent of primary shoppers report that they use coupons at supermarkets.
- Coupon users report an average of seven percent savings on their grocery bill
with coupons.Consumers See Value in Coupons – Typical Savings
- The typical family saves between $5.20 and $9.60 per week using coupons.
- Those who spend 10 minutes or less per week clipping and organizing their coupons (46 percent of consumers) still achieve an average $7.00 weekly savings on their grocery bill.
I’d love to see what the savings all of us are getting would do to their “average weekly savings” numbers.
Look at what America is throwing away though: Read More→
I get a lot of comments and questions every week asking if the stores are going to get reimbursed for a certain coupon or if they will lose money on a deal. It is also becoming a peeve of mine to see people say that we should not get free items because we are going make them stop issuing coupons. So, I decided to give us all a crash course in how coupons are redeemed by the store.
The Life Cycle of a coupon:
1. The manufacturer decides to run a coupon program and sends the coupon to a design agency that handles coupons.
2. You acquire the coupon through the paper etc.
3. You use the coupon, the store takes the coupon
4. The cashier adds up her coupons and cash to make sure the drawer balance.
5. The coupons are then bagged by the store and sent to the corporate office where all the coupons from all the stores are put into a bigger bag and sent to a big clearing house. Publix and Kroger use one overseas… (note some stores do this in house)
6. The clearing house puts all the coupons that are in good condition on a big conveyor belt and they are scanned, then an automated process sorts them by manufacturer and prepares an invoice for the manufacturer.
7. They are mailed from the clearing house to the manufacturer for reimbursement.
8. The manufacturer receives the coupons and an invoice stating how many are there (think thousands). They then pay the bill. Some will recount to check for clearing house fraud and then pay the bill.
**The stores have on average 6 months past the expiration date to submit a coupon to the manufacturer – while you should not plan to use expired coupons unless allowed do not fret, they will still get their money**
How the stores get their money:
Artscow, one of many online photo printing places is running two great promotions. There ongoing promotion is, when you sign up you get 1200 free prints (100 per month for a year).
Right now you can also use the code FREE10BKS to get 10 Free 20 page photobooks. You can only redeem 5 per month, but hey it’s still 10 total…
Sign up and then go to “My Account”, click on Credit and Discounts. There is a box to enter a code or giftcard, enter the code above and click validate and it will add the discount to your account.
You will have until 2/28 to order the first 5, and until 3/31 to order the second 5. No, you do not have to order 5 either time, you can just order 1 or 2.
We don’t usually do Valentines presents for family but this would make a fun treat for grandparents.
**Note: You will still have to pay shipping, but everything else if free**
For anyone lucky enough to live near a Bloom or a Harris Teeter I’m giving you ample warning, get your coupons ready…
Bloom will be tripling coupons Friday Feb. 6th – Sunday Feb 8th
Harris Teeter will be tripling coupons Thursday Feb. 5th – Sunday Feb. 8th
Policies:
Harris Teeter:
* Accept 20 double coupons per day per customer/household with VIC card
* Double/Triple manufacturer’s coupons up to face value of $0.99
* Double/Triple up to three identical items with manufacturer coupon
* Internet coupons can be doubled or tripled. No competitor coupons will be doubled or tripled.
Bloom:
*They will triple 20 coupons per transaction per day (many say that you can do multiple per day)
*Double/Triple manufacturer’s coupons up to face value of $0.99
*If you do self checkout you can only do 2 of the same coupon per transaction
*You have to use your Breeze card for the triples to work
*They do triple internet printable coupons!
The twin mom in me wanted to share this even though not everyone here has been blessed with more than one kid at a time.
**They are now out of stock. I know a few of us got in the deal!! You can have them email you when it is restocked maybe they will keep the price low**
Right now Baby Trend has a triplet stroller discounted to $99 (reg $249). I know at our consignment sale (run by the multiples club) this is the price these things go for used. Don’t have twins or triplets just disregard :)
**Use coupon code BUNL175 to save another $10**
(Thanks Beth W.!)
