Coupons

Sunday, 24 July 2011

Felt like rambling today about couponing! It is exciting, fun and cost saving!

Started off with 2 x $1.00 off coupon for 1/2 gallon Blue Bell ice cream on the 12 February 2011. In that store it was sold for $3.99 and so we got it for $2.99 each. I have seen stores selling for $4.99 and even $5.99.



Then I learnt about the double manufacturer's coupons (up to and including $1.00 face value) at Harps for a week each month on the 3rd Wednesday. Our 1st experience was on the 21 February 2011 whereby we paid $6.57 for $10.57 of products. So that was $4.00 saving. Not much but better than none. We haven't been there since the 13 April 2011. This is a once a month event and only on a particular week, so it doesn't suit our schedule. Also, I haven't come to the stage that I have lots and lots of coupons. I read about organising your coupons in a binder, etc. I saw shoppers looking into their coupons binder at Harps. They are what we call extreme couponers.

On my 1st double coupon experience at Harps, the cashier gave me the address of MoneySavingQueen website to look out for savings. Interesting what you can get, but you have to check everyday or else you might miss out on something you want.

Good thing I saw the 22 July 2011 posting of Arby's $0.64 sandwich with the purchase of a drink coupon. But the coupon was only valid on the 23 July 2011, their 47th anniversary. And since Arby is close to where we intend to shop for groceries yesterday, I printed the coupon. I don't care for beef but Mike does. And you know what? I only realised from the receipt that they minus $3.19 for the classic roasted beef sandwich and no indication of $0.64 charge. We only paid for the small 22 oz Dr. Pepper Diet drink $1.59 and $0.14 Tax. I phoned the store and told them that I owe them $0.64. They said not to worry about it. So that was a blessing.

I love the freebies, but they go quickly. So far, I have received freebies of Nexxus hair products, Aveeno hair products, Emergen-C vitamin drinks, Purex laundry detergent and I don't remember what else. And the freebies usually come with coupons.

Have you ever try Cobalt cheese? Sometime last month, I got to use a coupon for that product. I had that coupon for a few months and each time I went to the cheese section of any store, I did not see the product and the size mentioned in the coupon. Luckily it was still valid when I saw it last month. Instead of paying $2.12, we paid $1.37. That was good, since it was only 8 oz and I have not tasted it before. And then I read about $1/1 printable coupon but it was gone by the time I found it. And then I read that it was an award-winning cheese. No wonder they stand out from all the cheese I have eaten. At least for me. So I wrote to Cabot a snail mail since that is the only contact address in their website. And guess what? They sent me 4 coupons of 50 cents off any Cabot product. And the coupons are good until the December-31-2011!

Now, Mike prefers the Heinz Reduced Sugar tomato ketchup and I have only seen them in the 14 oz bottle. I am not particular about brand, so long as they taste tomato. And Heinz is not cheap either. So I emailed them. And guess what? They sent us 3 Reduced Sugar Tomato Ketchup coupons 50 cents off. We had exhausted the 3 coupons on the 6 May 2011. We paid total of $5.34 instead of $6.84 for 3 bottles. We also received coupons for other Heinz products and gave them away as we don't use those products. So that was good!

I was so happy when I came across the $2.00 discount coupon for rotisserie chicken as well as 8-piece fried chicken. And you can print them again and again till the offer expires 31 December 2011. I saw them on the website for meat and poultry printable coupons and deals. We used our 1st $2.00 off coupon for the rotisserie chicken on the 23 June 2011 and to date we have used 5 coupons. And we used our 1st $2.00 off coupon for the 8-pc fried chicken on the 28 June 2011 and to date we have used 3 coupons. Since they are for Tyson chicken, they are available in Walmart Deli department. However, we noticed that the prices in Walmart Neighborhood Market is $2 more than Walmart Supercenter, so we buy from the later. After coupon, we paid $2.98 instead of $4.98 for the rotissiere chicken and $3.88 instead of $5.88 for the 8-pc fried chicken. Yay!

Sometime last month, we found the rotissiere chicken too salty! We like the rotissiere chicken for the past years and we enjoy it until this particular purchase. So I emailed Marketside, the company of the Deli products, voiced our grievance and suggested the lowering of sodium for health reasons. And guess what? They sent me a Walmart Certificate amounting to $7.00 towards any one (1) marketside product. Yay! I haven't use it yet. The coupon expires 2 January 2012! This the biggest $ coupon, for food, I got so far.

Searching for coupons on the internet takes time. Since I am not earning, I take that my way of working to cut spending. If you are lucky, you come across them in time before they are gone. From time to time, I find coupons that I could use from the weekly paper advertisements that come into our snail mail box.

I received a surprise coupon a few days ago - $15 off my next electronics or accessories purchase of $50 or more at Dell. It was a timely surprise. We are running out of black ink cartridges.

Recently I found discount coupons for visits to places of interest. That thrilled me. We used the 1st of these coupons yesterday at the Tulsa Air and Space Museum. We paid a total of $18 instead of $22 because of that.

I think I have enough of ramblings today. I am thrill to find coupons! Hope you too!