Zoe Foods is running their promotion again, Break the Donut Rut.

Last year they sent me two large boxes of granola bars, and several dozen small bags of granola, healthy and delicious. Loads of coupons, too, plus a coupon on every bag.

The bars weren't my favorite, but the granola was YUMMY.


http://www.zoefoods.com/cooking/promo/index.html


Break the Donut Rut With Complimentary Zoe's Cereals and Bars!

Break the Donut Rut - bring healthy snacks to your next office meeting courtesy of Zoe Foods. Change the sugar blues to whole grain energy with complimentary Zoe's Bars or Cereals for your next office meeting. On company letterhead, please fax Zoe Foods at 781-453- 9990, or send an email from your office email address. Tell us that you want to break the donut rut and serve Zoe's cereals or bars instead! Please remember to include your name, email, company shipping address and telephone number (for UPS).

The foremost question you've asked for is how to be environmentally conscious shoppers, and buy quality 100% organic certified products.

Many of the major organic and natural product manufacturers have created a Go Organic for Earth Day coupon booklet to help the environmentally conscious shopper.

You can request a FREE copy of the Go Organic! for Earth Day Coupon Book at:

PHONE: 612-377-1142 or 1-866-I-GO-ORGANIC (1-866-446-6742)

EMAIL: info@organicearthday.org

The coupons in tomorrow's paper are not outstanding, at least for me. If you've been looking for the Advil PM TMF rebate, there is a form. Colgate coupons.

The items of interest, though, are found in the store circulars. Target, $25 g/c for new or transferred prescriptions. RiteAid, $20 g/c for new or transferred prescriptions.

I know quite a few bargain hunters are taking advantage of this trend. You can pick up a voucher for a free Rx sample, usually 2 weeks worth (check www.reduceprescriptioncosts.com for current offers), have it filled, no copay or cost, and a g/c.

Or, you can fill new Rx, or transfer, and the g/c will at least cover the co-pay, a nice way to reduce your cost of prescriptions on it's own.

I could write a full blog on this...

but, also, look in the CVS ad, a manufacturer's TMF rebate for the new Herbal Esscenses products, does not need to be PURCHASED at CVS. On, and on...those ads are similar to JUNK MAIL...before you recycle them, skim through for deals you may not want to miss out on!

I'll be the first to admit, I rarely do try me free (TMF) rebates. First, I don't want to have an item just to have it...I'm already overstocked on life and stuff. And, it seems complicated to keep the receipt for a single item, remove the UPC (which will probably start a war with me, and either tear or I'll burst open the package). If I wait to take the UPC off until after I've used the product, the chances of finding the rebate form AND the receipt AND it still being before the deadline, well...I've got too much to do.

But, having accumulated all these TMF and other rebates, I actually sat down and cranked them out today!

First - Resolve new dual action carpet cleaner. NICE, just a form and receipt, no trying to get the UPC off the cleanser (definite hazard there!). $6.

Second - Boost with Benefiber, also easy, and $8. Boost we use anyway, so trying the benefiber version was not a stretch.

Third, the new Act restoring mouthwash. Very easy. $6.

Fourth, well, not TMF, but $5 coupon rebate on Land of Lakes. Their cheese blocks are usually $4.19 each, but they were on sale at 2/$4, and after a $1 coupon on each, the $12 purchase requirement (3 blocks) was easily met, for $3. I bought 6, but it was a great deal!

Sunny D was on sale, so I did the movie ticket rebate. We rarely go to the movies, but a ticket without restrictions is impossible to find, and would cost us $12 EACH at our theater. Of course, we'd hit the matinee...

I still haven't done the FREE Advil PM 20 count, I think I used the receipt on something else.

And, having a form for Aquafresh White & Shine or Extreme Clean 4.3 oz or larger, and a separate form for just the White % Shine, means I can do them both...but I've got more toothpaste stockpiled than we can use in a year. Of course, those rebates are good through '08, so if the product is still around, I may just use one later.

MEAT...well, DH is still in charge of that one. $25, but it's due this next week. No nagging, though, he asked to be in charge of it, and whatever happens, it's fine. I love him LOTS more than the $25. As long as HE loves ME more than the steaks...

If you are going to be in PA next weekend, you might want to check out the freebies and fun at the Crayola factory!



Join us in downtown Easton for The Crayola FACTORY® 10th Birthday Bash on Saturday, July 15, 2006. This indoor/outdoor celebration will be filled with lots of colorful fun, cool entertainment, and exciting prizes throughout the day. We will have strolling performers and entertainment such as clowns, face painting, a visit by Sponge Bob, hourly giveaways, and visits from Tip, the Crayola mascot.

A traveling exhibit from the Philadelphia Zoo will also be here to celebrate, along with characters from other area attractions. And be sure to visit The Crayola Store, where commemorative Crayola
items will be available to mark this great occasion.

For hours of operation go to www.TheCrayolaFACTORY/hours

Colorfully yours,
The Crayola FACTORY

'Tis the season...ho ho ho...for back to school savings, sales, coupons...

and if you are a teacher, try to make it to all those teacher appreciation days!

Staples will be having their Teacher Appreciation Days in August. Each store provides a FREE canvas goody bag, teacher planner, and COUPONS to the first 200 teachers (and often more, depending on the location). Find details for your local store at

STAPLES TEACHERS APPRECIATION DAY

Office Depot provides a similar program, check your local store for details.

Most stores also offer Teacher discount cards, and other special contests and rewards. For example,

OD Get Tools for Your Schools

Whatever stores are in your area, whatever your affiliation with schools, it's time (already!) to start watching for the sales and specials.

If you've noticed the price of the frig packs of Pepsi and Coke bouncing around, you are right. Soda is one of the true rollercoasters of sales pricing. And it has little to do with supply and demand.

Remember, shelf space is limited, and old packaging is, well, old. Think back...around the holidays, Pepsi ran a huge promotion, get the code out of your package and enter into an instant win and sweepstakes. Prices were higher, people wanted the codes. The game ended, and suddenly the packaging was old. Who wants to buy a specially marked package to WIN, only to find that the contest has been concluded. Certainly Pepsi-co doesn't want to deal with unhappy consumers. Time for mass sales, 5 packs for $10, rebates, gift cards.

Enter the coca-cola olympics promotion. First, dump all the old packaging. People want the packaging with the codes! Then, game over, dump the old packaging, 5 packs for $10, rebates...and so it goes.

Notice Pepsi has been on clearance for the last month...and now the Superman promotional packages are hitting the shelves.

As a saver, which do you prefer, the sale price, or the game code?

Well, truthfully, you can have both, and it's actually a better deal. Almost all soda contests are NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. If you participated in the coke Olympics games, you know that you can get MORE codes online, up to 5 A DAY (?).

Personally, I can't drink 5 frig packs a day. I can generally log on to request five codes a day, while sipping my $1 a pack coke from the last sale/rebate/deal.

Remember, super savers take advantage of packaging changes. For every item that is squeezed onto a store shelf, one is taken off. Usually at a clearance price. New packaging, label changes, new laws and labeling requirements, all mean SALES.

Available in a store near you

Ah, at the risk of being redundant, there is ALWAYS free dog and cat food, and litter, by the bag.

Hills Science Diet is rerunning their Pet Fit offer, this time instead of a free sample, it's a $5 coupon...which is a great deal...

http://www.hillspet.com/Petfit/PetIndex.jsp

Looking for Cat Litter? Fresh Step is running a coupon for $5 off on their cat litter, and you can receive the coupon BY MAIL if you choose.

http://www.freshstep.com/redeem.php

Me, well, I'm well overstocked on dog food from my latest shopping. However, the Corgi has decided that bras are more to his taste....so with a LARGE sigh, I'm heading to the victoria secret site. At least they are having a clearance sale

DH used to drink quite a bit of SunnyD juice, but he can't since his medical problems. I've been ignoring the movie ticket offer, but since we used the free tickets last week, things are changing.

I looked at the forms this morning...limit four tickets per household...but they the "movie money certificate" i.e., ticket, is "valid seven days a week, for all show times, to see any film, even when a 'no coupon/no pass' feature is shown".

That's new to me. I've never seen an UNRESTRICTED ticket from an offer.

Read it to DH, and noted that others were purchasing the juice and dumping it to get the tickets ($2 of juice per ticket or less if on sale). We could do that, or even give the juice to the youth group...and DH said, it's going to be time to make muffins again, can't you use juice in that?

I do, indeed, use juice, melted ice cream, yogurt, cereal, whatever needs to be used up in our 50 dozen baking batches. But DH has NEVER made a suggestion of something to use up in muffins! A new age dawns.

So, just maybe, I will head out to the stores this week. I can't imagine where I am going to store ANYTHING else. Especially muffins...50 dozen takes half of the freezer.

Then again, to see a movie

Lots of interesting posts and blogs on the subject, so I checked into a few things:

1. I have never been charged past the cancellation point (trial membership).

2. I have recently successfully signed up for offers using a $5 prepaid AmEx card, the one given free for OPEN WOB surveys. No problem going through, getting the email or g/cs. Even though I've done the offer previously.

3. The company responsible for sending out the gift cards, assigning memberships, cancelation, etc., has previously been under invesigation for false charges. Most of what I've found indicate this was in 2004, related to Trilegiant overseeing the identity theft protection for Wells Fargo. Some forums claim the problem was cleared up, and Trilegiant is on their "best behavior"; other forums chat of some problems. In any case, if you have had problems, the information for the class action case is it

http://www.girardgibbs.com/trilegiant.html


Girard Gibbs LLP is investigating consumer claims that Trilegiant charged for services that they allege they did not order or request.
Consumers report that these unordered services include Auto Vantage, Buyers Advantage, CompleteHome, Clever Clubhouse, Digital ProtectionPlus, Great Fun, Great Options, HealthSaver, Hot-Line, IdentitySecure, Just for Me, National Card Registry, Netmarket.com, Pet Privileges, PrivacyGuard, Shoppers Advantage, Small Business Central, Travelers Advantage, and others.

If you've experienced these or similar problems, please let us know by completing the form below.


I have NO information about this law firm, or the class action suit, or have experienced anything but success in my trial memberships.

Proctor and Gamble manufacturers, well, a bit of everything, and probably something in everyone's household. Secret Deodorant, Pantene, Dawn, Clairol, Tide...and recently Gillette...etc.

I recently took two surveys, proportedly by P&G, signing up to receive promotions for products from two of their web sites.

Seemed simple enough...name, address, email, age...information required so that they can direct the "appropriate" offers to you. But I wonder, both asked for a rating on whether or not, and how strongly I felt, that married women should COMPLETELY OBEY their husbands.

An interesting question, and one that is frequently debated. Myself, well, being raised in a Mennonite community provides strong feelings, as does regularly counseling and supporting battered and abused women and children. I am intimately familiar with the many facets involved in this question.

But what does this have to do with P&G directing coupons or offers my way?

I was pondering this with a friend, who noted their new VocalPoint program. To quote from their site:

Vocalpoint is a unique marketing brand powered by the Procter & Gamble Company that helps companies do a better job developing products and services that moms care about and want to talk about.

We work with this influential group of moms to help companies in industries that include entertainment, fashion, music, food and beauty. We collect feedback and generate valuable knowledge and insight for our clients through surveys, product sampling and previews of products and services.

Procter & Gamble have offered a variety of freebies to people who enroll in VocalPoint. There is the potential to participate in future programs for new products. Members are promised new products to evaluate, free samples.

What they don't tell you, before you attempt to register, is that they are looking for female moms with chidren living at home between the ages of 5 and 19. Officially. Unofficially, my friend with son, younger than one, was accepted immediately, while another friend, with child age 6, but herself 45, was not.

I checked it out...and confirmed, it accepted a signup for identical information, children, etc., except for the age...seems to be a cutoff around 35 - 40.

So, are offers and coupons not "appropriate" for older Moms? Why are only Moms, not Dad's, included? And, why don't they indicate this before enticing you to provide your personal information?

Granted, they want actual information, not skewed to fit the requirements to get the freebies.

And what are the freebies? No one I know received the free samples, bundle of products or coupons. So far, a dozen flyers to pass out about a new tv show, a dozen recipe cards to pass out advertising a Blender. Product test? No. Coupons? Nope. Free samples? None I've heard of.

P&G indicates this program is to have Moms help with marketing of things Moms like. It appears that it has more to do with P&G marketing what they want to Moms.

I ask again, what does that have to do with receiving special offers? Special offers are, in fact, equivalent to coupons at will: as in "employee at will", there is no LEGAL requirement for ANYONE to receive offers. P&G is within their rights to single out whomever they want. They can provide offers, or they can deny them. At will. In whatever manner they deem reasonable.

Misleading, yes. Reasonable...I have my doubts.

I spent a bit of time last year canceling all the outrageous priced auto-renewals that the magazine publishers had been sneaking by on our credit cards. Saved a fortune, renewed the few DH loves for basically nothing. And, signed up for a few FREE with business news. And Club Mom. And BizRate. And...well, I figured free might include some coupons or offers, and I had no idea that once I signed up for one, they would send them ALL to me, free of course...

...but I realized, skimming through one in the salon yesterday...ALL of the free magazines - Cosmos, Vogue, Harpers Bazaar, Better Homes and Gardens, Redbook - to name only a few that have been piling up - ALL are full of ads and articles informing me of how to SPEND my money.

Not ONE is a finance magazine, or about SAVING money.

Granted, I don't really read these things, skim through them, and I will have to get around to cancelling them because I certainly did NOT ask for most of them. But...hmmm...these free magazines are really just one more way to send me free marketing materials into my home. BUY ME MUST HAVE ME BUY ME MUST HAVE ME...

Yikes!

I'm curious if anyone else has noticed this?

As I explore the possibilities of contacting manufacturers about their products, I am amazed at the graciousness and genorosity of some manufacturers, and the jadeness of others. The large companies are the worst, simply because they receive so many requests.

Purina, however, has always been good to me. Very suppotive, lots of answers to lots of questions. So...I asked them, giving my Corgi's love of CHEWING, how many busy bones he can eat. Dad here is feeding him TWO a day, which I think is a bit much, as the kibble bowl is all but discarded. However, the Corgi still prefers raw asparagus, spinach, carrots, and anything else from around my skirts as I cook. No accounting for taste.

And, the Corgi is almost full grown now. Not a year yet, but, well, he's stopped the pound a week growth spurt.

Purina responded that they are happy that he likes the treats but each one contains OVER 300 CALORIES and ADULT DOGS should not have more than ONE OR TWO a WEEK!!!

Hmmmm...

So, I was equally surprised when I posed a similar question to Nylabone, makers of Healthy Edibles. They have, in fact, designed their products to be digestible, and can be used to supplement kibble for the little chewing monster. They sent me the nutrition info, breakdown info, calorie info, information to check with my vet...and are sending a full supply of samples to help us out through the chewing monster's chewing.

I read the info. They ARE healthy, actually a bit better than the dog chow...hmmm...

Jeffrey got my husband's article up before he (Jeffrey) left for the US...

Grocery stockpiling, and savings, from my husbands perspective!

My DH's Guide to Stockpiling


Before you view the pictures...they were taken BEFORE yesterday's shopping and AFTER I have seriously been trying to use the stockpile up. And I do have other stashes that aren't getting photographed...like under the bathroom sink!

Still not able to knock that grocery budget down? It’s time to stop looking at the spending, and start evaluating the budget.

Most Americans spend at least $40-50 per person each week on food. Sound high? Break down the numbers. At $6 a day… $1 for breakfast, $1 for lunch, $1 for a snack, and $3 for dinner? How much does each meal actually cost? Don’t forget juice, soda, milk, coffee, tea, creamer, sweeteners. Protein powders, diet shakes, candy, gum, mints, ice cream. What does each person in your family put in their mouths each day, and how much does it cost?

Now, add in the cost of coffee and fast food on the way to work or running errands; lunch out with coworkers; soda and snacks from the vending machine; an occasional drink after work, or a few bottles of wine; maybe fast food or even a restaurant family meal.

Yikes.

Now add in to your grocery cart the additional items: OTC products like aspirin, cold or allergy treatments, Visine, band-aids, vitamins…and on to beauty and person care items like toothpastes, tooth brushes, shampoos, razors, tampons (and accessories  )…and don’t forget the cleaning items for dusting, vacuuming, mopping, polishing, wiping and sanitizing. Throw in the odd laundry basket and dish towel, and you’ve got…

A grocery budget.

Despite what most budget planners would like to believe, the grocery budget requirements are fairly fixed. While there may be some items you can eliminate, there are quite a few that you can’t. To set a realistic budget, you need to look at these costs straight on. Work out the numbers. Do not assume sales, coupons, or any other cost cutting measures. You can learn to decrease costs, but to set a realistic budget, you have to be realistic for the present, current, actual expenses.

The list of expenses can probably be cut. Again, be realistic. It’s easy to say you will start taking your lunch, cut out all snacks, skip the vending machine. It’s quite another thing to do it, and continue doing it over months and years. The GOAL is not to get the budget as low as possible; the goal is to create a budget that you can stay within, and then apportion it into your overall budget for living expenses.

Once you have a budget, the goal is to maintain the boundaries. This is not DECREASING the boundaries. The problem with grocery budgets is generally not that the expenses are increasing; it’s that other costs are running over, and you try to decrease the grocery expenses to accommodate everything else!

If you don’t think so…ask yourself four questions:

1. when was the last time you ate spaghetti for a week so you could afford trendy shoes, a better vacation, a manicure, lunch or dinner out…

2. when was the last time you passed on new shoes so you could eat steak, fresh produce, or a higher quality breakfast cereal?

3. when was the last time you put savings from your grocery budget into the bank?

4. when was the last time you put savings from your grocery budget into a different purchase?

Once you have a realistic grocery budget, and have carved it’s place into your overall budget, then you can begin to work on decreasing costs using sales, coupons, rebates, and stockpiling to save money, and even reducing the budget requirements. Until then, you are setting yourself up for failure.

If you have ever done the "free shipping with $XXX purchase", you've probably searched for something extra to reach the dollar requirement, and in the end gone way over and spent much more than you wanted on something you really didn't want or need.

Here is a neat site to help you find items to squeeze you above that $$$ requirement.

http://filleritem.com/

with thanks to DAGG.

We've all seen the free Nexxus samples from Walmart.

There is a separate kit, two trial size bottles, available from the Nexxus site. Even if you have received the WalMart samples, you are probably eligible to receive The Sampling Kit from Nexxus!

the link to the samples, from the Nexxus home site, is at

NEXXUS SAMPLES

Nexxus also offers a money back guarantee...

GUARANTEE

You can also join the Nexxus Team for additional promotions. You should know the routine by now

Have you ever contacted a company, only to find that they claimed they didn't sell the product you were complaining about?

In all the merging and licensing, brands have gotten a bit confused!

For example, www.pillsbury.com is part of the Betty Crocker family, and includes offers for Pillsbury refrigerated and frozen products. Call to ask about their flour or baked goods, they will tell you it's not their product. No further advice given...Pillsbury Baking is a major competitor!

www.pillsburybaking.com is owned by J.M. Smuckers! They have their own site, their own newsletter, and their own offers.

Similarly, while Plaxtex continues to manufacturer personal and baby products, Plaxtex BRAS, including that 18 hour bra, is owned by...Sara Lee! As is WonderBra. (If the pound cake doesn't put the pounds on, the bra will?)

This creates a challenge in contacting manufacturers for compliments, complaints, requesting assistance, or even getting signed up for the right newsletter and offers!

To help out, we've compiled a list of major manufacturers, along with their brands, newsletters, and the contact pages for the main manufacturer as well as the individual brands. While Jeffrey is still compiling information into the site, the basics are up, and more are getting added regularly!

Find a Brand or Contact

I hope this helps

Of course, a full page of all current offers too!

http://olay.com/newsandsamples/samples.htm

Who knew?

I was working on the list of company contacts, and sorting through the links and newsletters for Dove freebies and coupons and there it was...

a page of ALL their free offers

Dove Freebies

I believe there are 7 freebies right now, four shampoos, night cream, deodorants...

so why have I been working so hard to find and post these things?

Just proves, when you do things for others, they turn around for you too!

No, I'm not talking about decoupage or collages out of coupons...although those would be quite interesting...

...but with a bit of creativity, you can decorate your home from almost any grocers, for little to no money.

Almost every store, from your local convenience market, to the super market, to the super stores, have a range of office and home supplies. They are typically more expensive than at other stores, and a smaller selection, because they are available as a convenience. It's easier to pay $10 for a stapler while you pick up milk than to drive across down to the office supply discount store.

Enter the coupon. Catalina coupons, $5 -10 off on your next purchase at the store. Promotions, $10 off of a $20 purchase. Gift cards, $25 when you transfer a prescription. Wine tags frequently offer $5 off stationery supplies. And the seasonal back to school specials and promotions.

Instincts may tell you that you can't let that free money go to waste...and encouage you to SPEND $50 on something to use up that $5 coupon. This may be appropriate for you. But, if you are looking to decorate your walls, consider a few alternatives:


A coupon for a free 8 x 10 photo enlargement, with a frame on sale, and a $2 coupon..provide a free accent to any setting.





A photo taken from a $1 sale book; the store was also running a co-promotion with a craft store, $5 off any purchase, so the frame was...$2.




Calendars, 12 coordinated perfect photos, on clearance for $1. Mounted in frames from the store, $1 each.




Last, but a personal favorite...wallpaper border taken from a sample book. Sample books are given away free as new books come, and are loaded with beautiful pictures and coordinated sets. They can be easily mounted in that $1 frame, for a charming kitchen setting.




The mats in each of these pictures were less than 50 cents EACH; craft stores generally book the entire mat cost into custom frames, and sell the center cut as remnant for 10 cents or so, depending on the quality of the material. If you are willing to cut your own mats, this is a great savings!

I did catch the coupon before Max ate it...and the invitation extends to all:

www.naturalblends.com/friend

for your free 6.5 lb dog food AND 3.3 lb cat foot from Purina Natural Blends.

You can sign up for both...and if you don't use both, a couponing friend probably does.

New seasons, new sales, new products! Stop and think about those sales...

Coke is buy 2 get 3 free! Why? Coke and Pepsi alternate promotions...Pepsi had the holiday packs, Coke had the Olympic game packs. Huge sales after each promotion to get the "expired offers" off the shelves. So...time for another Coke promotion, and of course, sales coming up for the holiday weekends and summer events.

A few things to be thinking about...the Smart Source "Summer Blastoff" themed coupons will be out May 21st. Coupons aren't issued on the following Memorial Day weekend. So...start planning and looking for sales on hot dogs, hamburgers, condiments...

New squeezable mayo packaging, the old product has to go to make room for the new; and now the new product coupons are hitting the shelves. Heinz has coupons out for ketchup; it's getting to be the season for hot dogs and hamburgers; the old packages go, and sales on the new...

June 4 coupons are themed around the Children's Miracle Network. June 25 around Easter Seals. Father's day is in between, with July 4th BBQs just around the corner...what sales and coupons will YOU be on the look out for?

If it seems like Back to School sales started early last year, look for clearances early again this year. The "Back to School" coupon inserts come out July 30 and again August 13...so they will probably be cleaning out old "out of style" school products, and introducing new ones. Foods, too, lunch box favorites. Breakfast foods for the morning rush...

Watch for the signs, and you might be able to plan ahead for some great deals!

Have you noticed that it's Unilever month? Coupon inserts this weekend, and every store seems to be offering different incentives. Purchase $$$ of these products and get $X back; purchase 5 and get X; rebates; one-check store rebates.

Watch the offers, and make sure you use the right ones for you! Buying 10 items to get a refund may not be great if you don't use the items, while a smaller refund on the 5 items you do use may be a better buy in the long run. Match up the sales, coupons, and rebates to get the deal that's right for you!

Keeping landscaping up can be expensive. A few tips...

1. Use those rewards/points/MyPoints and survey rewards to get Home Depot, Lowe's, etc. cards. In the last few months I've had $150 in g/c earned that went to Home Depot. Tools, fertilizer, peet...

2. If you have hard water and use a softener system, like we do...turn it off when you water! The plants need to keep their "native" environment, and we save $$ by conserving the salt and other softener resouces. They are expensive!

3. If you evergreens need an immediate boost, rhodadedron/azalea fertilizer, like Miracle Gro for azaleas, will revive them quickly to a lush green.

4. Water and time can be expensive. If it's going to rain, SPRINKLE the immediate dry fertilizer (Miracle Gro, Schultz, bloom booster...) over the areas before the rain comes in, and allow the rain to dissolve it and feed. A great way to get the ground cover to fill in quickly after winter.

Whoops...didn't quite mean to open up an entire subject here. Generic are not usually brand names. I'll do an article about it...

Lysol is currently running 4 rebate programs. BOGO cleaner, B2 toilet cleaner get 1 any product, B2 wipes, get 1 any product, B2 sprays, get 1 any product.

I don't use that much Lysol! But there are a few things I use, and I'm taking advantage of these!

For example, Buy One Get One...mildew remover went on sale for $1.59 with the club card (rings up at $3, discount is applied at the end). I can use it for cleaning the deck and the basement stairs. I had 2 $1 coupons...Bought 2 for 59 cents each. Sent in the rebate, which they reimbursed for the full $3 (Lysol policy). FREE.

DH prefers the Lysol toilet bowl cleaner (hey, if he is willing...!). Bought two on sale, again with $1 coupons on each, and for my third FREE item (after rebate), I picked up the largest package of Lysol wipes they had. The wipes were slightly more than the rebate maximum, but the rebate came for the maximum amount, so I pay 19 cents for a $5 package of wipes.

For the B2G1 wipes, I purchased the two smallest packages, which were free after coupons and sale prices, and purchased the largest package of wipes available on sale and with a coupon. Again, slightly more than the rebate price, but after the rebate, I paid 19 cents for the largest.

Note, I did NOT pay for the largest items. I used them to meet the requirements of buy ANY xxx. For the FREE ITEM rebate, I bought the largest I could, used a coupon, and even though it was above the rebate price, did VERY well.

Be creative in using rebates and special offers. Think outside of box. Is it better to get a small item for free, or a very large item for almost free? Wait for the sale, the coupon, and use the rebate on the best deal you can find.

Oh...why so many wipes? Well, one, I volunteer at a medical facility. Two, well, the Corgi licks EVERYTHING. EVERYTHING!

So, that's my tip of the day

Every sale, coupon, or other promotion has a reason. Often it’s seasonal. For example, smart shoppers don’t buy fresh fruit and produce out of season. The price of a cup of fresh blueberries or a pound of asparagus is generally 3 – 5 times costlier out of season! Instead, they find fresh produce on sale and freeze, can, or otherwise preserve a “stockpile” of it for the off months.

Holiday stockpiling is also common. Turkey or ham are typically loss leaders for holiday shoppers, and those after Christmas clothing sales give great savings for later gifts.

Other seasonal savings may be less obvious. Manufacturers purchase shelf space in your local store. The addition of a new product means they need to compete to buy more of the available shelf space, or more typically sell out old items to make room for their new ones. So…ice cream is goes on sale at the end of winter to make space for new flavors and products. Soup goes on sale at the end of summer, when again, the shelves need to be cleared for the fresh harvest and new products.

Take the time to think through these cycles, and you can take advantage of some great opportunities.

Sound complicated? Here’s a current example:

Breyer’s, a popular U.S. ice cream manufacturer, will be introducing new flavors and products this summer. In January/February, they introduced “in store” coupons (blinkies) of $1 on any one item. The retail price of $6 meant a “fair” savings. However, stores that didn’t carry this coupon had sales, continuing down over a few weeks…2/$9…then 2/$7. The manufacturer’s coupon from the first store could be taken and used at the store having the sale price. A better savings.

Once the coupon stock had been depleted, sale prices decreased even more. Buy One Get One Free (BOGO). Shopper who had held on to the coupons waiting for a better deal found it. But then…prices dropped to $1.50. Great with the coupon!

After the coupons expired, the price dropped further. $10/10. Very good. The stores supplies were quickly exhausted.

Why the huge discount? Breyer’s is redoing their packaging. Consumers don’t buy old ice cream in old packaging when new ice cream in new packaging is clearly visible. New flavors and novelties also need shelf space. So those shelves have to be cleaned out of old product!

What to do now? The savvy shopper was not out of luck!

Once the product was out of stock, the sale price could be captured on a rain check! Why? Rain checks are basically a coupon for the sale price, and don’t usually expire for one year. That 10/$10 pricing on a rain check will still be in effect when the new packages come out, along with new coupons introducing the new line!

The price of the new product will return to $6, or slightly higher! While everyone else is spending a fortune for the newest flavors, with the rain check you will only spend $1 each minus whatever coupons you have!


How can you find these savings? Ask yourself WHY certain items are on sale. Pay attention to trends. When the Reveal light bulbs came out, GE’s energy saver bulbs dropped from $9 each to $1. GE reintroduced the energy savers with a package indicating they will save $47 a year on electricity.

As organic, natural, omega-3, no trans fat, all come to be “must haves” in product labeling, the old packages will be cleared as quickly as possible. Watch for the changes, and you can capture significant savings.

People frequently mention stacking deals, and I've recently received some questions about it...so, here is an explanation/example.

Stacking a deal simply means applying as many discount, rebates, or other incentives as possible to get the best deal.

A current example.

Drugstore.com is having a clearance sale (up to 60% off), a beauty sale (up to 40% off), and other offers.

It's GNC week, so 20% off of all GNC orders if you have a gold card (which are also on sale).

DH's favorite GNC protein drink/meal, is regularly $40. It's on sale for $27 (savings of 30%). Add on the Gold Card discount, and it's down to $22 (44% savings). There is free standard shipping on orders of $29 (new customers or New Gold Card), or $89 (existing customers).

Free gift with purchase ($8 value).
Free protein drink with purchase ($4)

Go through eBates, get 5% cash back on purchase.

sign in to drugstore.com account, give 5% back on future purchase.

Use a credit card that give 5% cash back on drugstore purchases.

So, what was $160 + S&H ($175) is now
$73 plus two free gifts (or $61).

It's the big weekend, 3 inserts in Sunday's paper!

Did you know that a schedule of Sunday inserts by publisher is posted on the coupon guide website?

Coupon Insert Schedule

To find which papers in your area carry the Proctor and Gamble PGBrandSaver, go to

PG Inserts

and enter your zipcode or state.