Couponing Favors the Rich?

I saw this headline and I first thought that this was going to be an article about how often you'll find the best printable coupons under zip codes of the Rich & Famous... that wasn't the case.  This was actually a letter from someone who was upset because a coupon writer's advice seemed to favor using the internet to get deals and coupons.

I thought this was interesting that someone would think this and unfortunately I think it's another case of blaming the wrong person.  Anyone can get great deals, some of us will have to work harder at it than others.  There are definitely some advantages to having the internet when it comes to getting some of the best deals but they all boil down to 1...

It's easier to get multiple coupons when you can buy them off coupon clipping services or print them.  It's easier and cheaper to really stockpile when you can use multiple coupons.  However, if "Extreme Couponing" taught us anything it's that you don't need a computer to save major money.  One of the most featured couponers from that show was Joyce, who got multiple copies of the coupons she needs just by asking her friends, relatives and neighbors for their unused coupon inserts.

The great thing about the internet is that you can get help from others on finding deals and don't have to rely on yourself to do the matchups. However, I kinda think that doing it all yourself may save you some money too as you won't be looking at these deals thinking "oh I got to have that", you'll only be looking for the things you already buy and saving money on them.

Publix Competitor Coupon Policy About to Get Clearer

Laurie over at Passionate Penny Pincher just shared that Publix stores have finally gotten together and come up with a company-wide competitor coupon policy.  For more details on what she found out, check out her post!

Silk Soy Milk - $1 1/2Gallon After Coupons @ Publix

Starting on Wednesday, Silk Soy Milk will be $1 for 1/2 Gallon at Publix after coupons.

Sale Price: $2.50
-use $.75 Printable Q
-use .75 Publix Q (from Yellow Advantage Buy Flyer - usually located at the front of the store)
= $1 per 1/2 Gallon

- You may also have the .75/1 Qs from the paper a few weeks ago OR
you may be able to print off a $1/1 Q from the Silk website, which would make the price only .75 per Half Gallon.

New Coupons on SmartSource.com

There are some new coupons over on SmartSource.com that you may want to take a look at. The ones that I found worth my time were...

• .50/1 Halls
• $1/1 Smart Balance milk

Great Coupons on Coupon Network

The Catalina Company (the coupon company not the salad dressing) has a website for coupons that you may want to check out. Not only do they list the possible Catalinas you may get at your local grocery store (if they use the Catalina system) but they also have many printable coupons available, including these coupons that I just printed....

• $1/2 Lean Cuisine entrees
• $1/3 Idahoan potato pouches
• $1/6 Yo Crunch
• $1/2 Starbucks Via
• .50/1 Starkist Tuna pouch

(that last one should come close to equalling free tuna if you use it at a store that doubles coupons).

Amazon Prime Membership Now Includes Unlimited Streaming of Over 5000 Movies & TV Shows

 I just read that Amazon Prime members now also get unlimited streaming for over 5000 movies and tv shows. It's by no means their entire catalog but it's an extra bonus for those of us who have Amazon Prime.

Amazon Prime is Amazon.com 's "prime" membership that provides you with FREE 2-day shipping on all items shipped by Amazon (not including those shipped from third parties). Prime memberships cost $79.99 a year, but you can share them with up to 4 people (so you may want to get some family members involved).

I signed up for a FREE trial of Amazon Prime last fall and forgot about it. We ended up getting billed for it but I haven't regretted it as it's come in very handy,  especially for my husband who decided to wait until the last minute to order Christmas presents. 

The list of movies that is available for FREE streaming appears to be along the lines of those available on Netflix (give or take a few hundred).  If you don't already have an Amazon PRIME membership, you can get a 1 Month FREE Trial and see what you think. 

You may want to take some time and compare it to Netflix offering.  You can get unlimited streaming on Netflix for just $7.99/month (with a 1 month free trial) or pay just $1 more a month and it includes their 1-at-a-time DVD plan, so you can always have a DVD on hand as well as watch streaming.

Since we already use our Amazon PRIME membership to save on Shipping we will be keeping it and will enjoy having the added benefit of an additional choice in streaming movies.  As I posted a week or so ago, we canceled our cable movie channels in favor of Netflix a while back and have found we didn't miss the movie channels at all and really enjoy the ability to watch the movies we want to see when we want to see them.

thanks Frugal Coupon Living

This Week's Coupons

This week there is only 1 insert in the paper; Redplum.

Redplum

• $2 Off any Dial Nutriskin Lotion
• $3/1 bottle Purex Complete with Zout detergent or Purex 3-n-1 Laundry sheets
• $1/1 bottle Purex Ultra Concentrate liquid laundry detergent
• BOGO Whiskas tray
• $1.50/1 bag Whiskas Dry Food For Cats
• $2 off L'Oreal Magic Perfecting Base
• $1 off L'Oreal Studio Line Styling product
• $1 off L'Oreal Vive Pro Shampoo or Conditioner
• .75/1 L'Oreal Kids Shampoo
• $3 off L'Oreal youth Code product
• $1 off L'Oreal skincare product
• $2 off L'Oreal haircolor product
• $5/2 L'Oreal haircolor product
• $1/1 Emerald Breakfast on the Go
• $1/1 Sprayway World's Best Glass Cleaner
• $1/1 Sundown vitamin or supplement product
• .75/1 Bertoli Pasta sauce
• $1/2 Uncle Ben's ready rice
• $2/1 Kibbles n' Bits dry dog food
• $1/1 Airwick Scented Oil twin refill
• Get Air Warmer unit FREE wyb Airwick scented oil refill
• $3/1 AirWick Freshmatic Compact Odor Detect Starter Kit
• $1/1 Airwick candle
• $1/2 packages Purina Beggin' Strips
• $1/1 California Pizza Kitchen product
• McDonald's FREE Fruit & Maple Oatmeal (no purchase required)
• McDonald's FREE Fruit & Maple Oatmeal (wyb Medium beverage)
• McDonald's FREE Medium drink & fries wyb Angus Third Pounder
• McDonald's BOGO Filet O' Fish
• McDonald's BOGO Regular Menu Sandwich
• McDonald's BOGO Breakfast Sandwich

Be sure to check the Sunday Coupon Preview for advance notice of what will be in next week's coupon inserts.

Kroger $3 Daytona Mega Coupon Redemption Limit

We had a really bad experience at Kroger today and I won't go into all the details, but I did want to pass on what it boils down to.

While you can earn multiple $3 Catalina coupons in one transaction from the Daytona Mega sale, you can only redeem one of those coupons per transaction.  So if you have say 5 coupons, you'll need to do 5 separate transactions in order to redeem them.  Unless you plan for this from the beginning this could become a very big issue and you may find yourself unable to redeem them at all.

The Catalinas are only good for 2 weeks from the original purchase where they were created.

Some stores are over-riding this and allowing you to use multiple Catalinas in one transaction, however others are only allowing the one.

My suggestion is to plan for this from the beginning (if it's not too late) and do one single transaction of 10 Mega items at a time, earn the Catalina then do a second transaction to use it (and possibly earn a second one) and continue rolling them in this manner until you are done.

I'm now stuck with (9) $3 Catalinas and little likelihood of actually being able to use them all before they expire.

Mega Swagbucks Friday

It's Friday again! And you know what that means!  Mega Swagbucks Day!  Last week one of my friends earned 50 Swagbucks from just doing a search!  That's pretty freakin cool, if you ask me.

So what's the deal with Swagbucks?
Basically, they give you points for doing things online that you'd be doing anyway, like searching the internet.  Just use their search engine and you could win points.  They also give you points for other things like surveys or even for buying deals on Groupon or Living Social.  You can even get points for printing and using coupons! How bout that?

Then you can trade in those points for stuff.  Anything from games to electronics or even gift cards.  I always opt for the Amazon.com gift cards as they seem like the best deal to me.  You can get a $5 Amazon card for just 450 Swagbucks (and I usually can earn that just from doing searches in about 3 weeks).

When you join they will start you off with 30 Swagbucks just for joining.  Then just use their search engine when you do searches and you'll be well on your way to snagging some cool stuff.

So far this year I've earned $45 in Amazon gift cards.  I'm planning to pay for Christmas with Swagbucks.  If you start now, you could too!  Click here to get started.

Yogi Tea

Recently, I received a sample of Yogi Tea.  I believe when you ordered the sample you had a choice of different teas to choose from.  I got the Kambuchi and Echinacia and loved them both before I even took the first sip.  They smelled wonderful and then I tasted them and they tasted as good as they smelled.  Better yet, I had a headache when I drank the Kambuchi and it actually eased the ache in my head.  I think it had a lot to do with all the mint in the tea.

The sample came with a $1 off coupon and the only place I'd been able to find it locally was at Target, for $4/box (of 16).  I was really hoping to find it at Publix and then hoping to catch it on BOGO but no luck, my Publix doesn't carry it.

Just now I checked on Amazon and found that they have a really great price.  You can get 6 boxes (of 16 bags each) for just $15.82, then if you select "Subscribe & Save" you'll save an additional 15%, knocking the price down to just $13.45!  Plus if you have a Prime account it qualifies for FREE shipping! 

Prices varied just a little on the different flavors but they were all pretty close.   If you haven't tried Yogi Teas yet you can still get the free sample via their website.  Just fill in the details to send a custom "well wish" card to a friend (you can always be your own friend) and they will send your "friend" instructions on how to get their free sample.  Click here for the Free sample.