Rebates...Friend or Foe???

Let's just say there are many different opinions out there about REBATES!  My father always told me that rebates were a rip off, that the company got your money earned interest on it and then if you followed all their crazy rules they may or may not send you some money back. For a long time I followed that advice to the T. But after seeing some of my couponing friends do rebates, I thought that if I am careful about what rebates I am going to do and read all the requirements carefully I may be able to successfully rebate!!  I do not participate in every rebate I see or hear about.  Many of the rebates I use are at the grocery store or drug store.  

Recently I participated in one I wanted to share with you.  One of the coupons I had cut out was for Perdue short cuts....75 off of one which would double at Safeway or Giant.  It also included a "try me free rebate".  The rebate rules were to buy a Perdue short cuts, fill out the information required, and include the UPC from the box and original receipt by the dates given.  The information asked things like how much was the product and for your address.  They send the rebate check for the amount of the short cuts minus the .75 off coupon.

I was not sure that I would participate in this rebate until I found an awesome deal I could not resist.  Perdue short cuts are not inexpensive...but they are tasty and convenient.  Safeway was having a BOGO sale on their Perdue products including Perdue short cuts!!  I thought wow with the doubling of my coupon, the BOGO sale and the "try me free" rebate, I would have to try it!  I bought two packages of the short cuts for  $5.99 or $3 a pack.  At the register, I got $1.50 off for my coupon.  Now I was paying $4.49 for two packages or $2.25 a package.  After we used our first box of short cuts, did I mention their convenience, I cut out the UPC and sent it in with my receipt and rebate form.  On the form it only subtracts .75 from the total price of 1 package.  I was going to get $5.24 back!  Basically by being patient, I was able to make some money on TWO packages!! 

Just in case you were wondering if rebates really do work....I got my Perdue check in the mail today!

Putting all that together I paid $4.49 for two packages and received a rebate of $5.25...a money maker of .76 .

What are your opinions on rebates?  Have you tried them?  

Kat

Bargain Jewelery from Ten Thousand Villages...

I woke up to find a post on MY favorite blog Hip 2 Save about Ten Thousand Villages having FREE shipping- no minimum.  You better believe with my honeymoon coming up and summer around the corner, I jumped on this deal!

You can go the clearance section here and check out all the cool stuff.  There are jewelery pieces starting at $3! Make sure to use the coupon code EASTER at checkout for FREE shipping.  If you are wondering what is Ten Thousand Villages, they offer unique handmade gifts, jewelry, home decor, and personal accessories from all over the world.  They represent the diverse cultures of artisans in Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Middle East.  They are one the world's largest fair trade organizations.

Not only is this a wonderful company but they have unique and beautiful jewelry.  Today I got three necklaces for $16 shipped!

$6.00

$5.00

Here are two of the necklaces I bought.  The third was already sold out when I went to get the picture!  Jump on this deal! 

Kat

Thank you Hip 2 Save for sharing this AWESOME deal

Safeway, Target and Kohls...

Well, I didn't get a picture of all that we bought but I did take one of my receipt.  It's funny that if Tim is with me shopping we always get something extra that I wasn't quite planning on.  He hardly ever goes shopping with because of this reason.  Well and the fact that he doesn't want to be in the store for an hour!  Today it was a necessary evil.  We got all that I had said...we ended up with no grapes but instead got some Breyers Blasts Ice Cream.  I had gotten some two weeks ago because I had some .75 off 1 which doubled on the new blasts for Breyers.  Since it is a new product they had an introductory price of $2.79.   Breyers Ice Cream for $1.49!!  Well Tim loved it and I had two more coupons with me.  He convinced me to get more since he does not get ice cream much but the price was now $4.99 *cringe*.  Even with the $1.50 off it was still $3.49 which is over what I like to pay. I typically wont get ice cream unless it is less than $3.  Oh well it was a special treat.  We did however check the dog food isle because I had  free coupon to try Purina's new Beyond and my Safeway never has it for dogs.  Guess what they did have it here.  Wash will be trying out some new food soon :)

Bottom line

We still ended up saving 67% of our bill and paid $30 for 21 items.  I had to go to the customer service desk because I forgot to give them a coupon.  They are so great about that, no questions asked, just give me back the money.

Target

We stopped at Target because we needed an ink cartridge and I also wanted to check out a pair of sandals on sale.  Since my bridal shower is coming up, I was looking for a cute pair of brown sandals that gave me support.   While Tim was getting the ink, I decided to look in jewelry.  I have been looking for a flower/feather clip for my hair on my wedding day.  Etsy had some amazing, beautiful creations but most were $50-$100.  Not what I had in mind paying.  I was hoping I would find something randomly while shopping before June so I could get something a lot cheaper.  Well!!!!  Today was that day.  Out of the corner of my eye I saw an ivory flower with some feathers on it. It even had a silver jeweled center.  Target price...$7.99.  Much more my speed!  Now I can schedule a hair trial with the actual clip!!!  

Kohls

Tim has been really wanting a sodastream machine.  We had put it on our registry but I wanted to get it for him since I had not gotten him a birthday present.  Well, I was at Kohls on Saturday with a great friend and we saw it there.  She was so generous by sharing her 30% coupon.  Since it was Kohls cash time I figured this would be a great deal. It was on sale for $80. I have never seen it less than $100.  Then I would get 30% off and then $10 in Kohls cash back.  This worked perfectly because the 30% coupon overlapped using the Kohls cash. Tim was so excited about his new toy.  We have already made diet grapefruit soda and he is scheming ways to make crazy carbonated drinks.  Today we went back to Kohls together to get the supplementary two bottle set that was on sale for $14.99 from $17.99.  We also had the coupon and $10 in Kohls cash.  We ended up paying $3.50 for the extra bottles!!  I am sure I will share all the crazy carbonations he comes up with.  Sodastreams are sold at many stores now but I have seen them at Kohls and Bed Bath and Beyond.

I love when shopping goes that smoothly...time to start dinner :)

Kat

Money Maker: CVS

I went to Safeway today to get some July 4th deals since we wont be around this weekend. I ended up doing well there. I actually am more impressed with my CVS run! I had a great experience and got tons of free stuff...well they actually paid me $15 to leave with all the items you see below!

There were a lot of good coupon match ups this week. First I should mention that I had a rain check for the schick hydro 5 since they were out last time I went. I did that as a separate order since I needed two receipts for my rebates today.

Stayfree pads are BOGO at CVS plus in the paper there was a BOGO coupon! FREE

Pretzel M&Ms were BOGO at CVS plus there was a BOGO coupon! FREE

Buy $10 of cleaning products get $5 in ECBs. The cleaning products were 2/$5

I bought Windex and Pledge Pet Hair remover which I had a $1 off for each....$3

I also got 2 scrubbing bubbles toilet bowl cleaner packs....I had a free coupon $2.50

Colgate was on sale 1.99 and I had $1 off coupon... .99

When I scanned my CVS card at the little reader it printed out a $2off Pantene coupon...what do you know 50% off Pantene products were there and I ended up getting the pantene free with my coupon!

That was my first purchase and after my coupons and old ECBs I paid $2.48 and got a $5 ECB

Then I bought the razor with my raincheck and my new ECBs and paid .44 and got a $4 ECB back!!

Finally I needed two receipts because I am sending in for a $5 SC Johnson Rebate and a rebate for the razor for free!!!

TOTAL: OOP $2.92 plus $4 ECB and $13.97 in rebates

MONEY MAKER of $15.05

CVS money maker and Giant

I wanted to tell you about the two deals I got today!!

First, I went to CVS. I had $2 in ECBs from last time I went and I was there to get the Gillette Body Wash which was $4. If you bought it for $4 you got $4 in ECBs. I had a BOGO free coupon for the body wash. I bought 2 body washes for a total for $8 but paid $2.48 with tax (- $4 coupon and $2 ECB)! I also got $8 ECBs back! Basically, it was like making $5.52.

Plus I wanted to get the new Schick razor that has an amazing rebate and ECBs but they were out. The cashier gave me a raincheck so I can get it next week when they are back in stock! SCORE.

Check out the MONEY MAKER receipts below.

Then I headed over to Giant because I had all those new Kraft First Taste Coupons I got for the free items. I also had good ice cream coupons and there was a $4 CAT offer. I picked up a couple of other items as well. My total was $43.60 before and it dropped to...$8.92 with tax! Plus if you look at the second picture below, you can see I got a CAT for $4 ONYO! It's like paying $4.92 for all 17 items. See what I got listed below....

Kraft 100 cal cheese packs

Drumstick ice cream 4 pack

2 Hag Dz pints of ice cream

4 Skinny Cow ice cream cups

2 Chicken of the sea tuna cans

Kraft Crackerfuls

DeerPark 2.5 gallons of water

Kool Aid Fun Fizz mixer

Kraft Deluxe Homestyle Mac

Oscar Myer Turkey (1# pkg)

El Paso Beans

El Paso Taco seasoning

-Kat

Score at the store...

Well I didnt take pictures inside the Amish store. I didnt know how that would go over but here are two from before we went in!

Amish store front!

Getting ready to go score some deals!

It was a great day for the Amish store! We all got a lot of great deals! I will admit some prices have gone up in the last year and you CAN get better deals on somethings with coupons at your regular grocery store. That said..if you don't use coupons or if you have a store near you...find an Amish store..worth the trip!

Some of the deals we scored...

3/$1.00 Snapple Summer Peach drink (we got a case) perfect to go drink for work or running out somewhere

.25 grill marinades/dips (we use these all the time for crock pot meals and meat rubs)

.99 Classico extra garlic bruschetta!

$4.99 for 4 half gallons of Tropicanna OJ (perfect for my MESA party on Tuesday)

$1.99 Edwards Strawberry Cream Pie (full size)

.99 California Pizzas

$1.00 grab packs (10 bars/pouches each) of granola/fruit snacks/100 cal packs

4/$1.00 frozen deep dish pie crusts

There were many more things...just can't remember any more at the moment!

There are a lot of things that are good but like I said be ware of expiration dates and prices. Most of the cereal there is expensive for me or at my max price but I can get NEW for that price or less so I don't buy it.