The first thing I want to address is that right now you can get laundry detergent for $0.99 at RiteAid! The 40oz bottle of OxiClean is on sale for $3.99, and there is a $3.00 off coupon this month from coupons.com (you can only print 1 coupon per device). This is one of two times every year that laundry detergent gets this cheap, so STOCK UP! I bought 4 bottles, but I would have bought more if I had more devices hooked to my printer.
Also, last Sunday (the 3rd) there was an Old Spice/Secret coupon for $1.00 off on deodorant in the coupon inserts for the paper. I do one of the "coupon" deals with the Idaho Press Tribune, where I get 4 copies of the Sunday paper (costs me $6.00/month), so I have 4 of those coupons (there are other deals where you can get 5 or even 8 copies of the Sunday paper). It just so happens that this week at Ridley's there is a sale on Old Spice and/or Secret deodorant. If you buy 4, they cost $1.24 each - lucky I have 4 coupons, right? So when I use all 4 of my coupons from the paper in combination with this sale, I will pay $0.96 for 4 packages of deodorant. That's better than you'll see it anywhere else! And now I won't have to worry about buying deodorant for a while (If Ridley's happens to be too far for you to drive for deodorant, just print their ad and take it to Walmart and price match). Doing this, I just saved $4.00 - the cost for my coupon deal with the paper has already almost paid itself. It usually pays itself 5 or 6 times over by the end of every month.
Aren't coupons amazing? Seriously, this meme just about sums up my feelings for coupons:
It's so true; coupons are MONEY! You can literally print vouchers saying that someone else will pay your bill, and stores accept them! Isn't that AWESOME?! I think so :)
I especially love coupons that I can print over and over and over again. There aren't many places that offer those. Challenge lets you print up to 4 coupons every month, which is nice because I can always count on having a valid butter or cream cheese coupon. But I recently discovered a company that lets you print as many of their coupons as you choose, which often results in getting FREE products.
Driscoll's
What is Driscoll's you ask? It's a fresh berry production company. FRESH BERRIES! I'm telling you that you can get coupons for fresh produce, which can result in you getting FREE BERRIES, how's that for crazy?!Driscoll's produces strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, organic berries - pretty much anything you could want. This is what the TOP of a Driscoll's package looks like:
But more importantly, this is what the BOTTOM looks like:
See that sticker? THAT is the key to getting unlimited coupons that can often get you FREE berries.
Underneath the bar code on that sticker is a unique 16 digit code, that allows you to do a feedback survey about that package of berries. When you sign up to be part of the Driscoll's survey panel, you will receive emails and have access to these feedback surveys. Once you complete the survey, they send you a link that allows you to print a coupon as a thank you for doing the survey. Each link allows you to print a maximum of 2 individual coupons. You will be rewarded with a $0.50 coupon for the first 4 surveys you complete. the next 12 surveys will reward you with a $0.75 coupon, and every survey beyond that for the rest of the year (it resets in January) will reward you with a link to print a $1.00 coupon.
Here is how it is unlimited: You buy one package, and after doing the survey, you receive 2 coupons. Those coupons allow you to buy 2 more packages, and now you have 2 more survey's to complete. That's 4 more coupons. Use those to buy 4 packages, and you'll get 8 coupons. It's an endless game of exponential coupons! And here is the best part: You can often find packages of driscoll's berries for close to, if not under $1.00. That means you're getting healthy food for your family, for FREE.
These coupons work for any package of drsicoll's berries. So, for example, a few times every season, Fred Meyer's has raspberries on sale for $0.99/ 6oz package. Guess which brand is ALWAYS the one on sale? DRISCOLL'S! This year to date, I've purchased over 8 lbs of Driscoll's raspberries from Fred Meyer, and paid a total $2.25 (from when I only had $0.75 coupons instead of $1.00 coupons). What does one do with 8 lbs of raspberries you ask? Well besides share them with family, I stock up my freezer. At my house, we LOVE fruit smoothies, so any excess fruit we have (including melons and oranges) gets frozen for later.
So let's look at another example: right now the non-sale price of strawberries at my local Walmart is $1.48/lb. That in and of itself is a really great deal, but guess which brand of strawberries they had stocked this last Monday? Driscoll's! I used my $1.00/off coupons and bought 9lbs for only $5.12. Seriously, here's my receipt to prove it:
Although I didn't purchase any, Walmart also had the Driscoll's brand of blueberries for $2.69 for 12oz. If you use the $1.00 coupon, that makes them only $2.25/lb! I didn't buy any because we already have a lot of blueberries in our freezer, and my budget can only handle so much stockpiling. But if they still have the Driscoll brand in a couple of weeks, you can bet I'll be restocking up on blueberries, too!
There are a few things you should know about these Driscoll survey coupons:
Firstly, the coupon expires 30 days after it's been printed.
Secondly, the link to print the coupon expires 60 days after it's been sent.
That means that once you do the survey, you have 90 days to cash in on the coupon.
But the nice thing is that you don't HAVE to do the survey as soon as you buy the package of berries. You can save the packages and do the survey when you see a Driscoll's product on sale somewhere and then you'll never have to worry about the coupons expiring.
I know some people who save the entire package, but I feel like that takes up a lot of clutter and space. I like to simply cut the survey sticker off the bottom of the package once it's empty, and then I keep the stickers all in one place until I need them. Here is my current stash:
The third thing you should know is that Driscoll's doesn't put a limit on how many coupons you can use in a transaction. Many companies limit you to "only 4 like coupons in a day" or something like that. Driscoll's imposes no such limit. So if you find blackberries for $0.99/6oz, you can literally use every coupon you have and get as many free blackberries as you want. Take them home, do the survey's on the bottom of those packages, and go back for more before the sale is over!
In this way, the coupons perpetuate themselves, and I end up with super cheap, and often FREE berries! You can't get much better than free. If you want to join the survey panel, here is the link:
www.driscollspanel.com
I also would like to point out that you can't get much better than coupons. When I started out couponing, it was really time consuming and difficult for me to learn, and I almost gave up after a few months. But let me tell you, once you understand how it all works, it is so simple and easy. I spend MAYBE 90 minutes on it every week. I guarantee that you can do it too. It might take a while to learn, but it's totally worth it! Like the meme says, it's the only legal way to print your own money right at home. Happy couponing!
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