Today's Shopping Plan

It is Sunday. Sunday is a great day for every couponer because on Sunday the new ads begin and the new coupons come out in the Sunday paper. I have gotten very finicky as a couponer in recent years, so I only buy the Sunday paper if I know there are multiple coupons inside it that I will use. Since we get ad previews so early these days, I find that I usually have plenty of time to prepare by either printing most of my coupons online, or by ordering what I need from E-Bay. This saves me having tons of newspapers and inserts lying around my house. With all the toys, obviously we wouldn't have space for newspapers too!

My Sunday plan today is not that fancy. I have some Register Rewards that are going to expire unless I use them today at Walgreens. Register Rewards are coupons that print when you buy something, usually they take a certain dollar amount off your entire purchase. There are a lot of rules involved in using them, but lately I have been finding lots of great deals with them, so I still have some on hand.

My plan today is to go to Walgreens, use up my Register Rewards that are going to expire on non-stock-pile items like sour cream or Starbucks or whatever catches my fancy, and to buy the free after rebate Neosporin Essentials. I will use Register Rewards to buy the Neosporin Essentials, and then get a check back in the mail in a couple of weeks. I like money that I can keep re-using. So, I bought something three weeks ago that triggered a register reward, probably the $30 blueberry anti-aging vitamins that were free after Register Rewards that week. I used that Register Reward the following week to buy something else that also triggered a Register Reward (probably Belvita breakfast bars with $1 off coupon found at the grocery store, and something else), I then used that to buy another thing the following week that triggered yet another Register Reward (Schick razors, with the $4 off coupon from E-Bay). Ok, so for my original $10 purchase, I have now gotten way more than $10 worth of products. I have probably gotten maybe $100 worth of products. And I still have a Register Reward to spend. I will now use that Register Reward to buy something that I can submit for a nice cash rebate, and that money will go right back into my bank account, all safe and sound after its long journey. Kind of like using a fishing lure over and over again instead of a worm that you can only use once. Of course there are still unavoidable costs, like taxes, and the stamp to submit the rebate, but overall, this is a much better way of using my funds than just walking into the store and buying things all willy-nilly... lol!