I'm a Groupon Junkie

I think I'm officially hooked on Groupon. I just can't help myself. There are two deals right now that are awesome.

#1. $150.00 for 6 Laser Hair-Removal Treatments at Sierra NV Wellness Center in Sparks. This is an $894.00 value! The site says it's for new clients only and valid only for forehead, lip, chin, ears, toes, or underarms. Must use all treatments on same area. What a smooth way to get smooth!

#2. $25.00 for $50.00 at Coldwater Creek. This is showing up in Kansas City, but it's a national deal and you can use it online so you can purchase it no matter where you live. I'm saving mine for a great sale!

To get in on these deals just head on over to GROUPON!

Safeway: Strawberries $0.33/lb!

Be sure to log into your Safeway Just for U account (or sign up for one if you haven't already) to check your "personalized deals."

If you have strawberries priced at $2.49...you are in luck! Add the price to your card and take advantage of the Buy 1 Get 2 Free deal that is going on through Tuesday (4/19).

Here's the GREAT part...for some reason it rings up all 3 pounds for a total of $0.99! That is just $0.33/lb. Talk about sweet.

It gets even sweeter if you use the $1.00 off $5.00 coupon from the Simple Nutrition pamphlet (I found mine at both customer service and at a display by the shopping carts).

Happy jam making!!

Thanks, The Frugal Find.

Yummy New Groupon: $5 for $10.00 worth at U-Swirl!

This isn't turning into a Groupon Site, I promise. BUT I have been wanting to go to U-Swirl! Now is my chance...I just bought 2!

Pay $5.00 to get $10.00 worth of frozen yogurt at U-Swirl. Just go HERE.

Expires Jun 15, 2011 Limit 2 per person, may buy 1 additional as a gift. Limit 1 per visit. Not valid with frequent buyer cards. No cash back. Not valid with other offers.

Pump It Up: $2.40 a Visit with GROUPON!

Right now over at Groupon you can purchase a voucher for 10 visits to Pump It Up for $24.00! That's only $2.40 a child! Guess where we're going over Spring Break?!

You can use the 10 passes all at once or spread it out over multiple trips.

The pass doesn't expire until August 31st.

Any of my play group friends reading this?

To buy this deal just go HERE.

(Thanks, Natalie A.!)

Nestle Pure Life Water $1.54/case at Smith's!

Water is an essential for life and a good thing to store in case of any type of emergency. There is a good deal on water going on right now at Smith's.

The 24-count Nestle Pure Life water bottles are included in the Buy 10 Save $5 promo. at $2.79. (See other items included in this sale HERE. Thanks, Centsible Sisters!) You will need to throw in 6 other items included in the buy 10 save $5 promo. to get the $2.79 sale price on the water. Think of using 6 free pasta or $0.39 Powerade...

There is also a Catalina Promo. running on this water until 4/3/11. When you buy:

2 cases - $1.00 back on your next order

3 cases - $2.00 back on your next order

4 cases - $5.00 back on your next order.

So basically when you combine the sale with the Catalina, you end up paying $1.54 per case (about 6 cents per bottle)!

Here's the breakdown:

Buy 4 cases of Nestle Pure Life (24 ct.) at $2.79 each - $11.16

+ price of 6 other participating products

Total price: $11.16 + price of other items, Get $5.00 back

You can then use this $5.00 Catalina to buy four more cases of water (and 6 other promo. items) to pay $6.16 out of pocket on the water and get another $5.00 Catalina back.

If you happened to print the coupons availabe last month for this water (no longer available) your deal will be even sweeter!

WATER STORAGE

Want to know how much water your family will need? HERE is great booklet from FEMA. They suggest storing at least one gallon of water per person, per day, for two weeks. (Each person needs 14 gallons of water.)

14 gallons of water = 106 bottles

(Thanks, Prepared LDS Family and Centsible Sisters!)

GROUPON: $5 for $10 worth of books, music, movies at Grassroots Books!

I've posted about the GREAT deals to be found at Grassroots Books (fabulous used bookstore) before and now it's even better!

For $5.00 you can get $10.00 worth of books, music, or movies. This is a sweet deal because their prices are already reasonable. The books run from $0.99-$2.99, VHS tapes are $0.99, and DVDs are $3.99, or three for $10.

I'm excited that it can even be used at their monthly warehouse sales (when more than 10,000 items are $0.99 each). There's nothing better than a deal on top of a deal!

The coupon has a one-year expiration date and only one coupon can be used per visit.

To get in on this deal, just head on over to GROUPON!

(Thanks, Janet!)

Warehouse Booksale

Thanks to Shirley for sending me the information on this library booksale!

This weekend (March 12 and 13) there will be a booksale to benefit the Washoe County Libraries at 125 Gentry, Reno.

Here's the info from the Friends of the Library website.

Warehouse Booksale:

Friday & Saturday, March 12 & 13
Friends Warehouse, 125 Gentry Way, Reno

In these tough economic times, Friends Booksales are great opportunities to take advantage of a wide selection of inexpensive books, movies, and music, and at the same time help the library. Prices start at just 50 cents, with with ficton, non-fiction, cookbooks, children's books, books about Nevada and the West, and lots of jigsaw puzzles, as well as loads of "nearly new" books and both rare and autographed collectibles.

This all volunteer, non-profit group's sales are generally offered on the second weekend of the month, rain, sleet or snow, at 125 Gentry Way (off South Virginia) in the rear of the building.

For additional information, call 324-5522 or see the website HERE.

Read Across America

If you need something free to do on Saturday morning, you may want to consider going to Target for their Read Across America celebration. There will be read-alouds, treats for the kids and there should be coupons for the grown-ups. I've taken my kids before and it certainly wasn't a Broadway production, but it was something to do that took us out of the house. Saturday, February 26th, from 9-11am.

Grand Sierra Resort: 2 Free Nights!

(Update: I guess now the code is not working for locals. Sorry! I booked our rooms back in January and the total balance was $0.00.)

You can get up to two FREE nights at the Grand Sierra Resort and Casino using the code 2FCH at checkout.

This offer works for dates now through March 31, 2011. Some dates are already sold out and it looks like it doesn't work over the weekends, weekdays only from what I can tell.

When you get to the main page of the GSR website just click on your arrival and departure dates (up at the top) and add the offer code in the third box. Voila! Free room! I did have to enter my credit card information but my grand total was $0.00.

We're going on a family vacation staycation next week to the Grand Sierra Resort! There's lots to do there: bowling, movies, laser tag, arcade, golf, go karts, ultimate rush, and spa. Sounds like fun!

Hallmark: $1.00 Sale

Thanks to Sofia for the information on this sale she found! The Hallmark store at 4945 South Virginia Street is having a dollar sale. There was a large section of items that were all marked down to $1.00.

Sofia was able to pick up some awesome Halloween boxes (they look like treasure boxes and make sounds when opened) and Christmas newsletter kits for just $1.00 each. If you're in the neighborhood it may be worth a look!

(Thanks, Sofia!)

True Story

Main Character: Me (Jill)
Setting: Scolari's, Wednesday at 7:30 pm
Story:
With coupons as my shopping list I grab a cart. I peer over to the checkstands to see who my checker will be. A young girl--probably okay. I grab my 3 packs of meat, a box of brownie mix, 3 boxes of cereal, 3 bags of Chex Mix, 3 packages of Buitoni,
3 boxes of Hefty baggies and milk. The club prices should add up to over $50 so I can use my $5 off of $50 coupon and then I'll give coupons. It worked before. Sure enough, things were going fine. The $5 coupon came off just fine and then I handed my stack of coupons to be doubled, hopefully to get the Buitoni, the Chex Mix, and the baggies for free. Yeah!
And then things went sour. The checker (we'll call her T) glanced at the bagger (we'll call him R) and nodded for him to come over. They grabbed a calculator and slowly began flipping through my coupons. They pulled out the register tape and looked at item #1, cereal. They held a mini-conference and at last surfaced from their collaberation to have T scan the coupon and double it. Cereal. $0.99. Then they went to work again. . .
I think--"Hello? I'm standing right here. You could certainly say something to me." So I ask, "Is something wrong?"
R says, very snottily, "Some people have been using counterfeit coupons to totally scam us."
"Counterfeit?" I question.
R replies, "Well, not counterfeit, but some people are ripping us off. They're trying to get us to double the coupons so we pay them money."
I think--"You don't just mean 'some people' You mean me, because I totally want those products for free. That's why I'm here tonight."
I say--"What do you mean?"
Anyway, T calls up the manager who says, "We cannot pay you a penny when we double a coupon. We are losing money LEFT and RIGHT.'
I think--"You're the ones who offer to double coupons. Plus, how can you be losing money when your regular prices are astronomical and I see people paying that?"
I say--"Okay."
I then say that I don't want those items I intended to get free, thus proving to T and R that I was indeed one of those 'people' who was trying to scam them.
I quickly paid my balance for the remaining items and left. As I did the walk of shame to the exit I did not think, "Scolari's--I'm special everday." I thought, "Scolari's where you're treated like a thief."
I doubled checked the coupon policy when I get home and it does say that they won't double the coupons if they go into overrage. Fine, I get that. But would it have been so hard for T, upon seeing I had coupons, to say, "I just want you to know that if you have any coupons that will exceed the price of the item when doubled, we will only accept them at face value," rather than secretly discuss the prices of items and then accuse me of being a scammer and thief.

Moral of the story: Scolari's days of freebies are over and unless you want a public hand-slapping I would encourage you to not try this at your local Scolari's.

This Week's Deals

It looks like a pretty good shopping week!

*For the deals at Smith's go HERE. (Thanks, The Centsible Sisters!)
My favorite deals at Smith's this week include:
Cream Cheese - $0.49 ($1.00/2 coupon from booklet)
Kraft Singles - $0.49
Kettle Brand Chips - $0.49

*For the deals at Safeway go HERE. (Thanks, Krazy Coupon Lady!)
My favorite deals at Safeway this week include:
Grapes - $0.99/lb.
Mission Tortillas - $0.29 each
Single-serve Horizon Milk- FREE

(DAILY DEALS) Nabisco Crackers, $0.49, Tostitos $0.89, Safeway Salsa $0.69

*For the deals at Savemart go HERE. (Thanks, The Frugal Find!)
My favorite deals at Savemart this week include:
Kraft BBQ sauce - $0.50 each (WYB 10)
The expiration date on the BBQ sauce I bought today was March 2012...think 10 will last me all year?
Fuji Apples, 5 lb. bag - $1.99 ($0.40/lb.)

*For the deals at Raley's go HERE. (Thanks, My Frugal Adventures!)
My favorite deals at Raley's this week include:
Hefty cups/plates/one-zip bags - $0.25 each
(incase you were denied free ones at Scolari's!)

Happy Savings!

Scolari's Deals (2/2-2/9)

Here are the deals at Scolari's this week. Let me know if I've missed something!

Scolari's will double coupons (as long as the coupon doesn't say "do not double") up to and including $1.00! Three like-coupons can be doubled per transaction. View official coupon policy HERE.

Remember, Wednesdays are “double ad” days where both the current and previous week’s ad are honored. Enjoy the sales from two weeks on one day!

There are Scolari's internet coupons for $5.00 off when you spend $50.00 and $10.00 off when you spend $100.00. I was able to use the $5.00/$50.00 before coupons.

So after everything was scanned and I had handed over my club card, the total was $56.00. The first coupon I gave the cashier was the $5.00/$50.00 and then I gave the cashier the rest of my coupons. (Thanks, Jimmy!)

Land O Frost Lunchmeat, 16 oz. - $3.49
$1.00 from Joy of Football Safeway booklet
Final price: $1.49

Tyson Crispy Chicken or Buffalo Strips, Select Varieties 25-28 oz. - $5.99
$1.00 from 1/23 SS
Final price: $3.99

UNADVERTISED DEALS:

Chex Mix - $1.99
$1.00 from Joy of Football Safeway booklet
Final price: FREE

Buitoni Refrigerated Pasta, plain not filled - $1.99
$1.00 from 1/2 SS
Final price: FREE

Kettle Brand Chips - $2.49
$1.00 printable coupon
$1.00 from 1/2 SS
Final price: $0.49

Scolari's Coupon Policy

I've received several emails about the coupon doubling at Scolari's. Here is the policy from their website.

"Scolari's encourages customers to bring in manufacturer coupons. Scolari's will double manufacturer coupons up to and including $1.00. Offer excludes all liquor, tobacco, dairy regulated items, store coupons and coupons that exceed the value of the item. If the double portion of the coupon exceeds the value of the item the coupon will be taken at face value. If the coupon states "DO NOT DOUBLE" the coupon will be taken at face value. If a coupon exceeds $1.00 the coupon cannot be doubled and will be taken at face value. A maximum of three coupons for each coupon offering will be doubled per customer. All other coupons for that offering will be taken at face value."

In the past Scolari's was not strict in enforcing the "three of the same coupon" limit. However, it is clearly stated in their policy and the cashiers have tightened up on this rule, so I always buy only three at a time.

Lots of us are having a hard time with cashiers refusing to double a coupon because it will be one cent over the price of the item. (For example, an item costs $1.99 and a $1.00 coupon doubled would take off $2.00...which exceeds the value of the item.) Some cashiers don't mind/care/notice and some cashiers refuse to double coupons going even a cent over.

I can't imagine that one cent would truly make a difference. I've even offered to pay back a penny! I don't know what the store's opinion is on this since sometimes I can do it and sometimes I can't. You would think the system at the register would block it if it wasn't supposed to go a cent over, like take off the first $1.00 and when the coupon is doubled only take off 99 cents.

It would be nice to know what is and isn't allowed and for it to be consistent. For now, the issue of getting free items falls into the hands of your cashier.

My advice, choose your cashiers wisely. Try to fly under the radar. If you are only buying free things, the red flags will be waving. If you work your deals into other items, it's not so obvious. I guess we'll all just need to gear up to say, "OK, I just won't get those then," when a coupon won't be doubled.

I would love to hear your experiences with this!