Singing Rebate's Praises

Rebates are a couponer's best friend! My efforts at collecting receipts, filling out forms and mailing these in are beginning to pay off...this week we received $103 in rebate checks! Yes, it's a hassle but one that doesn't require too much time & effort.

You can really rack up the savings by timing your rebate qualifying purchases just right- buy these at their rock bottom prices with coupons and you'll more than likely make money on the deal. You'll find that it's pretty fulfilling to learn you've actually been PAID to get stuff your family needs.

If you happen upon a rebate form, take it! Keep note of all your forms. If you have a coupon binder, put a full page sleeve in with rebate form and any coupons you have on hand for qualifying items- this will be handy reminder to you to keep checking prices as you shop to see if it's a good time to buy. Be sure to put a sticky note on the page with the expiration date of offer (this is when you'll have to make your purchases by).

You can find these online, within Sunday paper inserts, on winetags and as hangtags or peelies (these will typically say "Try Me Free!"). All it will take is a few minutes of your time to fill in your name and address and a quick march to your mailbox.

An Interesting Dilemma...

One of the tools of the seasoned coupon shoppers trade is actually trading coupons. I began trading a month ago on http://www.hotcouponworld.com/. An unspoken act of trading etiquette is to include some extras in your envelope as part of the exchange. Generally speaking, coupon shoppers are generous folks. I've been known to hand off coupons in grocery stores and I try to look over the wishlist of those I'm trading with and include some extras that they'd want or need.

In trading, I've also received some really wonderful surprises in the mail as extras in the envelopes- most recently, a $20 Mail-in-Rebate when you buy Smirnoff Ice beverages in a minimum $50 total grocery purchase. Upon closer inspection of the rebate form, I learned that since NC law does not require the purchase of alcohol for coupon redemption or rebates I was not even required to make the Smirnoff Ice purchase- I simply needed to produce a receipt for $50 worth of groceries. You would think this would be an easy task but oh no, not since I've become a hardcore coupon shopper. I've looked through two months of receipts and there are no receipts for anything over $30 spent in a single transaction to be found. What's a girl to do??