Ins and Outs...

I was in Winco a couple of days ago and saw a tremendous deal on Ragu spaghetti sauce. It was 98cents a bottle. That's pretty stellar since it goes "on sale" for anywhere between $1-2...with purchase requirements usually in increments of 4 to 10 items to get sales' price. But at Winco that's the sales' price with no limit on quantities or purchase amounts. It got my head rolling and last night I ordered Ragu coupons on e-bay. I was pretty conservative this go around and only ordered 2 sets of 20 coupons. But the coupons are for "Save $1/2"--bringing the cost of the spaghetti sauce down to 48 cents a jar. Not too shabby for stuff that goes "on sale" for $2. Just sayin'....


There is also a very nice sale going on at Albertsons' this week on ConAgra Foods. They are the makers of Hunts' products, amongst others. For a purchase of $25, you get a $10 OYNO Catalina print-out. Most of the products in the fab deal are on sale for $1 each....SWEET!! Included in this sale are: Hunts' Ketchup, Spaghetti sauce, pudding, Manwich, Chef-Boyardee, etc., etc, etc. Go to www.albertsons.com to look at the ad if you didn't get the weekly circular. But the true goodness of the plan here is that you only have to reach the $25 before you coupon the items. So you can shop the internet for the coupons or see what you have from the recent Sunday papers--and take advantage of a GREAT deal. The best coupon that I found is at www.childhungerendshere.com and it's a ConAgra-based website and they are offering a coupon for $1.50 off any four ConAgra products of your choice. That makes the mixing and matching so much easier without having to be specific to a coupon's requirements for purchase amounts. Printer-disclaimer: you are only allowed to print 2 per computer. But that's still a jump start on the deal because it covers 8 products in 2 coupons.


If you don't have coupons, this is still a great time to buy on the ConAgra deal because it's 40% off the listed items in the promotion without coupons. That makes the cans of spaghetti sauce only 60 cents each....Wal-Mart can't even touch that price. Make a plan. What will your family eat in the next 3-6 months on the products you use the most of. Can you get a coupon on it as well? Is it worth stocking the pantry till the next stellar deal comes along. It generally is--especially when you do the math and see how many products you can buy for what you would have spent on ONE can. With the spaghetti sauce example--you can buy 2-3 cans more on this sale than you could have at regular price. Regular price=buy only what you need at the time (like 1 can)....Sales' price=buy the dollar amount of what you would have spent for 1 can and get the difference in the number of cans on sale. Put those cans in your pantry and don't purchase at regular price until the product goes on sale again...Money in the bank.

Hurry to Albertsons'........

So I was on a ConAgra foods website this morning and there is a great coupon...save $1.50 when you buy 4 items. It was marketed under the Kroger ads but then it occurred to me that Hunts' products are ConAgra owned and they are on sale at Albertsons' this week. AND--when you buy $25 worth of goods, you get a print-out after every $25 transaction for $10 OYNO. Beautiful. You can print 2 coupons (that's $3 off towards 8 products and add any more that you already have). It adds up to a great deal! I wish I had numerous computers to print from.

Now might be a great time to talk about FRAUD. It's a cut and dry deal with manufacturer's coupons that you get from the paper, because one is one--no questions asked. But when you have a home computer you can print, copy, cut and paste, reproduce....you get the picture. So when you have a coupon that you've printed...you CANNOT copy and use it twice. I know--it never occurred to you...but it did to LOTS of other people who thought they'd take advantage of a good deal. Each coupon that is printed generates a Pin Number. It's usable ONCE. The registers (mini-computers) will track it's usage and cancel out the coupon. Multi-use of one pin number is fraudulent and brings into question whether the stores will even take coupons printed from home.

So Tiddly Bit: play by the rules so that we can all play the game. Have some integrity and the stores will keep offering great deals. There's nothing wrong with trading favors and coupons with someone with another computer to print more with different pin numbers. There are coupons that you can print from multiple websites. If they let you print multiples, that is NOT fraudulent.

So last Tiddly morsel for the day: if it says "Manufacturer's Coupon" but it comes from a store that does NOT have the sale that best suits your purchase--it is still OK to use that coupon at another store. A coupon printed in a Fred Meyer ad that says "manufacturer's coupon" can be used at Albertsons'. I love that. Because Albertsons' is the one having the major sale with boo-koo savings. I'm all about the bottom line and savings. Good luck, shoppers. Everyone wins.