Coupons!

Saturday, February 27, 2010

As we ventured out for some Saturday errands, my blog topic slapped me in the face. STORE COUPONS! Because I shop mostly store brand items for groceries, it is rare that a grocery coupon comes in handy for me. I also receive many online offers from stores that I patronize frequently. However, I find myself checking those emails daily and deleting them. I most often delete them because I don’t think that the coupons offer truly great “deals.” However, there are three stores that I frequent who, I believe, offer truly remarkable savings, and they offer this savings often.

The first is Big Lots. If you have never shopped at Big Lots (or Job Lots) YOU ARE MISSING OUT! They carry name brand furniture, home décor, baby items, children’s items, groceries, health and beauty, and toiletries at MAJOR discounts. Once you are a member of their “buzz club”, you receive the weekly advertisement in advance and occasional email coupons for 20% off of your entire purchase on a Sunday afternoon. You also receive a swipe card when you become a buzz club member. Once you spend $40 or more 10 times, your next purchase is 20% off as well. Because I have a young child at home, the most remarkable savings has been for baby food and oatmeal. Big Lots carries a variety of name-brand baby food for ½ of the price found in grocery stores. This is the case with most items that Big Lots carries. It truly pays to be a wise consumer and know the prices that you pay for the things that you buy often. Most things are a true value (110 zip lock sandwich bags for $2) but there is the occasional product that is not a good value. It is important to recognize these products.

The second store is World Market. We have purchased many of our home furnishings from World Market and have found that they make superior furniture for very reasonable prices. They will email you when they are running a sale on a certain piece/set of furniture so that you, as a rewards member, will learn about the “hot items” before the public does. This has proven to be a true value on many occasions for our family. They will also email the occasional 20% off your entire purchase coupon.

The final store that proves to be of real value to me as I work to find ways to stretch our money is Kohl’s. As a rewards member, I received a coupon for 15% off my entire purchase last Friday-Sunday. If you spend over $100, you receive %20 off your purchase! We usually shop the clearance racks, and Kohl’s is very diligent about 60% and 70% off of the regular price for clearance items. Today, my husband purchased a jacket, an argyle sweater, two casual long-sleeve t-shirts, and a button-down dress shirt for $30!!! These were all clearance items and we received 15% off our entire purchase. I am very pleased with the results today. Become rewards members – it is free to delete emails out of your inbox that do not meet your needs, but the occasional email is truly valuable.