Take a Moment, Run the Numbers, and Work the Deal to Get What You Really Want!
Did you know that you can turn seemingly random and unrelated deals into the things you REALLY want? All it takes is a little creative thinking. Change the way you coupon. You know, the straight-forward perspective, and really think about what you could do with any given deal.
Recently, I turned my cereal coupons into a free date night with my husband. Date night comes few and far-between. A usual date night to the movies, for example, can run us more than $66! With three small children to care for, that is an indulgence we don't often enjoy.
However, I found that Kelloggs had a really wonderful promotion going on: Buy specially marked boxes of cereal, enter the code inside the packages into your account online, redeem for prizes (including various movie tickets and concession cash). I checked the list of participating movie theaters, and mine was one of them!! So, I set out on a mission.
And, Target came through for me, big time! They ran a whole bunch of "Buy 3, Get the 4th Free" on the Kellogg's cereals. Since this was a store promotion, you could stack a Target coupon and a Manufacturer's coupon on these cereals. I bought tons and tons of different Kelloggs cereals. This was fine, because my family of 5 eats a lot of cereal, and everyone has their flavors. I made sure to buy the cheaper boxes and use lots of coupons. I ended up spending about $9, getting my cereals for 75 cents a box, or less.
Then, I went and redeemed my codes for 2 Free Movie Tickets and $20 in Concession cash to buy popcorn with! We waited for a visit from Nana so that we could get free babysitting too.
We paid another $2 to cover the extra candy my husband wanted to go with his popcorn. (I think we used the tickets and such to go see Inception).
Summary: We spent a total of $11 out of pocket. We got more than 10 boxes of Kelloggs cereal, and about $38 worth of movie theater money. Had I not used coupons, all that would have cost us $25 for the cereal and $38 for the movie = $63 (oh and another $2 for the candy, so $65.)
What if you don't eat cereal? Do the math: Spend $9 on Cereal, get $38 worth of Movie Tickets and Concession Cash, FREE! Why wouldn't you work that deal? Donate the Cereal! You still "make" $29 working a deal like this.
All it takes is a little creative thinking!
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