Archive for the ‘Power Pump Rewards’ Category

Last Shopping Trips of 2008 – December 30th and 31st

Thursday, January 1st, 2009

With the end of the year approaching, it was time to use up some good coupons before they expired. I had a huge stack of expiring coupons, but I just cherry picked the really valuable ones and focused on using those.

Safeway trip, December 30th:

Total spent: $3.58
Total before coupons: $11.67
View receipt

Got:

1 package of Always pads – on sale for $6.29, used a $3/1 Always catalina. Final price: $3.29
1 package of mini doughnuts – on sale for $2.79, used a coupon that I received through the mail good for $2 off any Hostess product, which doubled. Final price: .29 cents
1 package of organic tofu – used a free tofu coupon. I joined Nasoya’s email club earlier in the year, and was invited to take a quick survey about their products. In return, they sent me coupons for free products!

The tofu coupon was free up to $2.49, and the package I bought was tagged on the shelf as being on sale for $1.99. However, it rang up as $2.59, so I asked the checker if she’d like me to go double-check the price tag. She said not to worry about it, and price adjusted the tofu to $2.49 instead so that I would still get it free. Whatever works!

I was only $4 away from my next Power Pump Reward, so this purchase earned me another .10 fuel discount, since it accumulates based on your pre-coupon total. The gas discount had to be redeemed by the 31st, so Jai filled his car on the way to work. (My tank is full – I haven’t been driving much because of my foot!)

I had 6 Power Pump Rewards altogether, resulting in a savings of .60 cents a gallon. Jai was able to fill up for $11 – that’s $1.13 per gallon.

I found a few more coupons that I just couldn’t let expire, so I made quick trip back to Safeway last night:

Total spent: .59 cents
Total before coupons: $7.08
View receipt

Got:

1 package of corn tortillas, 36 count – On sale for $1.99, used a $1/1 printable, which doubled. Final price: .49 cents. I have no idea where I found this printable, but I know I’ve had it in my stash for a long time.
1 6oz tub of yoghurt – on sale for .60 cents, used a .25/1 coupon that I received in the mail, which doubled. Final price: .10 cents
Package of two AA Energizer batteries – used a coupon for free Energizer batteries that I received in the mail.

I get a lot of questions about Safeway’s doubling policy, so let me give a brief explanation of how it works. Safeway doubles up to four coupons per transaction, up to .50 cents each. So if the coupon is .50 cents or under, it doubles the amount – so my .25 cent yoghurt coupon became .50 cents. If the coupon is over .50 cents, then .50 cents is added to the value of the coupon; so my $1/1 tortilla coupon became $1.50. This isn’t doubling in the mathematical sense, obviously, but that’s what Safeway refers to it as.

Happy 2009, everyone! Did you snag any good deals with expiring coupons?

Fantastic gas deal, and a few more goodies from Walgreens

Tuesday, September 30th, 2008

Today was all about fuel discounts. First, I received a $5 Chevron gift card in the mail, from taking part in a quiz contest a few months ago. Second, it was time for me to redeem my Power Pump Rewards!

The first quarter of Safeway’s fuel discount program, Power Pump Rewards, ends tomorrow. This means that any points accumulated during the quarter must be redeemed, or you will lose them. Discounts are earned for every $100 you spend at Safeway. Each time you accumulate $100 worth of purchases on your club card, you earn a .10 cent per gallon discount. Even better, it counts your total before manufacturer’s coupons, and the discounts stack. Since I redeem so many coupons, I waited until the very end of the month to save up as many rewards as I could. I ended up with 22 rewards, which equals a discount of $2.20 per gallon! That’s a pretty big savings, and I was mulling over how I could best utilize it.

Safeway allows you to get up to 35 gallons with your Power Pump discount. My car has a 16 gallon capacity; my boyfriend, Jai, has a 12 gallon tank in his car. “We should borrow someone’s truck, fill it up, and then siphon the gas off into both of our cars,” Jai suggested. You know gas prices are high when this seems like a perfectly reasonable idea!

As a result of this brainstorm, we decided to ask Jai’s dad if we could use his truck today. As luck would have it, this truck has a gas tank capacity of exactly 35 gallons, and the tank was almost empty when we borrowed it. So, we took it over to the nearest Safeway gas pump to fill up.

My Power Pump discount brought the price down to $1.49 a gallon – a good deal in today’s world.

We filled the tank with 32 gallons of gas, for a total of $48.25. Here’s the receipt – I blacked out my debit card number, for obvious reasons:

Jai’s dad noted how $48 would normally get just 1/4 of a tank in his truck.

As we headed home, we passed by Walgreens, and I took the opportunity to nip in and grab a few deals. I had some Pert Plus coupons that expire tomorrow, and I wanted to use them up since they’re a moneymaker right now.

Total Spent: .22 cents
Total before coupons: $27.22
View Receipt

As I mentioned over the weekend, you can combine the manufacturer’s Pert coupons with this month’s EasySaver $2.50/1 coupon, resulting in overage. Here’s what I got:

6 bottles of Pert
1 pound of butter
2 packages of TP
1 Halloween gift bag – cute filler item!

After this quick WAGs run, we returned home and began the adventure of siphoning off gas!

Jai hooked up a garden hose to the truck’s gas tank, parked his car on a slope, and let gravity do the rest. Knowing that we would use this gas discount at the end of the month, he had let his gas tank get as low as he could, and was able to put a full tank into his car.

After his car was filled, we moved my car into position. In the meantime, we had to keep the hose elevated so that it wouldn’t slosh gas around, so Jai tied it up into a tree. People driving by must have wondered what on earth we were doing!

My car had a little more gas in it than Jai’s, but I still got at least 10 gallons or so. And after both our cars were full to the brim, the truck still had half a tank left! Suffice to say, I am pretty pleased with the Power Pump Rewards program. I wonder how much of a discount I can rack up in the next quarter!