We’ve been discussing the benefits of coupon trading recently, and this trip is another example of how to make it work for you. Safeway recently ran a promotion where Lunchables were on sale for $1 each. There happened to be a coupon in the 3/21 Smart Source newspaper inserts for $1 off any Lunchables, so I logged on to Hot Coupon World’s trading forum and ended up paying $12.62 in shipping and handling fees for 80 of these coupons.

Next, I saw that another user had 20 “wine tag” coupons available – 3 of which were good for $3 off any meat or poultry, and 17 of which were good for $3 off the purchase of any ham. Wine tags are special coupons offered by wine companies, which are often good on items like meat and produce and are usually found in stores, just like blinkies and tearpad coupons. These coupons will either be a savings offered when you purchase a specific brand of wine (“Save $1 on onions when you buy Brand X wine”), or they will be a general coupon offered with the company’s compliments (“Save $3 on shrimp now, courtesy of Brand X wine”). Sometimes the purchase requirements of these coupons will vary depending on the alcohol laws in each state – as I understand it, some states prohibit coupons from requiring an alcohol purchase, so the coupon might say “Save $2 on rice when you buy Brand X wine – no alcohol purchase required in X, Y, or Z states”. The 20 meat coupons that I found on Hot Coupon World required no wine purchase of any kind here in Oregon, so I spent $12.88 in shipping and handling fees to order them. My savings strategy here was that spending $25.50 total on coupons that could get me $140.00 worth of meat and Lunchables for free would be a good deal.

So here’s what I got on my first trip:

Total spent: Zero
Total before coupons: $46.00
View receipt

Got:

43 Lunchables – on sale for $1 each, used 43 $1/1 coupons that I got via trading! Final price: Free
1 package of Oscar Mayer Deli Shaved Ham lunch meat – on sale for $3.00, used one wine tag good for $3 off any ham, obtained via trading; final price, free.

Once I got home, I re-arranged my fridge and saw that I still had plenty of room – I wanted to gauge how much space I had before getting them all in one trip! – so I went back for round 2:

Total spent: Zero
Total before coupons: $23.00
View receipt

Got:

20 Lunchables – on sale for $1 each, used 20 $1/1 coupons that I got via trading; final price: Free
1 package of Oscar Mayer Deli Shaved Ham lunch meat – on sale for $3.00, used one wine tag good for $3 off any ham, obtained via trading; final price, free.

I must confess: I’ve always loved Lunchables, and before I started using coupons, I would occasionally buy them anyway just because I like them! Now keep in mind, although I may buy 40 Lunchables in one afternoon, that doesn’t mean we’re going to eat them all at once. These all have long expiration dates and will keep well in the fridge, so I’m just planning ahead and stocking up while they are free; subsisting solely on processed foods like Lunchables or Yakisoba bowls isn’t healthy and I don’t plan my meals that way.

This entry was posted on Friday, April 23rd, 2010 at 11:09 pm and is filed under Safeway. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.