Expiring Coupons: Has This Ever Happened To You??
Ever look through your coupons only to discover you got some great ones that expire that day??? Well, Melissa and I had one of those moments today. We had several coupons (many for free items) that were expiring tonight at midnight and as good little couponers, we said…….NO WAY! We grabbed the coupons and headed to Crest Foods. Melissa & I both got a basket and divided up the coupons to get the job done quicker. Our total came to $46.29 ($15.25 of it was tax).
Since we had a stack of Chef's Request coupons that were expiring we became coupon fairies, passing them out to the shoppers in the meat department. Lots of people got free or $.99 beef roasts today! It was so much fun we plan to do it again….we got to meet a lot of new people and it felt good to pay it forward!
Thanks to all the nice Crest customers who agreed to
be photographed!
I don't know about you, but it drives me crazy when I let good coupons expire. I bet there are some interesting stories about last minute shopping with expiring coupons out there and we'd like to hear them. In fact, the person with the most interesting story will get an envie of FREE product coupons! I'll post the winner on Friday Jan. 7th. Come on, let's have some fun with this one! Just post your story in the comment section.
This was our cashier Jesse, who was very patient with us.
Thanks Jesse!
We tend to check to see if we have any coupons getting ready to expire whenever we go to a Military Base a town away, where my husband goes for his Doctor visits. If we do then he drops me off at the Commissary and comes and picks me back up after he’s done at the hospital. I know one time I had too many coupons that were going to expire, and they were multiples on the same products. I didn’t have room to store all the stuff, so I just put the extra coupons that were going to expire that day on top of the items they went with and also gave some to people telling them that it would get various items for free or under fifty cents.
I always tend to put extra coupons I have on baby items anyways to help people out, so this wasn’t much harder to do.
I made a stop at CVS on our way a new year’s party using up all my good coupons I couldn’t go to waste – what I ended up not needing, I shared with other customers! =D
Back a few months ago, I had been sick and not really in the mood to do anything. IA few days after the antibiotics kicked in I finally started going through my binder on the 30th which was the last day of the month. I found about 8 different coupons for things that we actually needed and that were going to expire in mere hours. These coupons were items that were either going to be free or extremely cheap compared to normal prices!! Unfortunately my son was asleep and my husband works third shift and was already gone for the night. Well, you can you take a guess at what I did!! Yep, in my sweats (at least it was a nice track suit not pajamas) I called my neighbor and asked her if she could come and sit with my son while I ran to the store to grab a few things. I was there and back in less than 45 minutes (thank you 24 hour Wal-Mart). My total oop was only $8.63 for items that before sales and coupons would have been about $56.00!!!!
The day before Christmas I was at Bath and Body Works and Hallmark. I had a coupon for 20% off the total purchase for Bath and Body Works that I gave to a woman with a bag full of items. She was so grateful. At Hallmark I had an extra $5 coupon that came in many magazines and gave it to the woman behind me who had a bunch of cards. I came home feeling like the coupon fairy too!
I hate to waste a coupon! so even if my coupons are not going to expire i find homes for them. When i go shopping and check out i watch the person in front of me. I try to get behind someone who would love the idea of coupons ( i have been turned down :(…. ) And i look at what they have and hand them over. If i am not going to buy those items why not share the love of coupons with a stranger. I enjoy doing this one time i was behind a mother of 3 and she had a lot of items well i had some time so i started pulling and i ended up saving her 45% off of her bill . The best part is my boys help me do this and it shows them how something little as a peace of paper for 25 cent off can truly change a persons day. the mother was worried about the total till i handed her coupons. She is now saving her self and says hello every time she sees us.
ha! That is awesome! Well, Thursday night I taught 3 of my girlfriends how to coupon (still a work in progress) and Friday they had a ball! We used that RA coupon $5/$25 that is officially retired and they learned how to roll UP rewards. They were delighted!
I had a few coupons that were going to expire like the free puffs with Nyquil, BOGO pantene, etc. They were truly amazed at all the stuff they bought with such little cash! They were so thankful and their husbands were too.
Me too Beth! Last month I had 10 free olay bodywash coupons and gave one to a lady looking at the BW. She was sooo thankful!
Yes, That has happened to me. Also had free coupons that you can’t find the item till the day after it expires-so disappointing!
I never print coupons for things I don’t need or use, but since I try to buy what’s on sale, I often have extras to share with strangers.
Each week when I go through the store ads, I pull out anything that will expire before my next shopping week comes. If I don’t plan to use that coupon, when I go to the store I place the coupon next to the item in the store. I like to think some people pick those up and use them.
Also, when I went to Walgreens on their friends and family day, I handed out the extra coupons I had printed to three strangers. One saw me in the store a few weeks later and thanked me for helping.
I too like to give away coupons I won’t be using- many of my fellow train commuters have benefitted from my extra coupons. But I have also been stuck with expired coupons, especially from Walgreens. Once I found a $10 Walgreens coupon that had expired the day before. The clerk at Walgreens refused to accept it, so I sent an e-mail to Walgreens customer care- after all, since they are Walgreens coupons, Walgreens has some discretion regarding accepting them a little late. Next thing I know, the manager of the local Walgreens called me and told me if I ever have a problem I should just call him. He took my coupon and all was well again in my little couponing world!
I am still fairly new to couponing and am just learning how to matchup from flyers by myself. On the 30th I sat down and weeded out all my coupons that were to expire on the 31st. I went through all my ads and found the best deals of items I needed and/or good items to donate (those free or under 50c). I was able to find almost all of the items on my list (some things were out of stock already 🙁 but managed to save over $80 in total!!! I still have a ton of coupons left over and today I will pack them up and ship them to one of my blog writers who then mails them overseas to the military who can use expired coupons for up to 3 months after the date!!! It is such a wonderful feeling knowing they wont got to waste!
Being successful in matching coupons to sales is a great feeling but I dont think I could do it all the time….. you guys are AMAZING at what you do to help us save money!! THANK YOU for all your hard work and I look forward to “working with you” in the New Year….. HAPPY 2011 !!!!
I got so excited I saw you guys at Walmart last week!!! But then I felt like a stalker. HAHA! I always tell my roomy about these savings & and she thinks I am on facebook all day, but really I just get your posts & then I know!