Hot Dogs.....BOGO Hot Dogs!

If you live in the Southeast, you are in luck this week. Publix is selling delicious BOGO hot dogs. Yes, nothing tastes so good as those BOGO hot dogs. Huh? What brand is BOGO? Actually any brand can be BOGO if the supermarket deems it so. In case you haven't heard, BOGO stands for Buy One, Get One FREE! And in this case the BOGO is for Hebrew National Hot Dogs for just $4.99. That means you get TWO packages of hot dogs while only paying for ONE.

A savvy couponer will be on the lookout for great deals even when no coupons are involved. However, I bet many of you thought that BOGO is such a good deal that coupons wouldn't be allowed. Well, you would be WRONG, Kosher beef breath! Even though I haven't found coupons to apply to this deal, you can use coupons on BOGO sales. In fact, what turned on the couponing switch for me back in the summer of 2009 was when I read online about Publix selling Nathans hot dogs BOGO plus I found a link to print out two Nathans coupons for $1.50. The amazing thing for me and why I got so excited at the time is that I was informed that I could use one of the coupons on the Nathans package that I pay for AND the other coupon for the free Nathans hot dog package.

I couldn't believe it so I made a beeline to Publix armed with the two coupons at about 10 P.M.. When I later walked out of Publix with two packages of Nathans for just a buck each after applying the coupons, I became a devout couponer.

Sounds great, huh? Guess what? It gets even better! Not only can you use a coupon on both the paid item and the free item but you can actually use TWO coupons on each item. Yes, if you have, say, a manufacturer's coupon for a dollar and Publix or some other store issues their own coupon for the same item for a dollar, you can use BOTH the manufacturer's AND the store coupon on each item. So if both coupons were available for the current Hebrew National hot dog sale, you would take $2 off EACH package making the total amount you pay just...99 cents or about a half a buck per hot dog package.

But wait...THERE'S MORE. However, we will now pause to give you time to fasten your seat belts because what I am about to tell you will cause many to fall out of their seats in astonishment. Also a few of you might punch yourselves in the face for not taking FULL advantage of the BOGO sales.

Okay, are you ready? Here goes. In many places which are known as the Land of True BOGO (which includes Florida), if you happen to have a BOGO coupon and apply that to the same product which also has a BOGO sale going on, you get everything FREE! Yes, you read that right...you get it all for FREE!!!!! All you pay is sales tax and not even that if it is food or medicine (no sales tax on those in Florida).

Right now some of you are probably in a state of disbelief at that deal. Believe me, so was I. The first time I used a BOGO coupon on a BOGO sale was last summer when Publix had a BOGO sale for Right Guard BO sticks. At the same time BOGO coupons for Right Guard also appeared in the newspaper inserts. Yes, I was informed online about this incredible combo of BOGO sales and coupons but I still couldn't quite believe it was true. Therefore when I went to Publix and turned in my 4 BOGO coupons for 8 Right Guard BO sticks which were $2.99 each, I closed my eyes. I did not want to see either the cashier or the machine go berserk. I was both relieved and incredibly HAPPY when a few seconds later the cashier told me my total was...72 cents for all 8 Right Guard BO sticks (the free BO stick half of the BOGO is not taxed).

So a word to the wise. Be on the lookout for those valuable BOGO coupons especially since stores often coincide their BOGO sales with their publication in the inserts. In fact, a little birdie has whispered into the ear of The Coupon Whisperer that there just might be a BOGO coupon for packages of BIC razors in this weekend's newspaper coupon inserts.