Wednesday, March 30, 2011

SPECTACULAR eBay Gift Card Deal!!!


How would you like to pay just $7 for a $15 gift card? In effect you are being GIVEN $8. Well, that is exactly what is happening right now with eBay OFFERING you this spectacular gift card deal. Yes, you pay only $7 but you get to buy up to $15 worth of anything you want from eBay with this card. If you buy more than $15 then the first $15 is charged to this eBay Gift card for which you pay only $7 and the remainder is charged to your PayPal account.

I've used these eBay gift cards many times. Simple to use. At payment checkout for your eBay item, you will see a box for entering your gift card Promotional Code. That will charge your gift card. In this case you will be sent via email a link to print out your online gift card which contains your specific promotional code.

I assume most of you already are PayPal members but you also need to sign up with GroupOn. Very quick signup and then you are ready to purchase this gift card. I was going to write up a special report on GroupOn for The Coupon Whisperer and I will do that in the near future but this is a great opportunity to jump into GroupOn with a great deal.

You have until Thursday night to buy this $15 eBay Gift Card for just 7 bucks. When I purchased this gift card last night, about 82,000 of them had been purchased but now almost 200,000 have sold. With a deal like that it is no wonder. A few hours after you purchase it, you will receive via email the link with your gift card promotional code and you can use it at any time. No expiration.

The Coupon Whisperer plans to use his eBay Gift Card to purchase, what else, coupons on eBay.

Don't procrastinate on this deal because it will be gone after tomorrow night. BTW, when you register with GroupOn for the first time, The Coupon Whisperer will receive a $10 GroupOn "bucks" referral. Hey, you can do the same and maybe earn enough GroupOn bucks to buy lots of GroupOn deals for FREE or close to it. But more on that later. The important thing is that you don't miss out on this deal. Oh, my local newspaper even had a small blurb about this deal in their Money section.

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

"Extreme Couponing" Returning as a Series to TLC Next Week

Set your DVRs for 9 PM EDT next Wednesday, April 6. That is when the new TLC series, "Extreme Couponing," kicks off. They had it as a special last December and the response was so great that it has been turned into a series.

Judging from the video on the HOME PAGE of this series, it looks like they have new couponeers featured. I don't know if they will stick to the same group each week or if new couponeers will be featured each week. If the latter, I wonder if TLC would ever get around to contacting The Coupon Whisperer. They might not want me since I prefer to deal in quality, not quantity although when I first started out I went whole hog by getting enormous amounts of stuff that I had no room for. Also the Elmore Leonard quality of my life here in South Florida might be a bit too bizarre for the TLC folks. Like, for example, Randy the Gollum to whom I gave a lot of chicken wings just might be too strange for TV. Somehow I don't think images of this homeless Gollum washing himself off in a dirty canal would go over too well with audiences. Also some of the problem managers I run into which might make for good TV would probably be on their best behavior knowing they are being recorded. A certain throwback redneck store manager comes to mind and I don't think he would want the outer world to see him as he really is.

In any event I highly recommend that you record ALL these "Extreme Couponing" shows. They should have some very good tips that you can use.

Somewhat Off-Topic but there is now a TERRIFIC Publix deal going on. I won't tell you what it is but if you research you should be able to discover the deal. One hint: It is a $1.01 MM per item.

Enjoy "Extreme Couponing" next week! I will probably have "debriefings" of some of these episodes here at The Coupon Whisperer.

Thursday, March 24, 2011

Save Your Ken's Marinade Coupons

If there is one coupon you should be saving, it is the $1 Ken's Marinade coupon in the current SmartSource insert. I am planning on saving about 40 to 60 of them. They expire April 30 and there is a good chance that Publix or another store will sell them BOGO before then. Since they usually sell for $2.99 that means you can get this marinade for only about 50 cents each. Even better, Albertsons sometimes put them on sale for only a buck each which means you can score these FREE.

My favorite of their marinades for steaks is the Honey Teriyaki marinade which you can see above. However, for pork ribs, the Herb & Garlic is OUTSTANDING. I used this marinade a couple of weeks ago on some ribs you won't believe how incredible it made them taste.

Yes, marinade makes all the difference in the world when cooking meats. I don't see the point of buying expensive meat and then not soaking it in marinade. And with these coupons, the marinades can be incredibly cheap.

Of course, some people are clueless when it comes to marinades in particular and sauces in general. Such a person is my aunt whom I have always found to be quite annoying. Anyway, when I was sixteen I was visiting my uncle (her husband) and she made breakfast for myself and my 3 younger cousins who at that time ranged in age from 6 to 11. And what a HORRIBLE breakfast it was. Since my aunt was big on teflon she fried eggs by themselves in one of those pans sans butter or any other sauce. Then she cooked the bacon separately. As I told her at the time, her breakfast tasted more like it came out of a chemical lab than a kitchen. I also loudly told her that she was KILLING HER KIDS with such lousy tasteless food. Sooooooo..... I took it upon myself to RECOOK the breakfast fit for normal human beings.

First I cooked the bacon and THEN I fried the eggs in the same grease. As I told my aunt, that way the taste of the bacon would permeate the eggs. I really laid it on thick telling her that you can't cook food without using sauces, butter, marinade, garlic, etc.. I even asked the kids to rate my breakfast against that of my aunt it really pissed her off when the cousins gave my food their enthusiastic approval. What was really frightening is that until that time those cousins probably thought it was NORMAL for food to taste bland.

I knew all this was irritating my aunt which is why I thoroughly enjoyed that cooking lesson. As to my cousins, I haven't seen or heard from them in years but I am sure they still remember that breakfast that I prepared as the first time they ate food that wasn't horribly bland.

And right now, The Coupon Whisperer has three ribeye steaks sitting in some Ken's Honey Teriyaki marinade. Ready for cooking in just a few minutes.

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Cheap Dog Food and Some Great Body Wash Coupons

If you live in the Southeast, you're in luck. Starting Thursday, Publix will have a BOGO sale on 4 lb bags of Kibbles & Bits dry dog food. They normally sell for $4.99 but when you apply the $2 coupons from the Feb. 20 Red Plum they will only be about 50 cents each. This would be a good time to stock up on it. For only about 30 bucks you could have enough to feed your dog for a year.

However, if you don't live in a Publix area, there is still good news. This Sunday's Red Plum insert will have Axe shower gel coupons for Buy One Get One Free (BOGO). The only problem is that I have yet to see a store offer this item BOGO but there is always a first time. Even better news is that the April P&G insert will have a BOGO coupon for Gillette Body Wash and those I have seen BOGO in the stores so using your coupons on this item, you will get them for FREE.

The Coupon Whisperer is pretty well set in Body Wash thanx to the BOGO deal last week for Right Guard Body Wash. About a 4 month supply but I am looking to extend it to Thanksgiving if the Gillette deal works out.

Remember, the secret to effective couponing is to match the coupons with spectacular sales... And you don't get more spectacular than the BOGO sales.

Saturday, March 12, 2011

Score FREE Right Guard Body Wash or BO Sticks

If you don't score yourself a couple of FREE Right Guard body washes or BO sticks in the week ahead, then you have only yourself to blame. Why? Because this Sunday's Red Plum insert has a coupon for Buy One Get One FREE coupon for any Right Guard product. Combine that with the fact that Walgreens has a Buy One Get One Free on Right Guard body wash and BO sticks and that means you can score two of either of these products FREE. You only pay the sales tax unless you are one of those lucky souls who live in a state with NO sales tax. And I am really jealous of you folks!

A lot of you probably don't know yet that Right Guard recently introduced their own body wash. I admit that I was one of those who resisted that notion but after having used body wash, I'm sold on the concept. After all maybe half of your bar of soap is going to melt away in the shower. Better to keep soap bottled in liquid form. My wife resisted even longer than I did. I actually bought her some Nivea for Women body wash plus a bunch of Oil of Olay body wash (all FREE of course) yet she never touched them. When she asked me to get her some bars of soap, I told her no way since she had lots of body wash. This forced her to try it out and she immediately wondered why she resisted so long.

Well, this seems to be the best Walgreens deal this coming week but if any of you have Register Rewards, PLEASE give them a try at Walmart and report back here the results. Yes, you will have some resistance but the new policy definitely allows for the usage of Walgreens Register rewards there. So far this week I scored 2 FREE steaks, a barbeque chicken, sugar, and coffee at Walmart by using register rewards. A whole new world of couponing has opened up because of the new policy.

Oh, and enjoy your FREE body wash!

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

The Coupon Whisperer Scores FREE Walmart Steaks Via WAGS RRs!!!

Yes!

YES!

YESSSSSSS!!!!

Please stand by as The Coupon Whisperer performs his victory dance.

Boom! Shaka-laka-laka!

BOOM! SHAKA-LAKA-LAKA!

BOOM!!!

Well, today The Coupon Whisperer performed his magic. I went to the Walmart located here in Broward County at the corner of Atlantic and Pine Island. I walked in armed with 6 Walgreens Register Rewards...Four $3 RRs and two $2 RRs. Usually I have RRs in larger denominations of $5 or more but because the deals of the past two weeks worked out best where I got the $3 RRs, I had to work with what I had.

The first thing I did before even buying anything was to ask one of the cashiers if she was aware of the new Walmart policy about accepting Walgreens RRs. Of course she wasn't aware of this policy so she conferred with manager Chuck who confirmed that they got an e-mail last week allowing the use of WAGS RRs.

Woo! Hoo!

Then The Coupon Whisperer took his shopping cart and picked up two sirloin steaks. One was $8.21 and the other was $7.57 or just under the $16 in RRs that I had. Because my RRs were in smaller denominations, I also picked up four bottles of soda to make the total number of products 6 to match the number of coupons. Hey! I had to get soda anyways.

Well, I get to the same cashier again and after she rung up my stuff I whipped out my Register Rewards to pay. Trouble. Suddenly she gives me some spiel about "double couponing." Huh! Then she called another cashier over who I was sure hadn't a clue about the real coupon policy and the other cashier also mumbles something about "double couponing." At that point a newbie would probably be intimidated but I replied in my most confident voice:

"I am The LEGENDARY Coupon Whisperer who lives, sleeps, breaths, and writes about coupons and I can assure you that I know what double couponing is and this is NOT double couponing since the number of Register Rewards in this case does NOT exceed the total number of items purchased."

That seemed to have put both cashiers into a hypnotic trance and my cashier suddenly nodded in agreement and took my Register Rewards.

And so, my fellow Couponeers, The (LEGENDARY) Coupon Whisperer has scored his first FREE steaks at Walmart via the WAGS RRs. Right now both steaks are marinating in my FREE Ken's Teriyaki marinade which I picked up at Publix a few months ago. It is going to taste soooooo good in about an hour.

Already The Coupon Whisperer is envisioning FREE gasoline sometime in the near future.

Monday, March 7, 2011

Walmart Field Report On Accepting WAGS RRs

Well, I got pretty excited over the weekend when RummyChick ANNOUNCED Walmart's new coupon policy in which they will now be accepting Walgreens Register Rewards. Suddenly a whole new world full of glorious possibilities opened up for The Coupon Whisperer. But first to test out the new coupon policy in actual practice out in the field. Therefore, earlier today The Coupon Whisperer entered the big Broward County Walmart at the corner of Oakland Park Blvd. and State Road 7 armed with a $3 and a $2 Register Rewards.

I didn't want to start out trying anything fancy like a transaction with overage where Walmart would owe me cash change. In fact, I preferred to owe them a little bit OOP just to test out if they were accepting the Walgreens Register Rewards. With that in mind I picked up a bag of sugar and some coffee. When I got to the cashier, the expected happened. She didn't know a thing about the new policy. That was okay so I told her to check with the manager. No rush. I would smugly wait until the manager updated her. I shouldn't have been so smug. It turned out that the manager hadn't heard a thing about the new policy either. Rather than argue the point, I told her that she should check with corporate and that I would return in a couple of days WITH a copy of the new COUPON RULES.

Later this afternoon I stopped at the Walmart at Oakland Park Blvd. and University. This time I was fully expecting that EVERYBODY there would draw a blank. Same deal again. The Coupon Whisperer entered with the two register rewards and again picked up a bag of sugar and some coffee for his shopping cart. I get to the cashier and, again, a blank is drawn. Then she calls manager Kandee over and again I am expecting another blank when Kandee reassures the cashier that, yes, the new rules allows for the use of Register Rewards.

WOO! HOO!

The principle was established that Walmart WILL accept Register Rewards. However, a minor glitch. As I hand my two register rewards to the cashier for the two items she hits me with something about only ONE Register Reward per transaction. HUH? Manager Kandee wasn't sure so the transaction had to be split in two. After some awkwardness (and wasted time) splitting the transaction into two parts so I could use my two Register Rewards The Coupon Whisperer walked out of there making history as the FIRST customer to use Register Rewards at that particular Walmart. I just hope everyone gets up to date that you can use more than one RR per transaction so long as they don't exceed the number of items.

I can definitely see how a newbie couponer would be intimidated by the professed unfamiliarity with the new rules by the Walmart personnel. Such newbies would obviously feel that they, not the Walmart folks, would be in the wrong. Not so. Walmart HQ really needs to update all their managers (and cashiers) about the new policy PRONTO. And while you're at it, PLEASE let the Walmart at Oakland Park Blvd. and State Road 7 as well as at Atlantic and Pine Island, Atlantic and State Road 7, and Atlantic and Powerline know about the new policy and that would pretty much cover all the local Walmart bases for The Coupon Whisperer.

So if you are having trouble getting your local Walmarts to accept the Register Rewards then take it to the top. And I do mean the VERY top in the form of Mike Duke, the Walmart CEO. Don't be shy. E-mail Mike Duke at michael.duke@wal-mart.com. Tell him that The Coupon Whisperer is DYING to buy himself a nice juicy Walmart T-bone steak with his register rewards and that he is getting sick of eating microwave Walmart taquitos. Hurry. Because I am getting really really hungry and don't know if I can hold out much longer. Ah! Ah! AHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!

Oh, and after you take care of that major piece of business, go ahead and tell Mike about your own problems getting your local Walmart to accept your Register Rewards. However, the important thing is that The Coupon Whisperer gets access to his beloved T-bone steaks as rapidly as possible.

Saturday, March 5, 2011

One Day Left to Score 50 Cent Purex

If you had been following the coupon forums at HotCouponWorld.Com, you would have already known that Family Dollar store has a fantastic deal on Purex. The Purex with Zout 33 load bottles are on sale for just $3.50 so when you use the $3.00 Purex with Zout coupon from the February 20 Red Plum you could have scored it for only 50 cents. Tomorrow is the last day of that deal so if you have those coupons, you can stock up.

Yesterday The Coupon Whisperer was stocking up on his Purex and I had a STRANGE encounter with a Family Dollar store manager. When I showed the coupons to buy 4 bottles, the store manager said he had to check with Family Dollar HQ to find out what their coupon policy is.

WHAT???? How does a store manager NOT know what the coupon policy is? Does this mean that no one before me has ever handed more than one coupon to the cashier? BIZARRE!!! Anyway, after about 15 minutes of keeping me waiting, he said someone at HQ told him that only 2 of the same coupons would be accepted at a time which I know to be a complete crock since I have used many coupons at Family Dollar stores before. In fact, why would Family Dollar even object to the use of more than 2 coupons since they are the SAME as money. Actually even better than regular money since they also get a handling free for each coupon.

Anyway, there was no arguing with him so I got my 2 bottles of Purex and simply went to another Family Dollar store without a clueless manager.

This was like the captain of a ship wondering if rope could be used to secure his vessel to a dock.