Year End Rebate Madness Wrap Up

So last night I spent a couple hours going through my stack of receipts from the end of the year (September to December roughly) to match to rebates I need to get filled out, copied/scanned and mailed out. It took ages to sort them. First I pulled the ones that had items I needed for rebates. Then I sorted them by the rebate so I made sure I had all of them covered.

The good news is I only didn’t buy a couple rebates worth of stuff (firelogs and a produce item more than $3). Which means I have around $100 more in rebates to send out for, which will bring my yearly total to around $400. Not too bad for missing a bunch of them and not buying every rebate since we don’t really need some stuff.

I told Tim (my husband) he can keep any I send in his name to buy a light saber part. So he will be happy when checks start coming in as well.

Let this be a lesson if you think rebates are just as negligible as coupons. Most of the rebates I have now are for meat, produce, cheese and holiday decorations (lights, bows, cards). Which are things we don’t always have coupons for which are now paying for themselves. Not a bad deal when you think about it.

The Two Faces of Couponing in Maine

I happily live in Maine. I live on the border so I have the option of shopping in New Hampshire as easily, and often more easily, than in Maine. All the state asks in return is a usage tax to make up for loss revenue. Not a bad trade off most times.

Take for instance the fact that Maine does not allow alcohol companies to require we purchase their product for a rebate. Which means if Coors or Bud or even Sutter Home offers a rebate good in Maine I can not buy the alcohol and still get my cash off food or giftcards or whatever. Although not a heavy drinker I do allow such rebates to influence my few purchases for gifts or to fertilize my lawn.

We also have some of the best seafood prices in the country which means my seafood winetags and rebates go further and buy fresher seafood than you might get in say South Dakota.

On the other side of the coin is the stuff I have to purchase in Maine that cost more. Such as drinks in a bottle or can. I have some nice bottled water coupons, but they will at best eat half the bottle deposit for the water purchased. Which means I will buy store brand instead of our preferred brand (after all Poland Spring is what it means to be from Maine, right?) to try and come out ahead. Although then I have to try to remember to return the bottles instead of just taking them to the transfer station. we still have a case of Smirnoff Ice from this summer we haven’t gotten around to returning yet.

I don’t mind the tax as much as the bottle deposits. I suppose if you are buying alot it adds up, but it never seems to do me in compared to the savings. I mean if I get $100 worth of stuff for $10 plus tax I can’t complain much.

In the end I am a proud citizen and enjoy the benefits of living here. Now if I could just get me some tourist repellent for the summers I’d be all set.

End of the Year Rebate Madness

I went through my coupons last week and picked out all the ones expiring 12/31/2009. What a haul I have stored away and so little time to use them. I’ve weeded through to use the ones I know are good deals, but alas many will get shipped to the troops instead.

Along with the coupons expiring the deadline for many rebates is upon us. Which means lots of last minute buying to round out amounts and get them in the mail next week when USPS is back up and running. The good thing is many of the rebates will include stuff on sale or clearance after the holidays including meat, decorations, and all sorts of other food items.

I have seperated out almost $150 worth of rebates I still need to do, and I know I am still looking for some I do not have. Some are being sent in my husband’s name which will go towards his Crystal Focus fund (light saber stuff) so I will be sharing that $150. well worth it though.

So go through all those rebates you’ve been meaning to do, the try-me-free items, beer rebates, winetag rebates and make a list. Check it twice and you can find out if your haul will be naughty or nice.

Need vs. Want

In today’s still crumbling economy, it is a rat race to get to the good deals. Many people seem to think that they are entitled to buy thirty of something since there are thirty on the shelf, even if its the last thirty in the store. Still others think they can judge you for taking ten of those thirty items, since as a single adult you can’t possibly use ten, even if there are twenty left for the next shopper and more out back beside.

It seems everywhere I turn there are rude ignorant people out to make me feel bad for shopping and finding and using coupons. Which only goes about creating hard feelings and showing new couponers that they cannot trust anyone because you never know when someone might go from friendly to jealous and stab you in the back.

A popular forum listed in the glossary here has banned me for being “rude” without any prior warning. Which leads me to believe they just don’t like me. I’ve been a mod and an admin on enough large forums to know you don’t EVER deviate from your own rules unless someone tries to hack your forum. Which I clearly did not.And since no clear example of me being mean could be furnished it smelled of simple favoritism. Just because you run a forum/blog/website doesn’t mean you are above the law. It just means you have to continually ban people who see you for the greedy, self serving brats you are. Obviously you do this only for monetary gain and the better chance to get the coupons you want, since people are too blind to realize that people trade with mods/admins hoping to gain favoritism. Sickening.

Another forum has a member with a signature line about how it must be Smash&grabbing if you have more winetag than you can possibly use instead of leaving enough for others. When I contacted her to mention I make one to two dozen or more trips to almost a dozen different stores and thus have alot more coupons than some people, she still said obviously since I was hoarding winetags I was greedy. Now if I was hoarding peanut butter I was not. Contradictory or what? My mention that several members wouldn’t find me greedy as I sent them large envelopes of winetags, without asking a thing in return, was ignored since clearly it did not support her theory.

Something in the chase, the adrenaline rush, the missed deal seems to bring out the rabid fangs of jealousy. That most couponers are women and thus more emotional and hormonal doesn’t seem to help. We tend to get so caught up in trying to find the good deal we forget to not turn on each other without provocation. Instead we start calling each other greedy and slamming people for asking that they get what they are supposed to and tell them they should “fly under the radar” at all costs. Which is just another euphemism for bending over and taking it and praying you can fix it other ways. Which makes you feel victimized and weak, not empowered for taking your finances into your own hands.

My own feelings are that you have to look at yourself in the mirror and sleep with yourself at night. If you take every winetag and tearpad you see and sell them on Ebay, I can’t say I agree with you, but you aren’t going to stop because I tell you to. Calling you greedy isn’t going to make it different either, and a newbie is going to see right through to the jealous rage causing the issue.

I have always been blessed to find plenty of coupons and deals. I do go out of my way at times to do so, and thus work hard to get what I have. Yes winetags are hard to find in some areas of Maine, but I drive 30mins out of my way to search in York, another 30mins to search in Wells. If I find what I want I’ve earned it. If you don’t want to search in new places you probably won’t find them. Thats the trade off. I trade my winetags with others, and find more often than not the person whining about not finding any also wants every last winetag I have but not to trade their own winetags in return. Which tells me they are very much greedy and jealous and just mean spirited. Karma clearly isn’t going to reward such behavior.

So go forth, search and be frugal. But remember to use your own discretion so that you don’t have doubts as to whether you’ve been greedy and mean about it.