According to their story, consumers that bought the Snuggie through the TV offer have been receiving “rebate” checks in the mail for $8.95. However, we you read the fine print you see that by cashing or depositing the check you are enrolled in a program called Great Fun, and if you don’t cancel within 30 days you will be charged for a year’s membership at a rate of $149.99. Unfortunately many Snuggie owners didn’t see that fine print and end up getting charged the membership fee for a service they weren’t even aware they were enrolling in. The practice isn’t illegal (long distance companies did this for years where by cashing a check you were agreeing to switch service, and other programs have used similar tactics), but it certainly qualifies as sneaky and makes a lot of folks irate.

For my longtime readers, you probably recognized the name Great Fun. In fact, Great Fun is a program run by Trilegiant Corporation, who I have posted about in the post Rape and Pillage Trilegiant for Free Gift Cards back in 2007. Yes, you can get tons of free money and gift cards by signing up for their trial offers and cancelling in the trial period. Just work the system in moderation, as they seem to be catching on a lot more quickly to those of us who are gaming the system for free stuff. However, if you do it right you can end up with hundreds of dollars in free gift cards and rebate checks for only the effort of signing up and calling to cancel the service.

All you have to do is work your money-saving magic through the Retentions Department. They won’t send you there if you just ask for it by name, so you have to threaten to cancel to get there and get the best deals. I called Dish Network retentions today, and my call went something like this:

BillyOceansEleven: Hi, I would like to cancel my service.

DishNetwork: I’m sorry to hear that and I see you’ve been with us for two years. May I ask why you want to cancel?

BOE: Well, money is tight so I am shopping around my service and I can get a programming package similar to my current one over at DirecTV for $29.99 a month, which is considerable less than the $44.99 before tax I’m paying you guys now.

DN: Give me a second to review your account…Okay, I can offer you a $15.00 bill credit for each of the next 12 months, which will bring your price before tax to $29.99.

BOE: Well, that would put me at the same cost as DirecTV, so let’s do that.

DN: Okay, give me a few minutes to update your account.

DN: Okay, I have added the discount to your account and you should see the first credit on your next statement. Thank you for choosing Dish Network. Goodbye.

Total time spent including navigating the phone tree to get to retentions was 3 minutes 48 seconds and total savings is $180 over the course of a year. Not too shabby!

A few pointers:

• Be absolute in your comments. Don’t say “I’m thinking about canceling.” Say “I would like to cancel.” This lets them know you mean business.
• Comparison shop and be prepared to present them will the best deal out there. Give them a reason to adjust the bill. “I think my bill is too high” is less effective than “I can switch to DirecTV and get this service for $29.99″.
• Give them some idea of what it would take to make you happy. If you simply want to lower your bill, focus on a competitor offer for the same service for less. If you really want more channels at the same price, present them with a competitor’s service offering around your current price.
• Remember that you have the most leverage when you are no longer contract. If you are under contract you probably won’t get much since they know you’ll have to pay the early termination fee if you really do cancel.

Right now through Saturday (10/25), the following items will produce Register Rewards coupons:

• Oral-B CrossAction manual toothbrush ($4.49 produces $4.50 RR)
• Alka-Seltzer Cold Plus ($4.99 produces $5.00 RR)
• St. Ives Elements products ($4.99 produces $5.00 RR)
• 3 Robitussin 4oz. Cough Syrups (3 x $5.99 = $17.97 less 3 x $3.00 printable coupons = $8.97 produces $10.00 RR plus $5.00 RR)

Also through Saturday, you can purchase items for the Easy Saver Rebates for both October and November (see catalogs here). The following items were also added to the October rebate in response to product shortages for September rebate items:

• Nivea for Men Body Wash RAINCHECK $4.99 (October Rebate #45; same as Sept. rebate #2)
• Lypsyl lip moisturizer RAINCHECK $3.99 (October Rebate #46; same as Sept. rebate #6)
• Loreal Revitalist Anti Wrinkle Concentrate RAINCHECK $16.49 (October Rebate #47; same as Sept. rebate #3)
• Chemistry Hair products RAINCHECK $7.99 (October Rebate #48; same as Sept. rebate #5)

I went out today and stopped at several stores and spent $45.80 in Walgreens gift cards and increased my roll of Register Reward coupons by $39.00 and should have another $27.98 in rebates coming, meaning I made a profit of $21.18 from today’s run (in addition to all the stuff I got). This also doesn’t include the six electric razor replacement heads I bought at less that $10 each to resell on eBay (usually go between $15 and $25).

You must remember on Register Rewards items that no matter how many items you buy a Register Reward coupon for a promotion will only print once per transaction, and you cannot use a Register Reward coupon from a promotion to get another Register Reward coupon from the same promotion. Keep those things in mind and you’re golden. The nice thing about Walgreens Register Rewards deals is that because they don’t use a card you can do the deal several times over as long as you purchase them on different transactions.

Happy hunting!!!

So what’s the verdict? It looks like it is a big YMMV based on the store manager’s discretion. Here are the results other users at SD have posted:

• Denial of a raincheck, saying it was policy that they couldn’t write rainchecks on free after ECB items.
• Success in getting a raincheck, after having to call customer service to explain to the manager how to write the raincheck.
• Getting a raincheck for the item with “free” written in the price blank.
• Getting a raincheck for the item where it is rung up at the advertised price and the ECB award amount is provided on a gift card.
• Substitute for a similar item taking the ECB amount off at time of purchase.
• Substitute for a similar item but scan the UPC for the advertised item at time of purchase to generate the ECBs.
• Calling corporate customer service for a raincheck to be mailed to you (reportedly done successfully last month).

So as you can see, there apparently isn’t a standard CVS policy for how to handle these request, or if there is they obviously don’t train their store personnel on what that is. So although it may take a few minutes (and perhaps a few tries), this may be best way to get in on these deals that never seem to be in stock without driving all over town searching.

1. Go to the main Easy Saver Rebate page at Walgreens.com.
2. If you have previously registered on their site (i.e., for online photo printing orders), enter you username and password. Otherwise just register for a new Walgreens.com account. It only takes a couple of minutes.
3. Once logged in, click on the “Claim Rebates” icon.
4. Choose the appropriate rebate month (if more than one month is active) and under the “Actions” section choose “Start/Add receipts”.
5. On the initial page you will choose the rebate offers you are claiming.
6. On the next page you will enter in your receipts. The online system uses the 20-digit reference number (RFN#) found near the top of your in-store receipt. Enter in all of your receipts and then click next.
7. On the next page you choose how you want to be paid for your rebates. You can either request a check, or you can request a new gift card or an addition to a gift card received from a prior Easy Saver Rebate promotion. The great thing about the gift card is that you get a 10% bonus on the rebate amount automatically added.
8. On the last page you verify the rebate details. Here you can either click “Submit” to send your rebate to final processing (this means you can’t add any more receipts or claim any more rebates for the month), or you can choose “Save and Return Later” if you think you’ll have more receipts to add. If you save, the system will automatically process whatever you have entered for payment at the end of the promotion period, so you don’t have to worry about going back to click the submit button.

I just think it is awesome that we no longer have to send in original receipts and waste a stamp to collect the rebate. Here are some helpful hints and observations about the new system:

• By entering receipts throughout the month, you can very quickly find out if a purchase qualifies for a rebate offer. Typically after the receipt is entered online it will be reviewed and validated within 48 hours, and you will receive an email stating which offers you have made valid claims for. If something isn’t valid, you have enough time to take it back and exchange for the correct items.
• Within the same system you can also easily see the status of your prior months’ rebate claims, including amounts and shipment dates.
• If the dates overlap between rebate periods, you cannot use the same receipt to submit for rebates in two different months. If you are shopping during an overlap period, make sure to put the items for different periods on different receipts.

Happy hunting!!!

However, thanks to the internet I have a new way of couponing that I think is much more efficient and still gets you most of the deals. Here’s the method:

1. Gather your coupon inserts from the paper, put them in large letter size envelopes, and file them away in a filing cabinet or storage box. How you file them is up to you. If you normally have multiple inserts, it may make sense to put the SmartSource and Redplum inserts for the week in their own envelopes. However, if you typically get just one insert, you could just put both of the inserts for the week in a single folder. The idea is that the inserts should ultimately be organized by date for easy retrieval.
2. As you are reviewing deals for the week, do a search for particular items in the coupon database at HotCouponWorld.com (requires registration). Although not foolproof, the database will typically tell you if there are any known coupons for the product and in what insert the coupon was in. It will also typically link to any printable internet coupons that are available. Make a note of which coupons are in which inserts.
3. Using the list you made in step two, pull the inserts with the coupons you want and clip just the coupon you’re looking for and put the rest of the insert back in the envelope and file it away. That way you will be able to find it the next time you need a coupon from the insert. Note that the coupon inserts do vary in different parts of the country, so just because a coupon is listed in the HCW database doesn’t mean your insert will have the same coupon.

That’s it. Doing this you will only cut out the coupons you need which saves a ton of time. There are a few drawbacks to this method that I do fully acknowledge:

1. This method requires planning of deals before you head to the store.
2. Using this method you may miss out on some deals on items that are on sale or clearance that were not advertised since you didn’t know to cut the coupons beforehand.
3. You do have to keep the inserts organized, and it is difficult to know when all of the coupons are expired and you can safely throw out an old insert.

So for better or worse, that is my couponing method. No Sundays in front of the TV with a pair of scissors. No coupon wallet or binder to bring along on each trip to the store. Just a little bit of planning, a little bit of technology (thanks again for this internet thing, Al Gore!), and a lot of savings!

So why is discussion of money-saving deals so prevalent on this blog? It is because of my belief that a penny saved is better than a penny earned, and here are some of the reasons why:

1. Extra income is taxable, extra savings are not. Whenever you get a raise or bonus in your job, Uncle Sam is going to take a portion of that away in taxes. Right off the top, you are losing 10-33% of what you earned, and the more you earn the higher the percentage that is taken away. However, if you use smart shopping techniques to effectively lower your cost of living there is no additional tax that is due. So assuming you are in a 25% marginal tax bracket, working hard to earn an extra dollar of salary improves your position by 75 cents, but lowering your expenses by a dollar improves your position a full dollar.
2. Jobs come and go, but good spending habits last forever. As I have mentioned before on my blog, I recently was laid off from my job. Yes it sucks, but it isn’t an immediate financial crisis for our family. Why? Because both my wife and I have good spending habits and live well below our means, so we have plenty in savings to get us through this time.
3. Smart shopping encourages stockpiling. If you find something on sale, the inclination is to buy as much as you think is reasonable. Although it takes room to store the stuff, it is incredibly convenient to have many of your daily necessities on hand. If I had to guess I would say we won’t have to buy diapers for at least 9 months, won’t have to buy soap or shampoo for at least 2 years, or deodorant for at least a year. Not to mention the stockpiles of canned food we have in our pantry. Should we ever fall into a major economic crisis, and these days the idea is not that far-fetched, we would have plenty of most of the things we need already, and may even have enough to barter for things we don’t already have. It is also great in case there is a hurricane or other natural disaster that interrupts supply lines for more than a few days.
4. Smart shopping can save you time and money in other areas. One of the other benefits of smart spending habits is that you tend to stockpile large quantities of items during sales. This is great in my current unemployed state in that we don’t really have to go out and buy that much to meet our needs, allowing us to minimize our expenditures while I am still looking for another job. But also consider how many unnecessary trips to the store having stuff at home eliminates. Going out to the grocery store for that last item you need to finish cooking dinner costs you time in making the trip and money in the gas it takes you to get to the grocery, not to mention the wear and tear on your vehicle from frequent short trips.
5. It is fun! Okay, not everyone will agree with this, but there is a certain amount of fun that comes from trying to track down that amazing unbelievable deal. For me the Walgreens diaper deal was one of the funnest things I’ve done in a while. At least for some of us, there is a certain rush that comes from getting something for almost nothing, free, or in some cases even being paid to take something.

I should point out that there is some wisdom in avoiding the situation of being “penny wise, pound foolish”. Hunting deals is never going to be the primary way one can provide for their family, so it is important that your deal hunting not interfere with your regular job duties or business. All things are best done in moderation, and smart spending habits are just a part of a successful game plan in the fight for financial independence. However, this is a great way of maximizing that regular income and making it go even further to improve your standard of living and sense of financial peace.

My brother-in-law and his wife are expecting any day now (I think their due date is in two weeks), so they were certainly very interested in the diaper deal. So the three of us hopped in the car and started hitting Walgreens stores for diapers. We made three stops and all three were successful for all three of us. No issues except at our second stop where the manager kept telling the other cashier on duty she could do the transaction for us but “after these no more”. They ended up with 50 packs between the two of them, and I came away with an additional 30 packs. We probably would have tried another stop, but we ran out of room to put the diapers in my Honda Accord.

We returned to my house where we unloaded my loot into the house and theirs into their car. We still had more coupons, so when my wife and I went out for the evening leaving the twins with the brother-in-law and his wife we made a quick stop by Walgreens to try the deal one last time. We were both successful in getting ten packs each, so add another 20 packs to our total. As a side note, the brother-in-law and his wife also hit another location on the way home after we returned from our night out and added another 9 packs of diapers to the total to end at 59 packs of diapers and 11 packs of wipes purchased as filler.

So in yesterday’s hits between my wife and I we spent another $0.07 out of pocket and came away with another 50 packs of diapers, along with another 50 Dove dark chocolate bars and $25 in register rewards coupons. Additionally, the Dove bars were enough to earn us another 5 free movie tickets through the deal on the EasySaver rebate this month. So new grand totals:

• The Loot
  • 89 packs of Premium diapers and 48 packs of Premium training pants, relatively evenly divided between diaper sizes 3 to 6 and training pant sizes 2T/3T and 3T/4T.
  • 78 bars of Dove dark chocolate (my wife loves the stuff)
  • 2 Walgreens water filter cartridges (August EasySaver Rebate item)
  • 3 Vacuum storage bags (August EasySaver Rebate item)
  • 1 pack of Crayola Markers (July EasySaver Rebate item)
  • 1 pack of G2 pens (July EasySaver Rebate item)
  • 1 bottle Pert Plus (August EasySaver Rebate item)
  • 1 pack of Walgreens light bulbs (August EasySaver Rebate item)
  • 18 folders, 6 highlighters, 4 packs of mechanical pencils and 2 mini composition books (5cent items used as fillers)
  • 1 2-liter of Diet Coke
• The rewards
  • $48.01 in EasySaver rebates (between two accounts and including the 10% bonus for requesting a gift card), plus eight movie tickets through the August Mars EasySaver rebate offer
  • $80.00 in Register rewards
• Out of pocket expense
• $1.25 total, paid using gift cards from previous Walgreens rebates

I will report that we have now been using these diapers for about a day now and have been very impressed with the quality. My daughter is having no problems with the premium size 3 diapers and my son hasn’t had any leaks or issues in the regular size 4 diapers (this was our lone pack of regular since they had nothing else left at one of my stops yesterday). Needless to say I am very happy with the Walgreens diapers, especially since they paid me to take them. =)

Sorry, no updated trophy picture of the diaper pile. The pile collapsed on us as we brought in the new packs, and we didn’t feel like restacking them. However, once we figure out where we are permanently storing all of these diapers I may post an updated picture.

1. Fewer deals. What was free after Extra Care Bucks for July? Tampons and panty liners. Somehow as a 6 foot tall man I have trouble getting excited about that. Of course they did have the free photo books last week, but overall the deals haven’t been great this month, and they weren’t especially good in June either. Hopefully August will see and improvement in the deals.
2. Fewer coupons. Six months ago it seemed like there was always a plethora of coupons out there to make your CVS deals even better. Now the classic $ off $$ coupons are nowhere to be found, and most serious shoppers aren’t getting coupons on their receipts anymore either. And don’t post a link to a CVS coupon if they do by some miracle release one, or the CVS gestapo will come after you!
3. More coupon nazis. It seems like a lot of the CVS stores in the Houston area have decided coupon shoppers are public enemy number one. There have been numerous reports of stores only allowing a single CVS coupon per visit (and including the Extra Care Bucks in that limit) and refusals of coupons printed from the CVS website. I got this last month when trying to redeem a transferred prescription coupon, which was refused initially with a BS story that my prescription was subsidized through Medicare (sorry, I’m middle class, so I get nothing from the government except a tax bill) and then refused because it was a “copy”. I was so mad I called Walgreens from the CVS pharmacy counter and transferred the prescription over there, and they accepted my CVS coupon without issue. It is sad when Walgreens is willing to accept a CVS coupon but CVS isn’t!

So there is my explanation for being down on CVS right now. Thankfully Walgreens seems to be getting better with the deals, and they have even had $5 of $20 purchase coupons on multiple occasions over the last few months.

1. On this deal you earn cold hard cash. Gift cards are nice, but you can spend cash anywhere.
2. This is a one-time commitment. As long as you sign up for the basic plan that doesn’t charge a monthly fee, you open the account and do your initial transaction and just wait for your bonus to hit the account, at which point you transfer the cash back to your checking account. There is no need to call and cancel the account and listen to a cheesy scripted sales pitch.

So how does it work? You basically sign up for a basic account with no monthly fee using a valid promotion code (Hustler Money Blog has listed several along with detailed instructions, but you can also find them by searching the forums at FatWallet and SlickDeals or by doing a Google search for “Sharebuilder promo code”), transfer $5 from your checking account ($4 for the transaction fee and the $1 minimum investment), and then buy $1 of whatever stock you want. Four to six weeks later you’ll get an email saying the bonus has been credited to your account, at which point you can transfer the bonus back to your checking account.

As I said, I did these quite a bit a few years ago, but I abused it badly and got my accounts shutdown. However, I can offer these helpful tips:

1. You can open multiple accounts, but stagger your applications by a few months to reduce the chance of getting flagged for abuse. They now monitor this a lot closer than they used to (I once signed up for 11 accounts in a day without issue).
2. You can only use a promotion code once per person, but you can use it for others in your household as well. So sign up the wife and kids as well!
3. Invest your minimum investment in the same stock in each of your accounts. After you have collected your bonus, you can transfer the stock into a single account. After you have transferred it into a single account you can sell if you want and only pay a single broker commission.

Enjoy the deal!