One Person’s Coupon Trash Ends Up My Treasure
My inlaws visited us for a week recently, and while they were here, they shopped at our local Kroger quite a bit. My inlaws have lots of specific dietary needs and wants, and instead of sharing them with me so I could stock up on what they like, they chose to just go get stuff themselves when they were here. Which is nice of them - not necessary of course, for they were our guests, but it was what they wanted to do, so I gave them space in the pantry and fridge to store their stuff and let them do what they wanted.
When they left, besides getting to finish off their leftovers, my mother-in-law left for me a stack of the grocery coupons from Kroger that print out with your receipt. Not being one to turn down a coupon, I sorted through them, and found that most of them were for things we don’t buy or use. But one… one was exciting. Thrilling for me even. There was a coupon to go online and enter a code to get a $5 Starbucks gift card. My father-in-law had bought himself some Starbucks ground coffee (not realizing I had gotten special coffee just for him for his visit, which he ended up drinking instead) and that had generated a coupon for a Starbucks gift card.
So I ordered it. And it arrived yesterday afternoon (along with a $4 survey check and 50 of my 200 free 4×6 prints from ArtsCow, more on that next week with my complete review, but you can get them too) and I have been excited about it ever since. Today was a great day for the US Mail and me! A free trip to Starbucks to have a little coffee treat! There is a Starbucks in the Target just down the street from me, and I am going to jet on over this weekend on my way to taekwondo. I think I can still get a drink there for under $5, it has been so long I’m honestly not sure - but I am confident I can make it work.
And all because I looked through a pile of random coupons instead of throwing them away. Sometimes, the little things really do pay off. And a $5 gift card is a small thing to some - but has made me feel very cheery.
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!
Related entries for your reading pleasure:
May 9th, 2008 at 6:11 am
Reminds me of what happened a couple weeks ago. A friend of mine asked me for a favor, I had to take a couple of jeans to the laundromat for her. Before putting them in, I searched the pocket, and found a Macy’s gift card. So I called her to tell her about it; she had completely forgotten she had it, but it had a balance of about $10 on it. She told me I could have it (it was a $100 gift card). Needless to say I got myself a nice t-shirt. Nothing fancy, but all I had to pay was the sales tax!
Just because I searched a couple pockets…
May 9th, 2008 at 8:29 am
My 19 year old thinks I’m crazy when I get so excited about my little sprees! The other day I used up a gift card at 1/2 Price Books on 5 good magazines I like and rented a movie with a giftcard I got from my VISA points. And yesterday I noticed a coupon for Fantastic Sam’s, so I can get a discount on my haircut.
All these little things add up to nice treats and big savings down the line.
May 9th, 2008 at 10:10 am
My best friend sent me a Starbucks gift card for my last birthday and I love it. Total guilt free indulgence.
Depending on what you get you can probably get 2 drinks out of the card. Happy sipping!
May 9th, 2008 at 2:05 pm
Wow! How nice. I know, little things like that totally make my day. Yesterday, I bought makeup for $1 thanks to the future husband’s ECB coupon from CVS. If you go for plain coffee, you can easily get two at Starbucks. Enjoy!
May 9th, 2008 at 2:27 pm
Yay! What a neat thing. And how nice of your belle-mere to leave those coupons for you.
May 9th, 2008 at 3:11 pm
I love little freebies like that too! Enjoy your coffee!
@Funny about Money - There are coupons trains and coupon trading groups out there. I’ve never used one myself, but I think one common place to trade is at the public library. There’s also a coupon trading group at Baby Cheapskate.
May 10th, 2008 at 11:10 am
It is funny how great those little things can make one feel! A friend just sent me a Starbucks gift card and it really gave me a lift. And!! Putting it in my wallet inspired me to clean out all the receipts and other bits of paper that had been accumulating, and I discovered two unused Barnes & Noble gift cards and a JC Penney gift card I had forgotten about. Really good idea to go through the wallet periodically