Looking Back At My Favorites of 2009

So it's been quite the year in the Deal Hunting and Couponing World in 2009!

While I was sitting here doing my End of December and End of 2009 Financial Numbers, I got to thinking about all the deals and rebates that made up my year. 
Here is a List of my 15 Favorite Deals, Rebates and Ideas for 2009, in no particular order.

1.  KMart Super Double Coupons Event
From April until October of 2009, the KMart Corporation sporadically offered weekly Sales Events where they DOUBLED and in some cases TRIPLED the Value of Manufacturer's Coupons/Internet Printed Coupons that were redeemed in their stores.  Combined with some weekly sales, KMart $X off a $X Purchase Coupons and Catalina Offers and there were many FREE or very Low Cost items to be had this year.  As there are 5 KMarts within a 30 mile radius here which all participated in this Double Coupons Event each time it was offered by the chain, and these locals also reordered/restocked fairly rapidly, KMart was one of my favorite places to be in 2009.
TWO BIG THUMBS UP KMART!

2.  Acme Grocery Catalina Deals
Though I don't have a SuperValu chain Grocery Store locally,  this chain offered a Catalina Deal twice this year that was so awesome that it was worth it for me to drive an hour away to an Acme Store get in on these deals.   I actually made two trips down for this one HERE.

3.  Rite-Aid Single Check Rebates
The adage, "It Takes Money to Make Money", is central to to getting stuff for FREE at Rite-Aid.  With their system, you buy items and submit for your rebates either online or through the mail, and you receive ONE combined Rebate Check.  You can combine these rebates(some of which are for the full purchase price)with using store and manufacturer's coupons and buying the items when they are on sale as well to end up being PAID to buy SCR items.

4.  Weis Gillette Catalina Deal 
In June Weis offered the BEST Catalina Deal I ever saw them offer thus far.  Between sale prices, Instant Savings at the Register and Coupons, you could get Gillette products(Body Wash, Shampoo, Razors, Shaving Cream) for FREE or almost free.  Check it out HERE, the Double Dip HERE and my final haul HERE.

5.  Price Chopper Unilever Deal + Ham Rebate
Buy $40 in regular shelf price of select Unilever items and receive a $20 OYNO Coupon.  Keep your Out of Pocket to $20 using sales and coupons, and each subsequent transaction cost you ZERO out of pocket and generates another $20 OYNO Catalina.  Unilever simultaneously offered a Mail-In Rebate when you bought $40 in their products AND a Ham or Turkey(up to $20 in price) and submitted your receipts and qualifier, you received a Rebate on the cost of the Meat.  HERE

6.  Staples Reams of Paper Deal
 Back in late March/early April there was a great Rebate offer at Staples on Cases of Multipurpose Paper that was being discontinued. Between the sale price, the rebate offer and the Staples reward on paper purchases I posted about HERE, lots of folks got paper for around 72¢ a ream!


7.  Free Purex 3-in-1 Detergent
Back in March, I was selected to be one of the 1st 100 people in the country to try this new product.  It was all very hush-hush and we all got a package of the Detergent Sheets and a Free Item Coupon, as well as the ability to have the company send Free Item Coupons to our friends with email addys.  With the new product release later in the year came alot of high value coupons and sales, making for very cheap or free Purex product.  I enjoyed the great deals but I also had some misgivings about this product as you can see HERE.  Later it turns out that the sheets are not only not eco-friendly but they can cause washing machine malfunctions and end up costing you money in repairs.  That being said, they are GREAT to send with #1 son so he can do his laundry!lol

8.  Free Chocolate Fridays
The Mars Company held a Candy Bar Giveaway every Friday over the summer months.  You could 'win' a free candy bar up to 5 times over the course of the Giveaway.  After the 1st Friday that turned out to be a disaster due to an overwhelming response, as my post Here demonstrated, this was quite the popular Giveaway and scored major points with most consumers.  I suspect there are a lot of us here who had free chocolate thanks to the Mars Company. 8-)

9.  Price Chopper Triple Coupons Event in March
Early March saw the local regional grocery chain, Price Chopper, offered 2 Coupon Tripler Coupons in the local Sunday paper.  After buying 11 newspapers that week to get 22 Tripler Qs, I had 11 good shopping trips that week to Price Chopper Here.  While it wasn't an epic scale shopping extravaganza, it was all good.  The bad part is that this was the ONLY time in 2009 that the local Price Chopper offered these Triple Coupons on any product.

10.  Kellogg's Fuel 4 School Rebate
Late Summer to Early Fall Kellogg's ran a MIR called "Fuel for School".  You had to purchase 10 qualifying Kellogg's/Keebler items in ONE RECEIPT, then send in one of the numerous forms available for this rebate with the receipt and the UPCs from the products and Kellogg's sent you back a check for $10.  With sales and coupons, this Rebate turned out to cost less than $10 out of pocket so a nice Moneymaker!  Even better, though the rebate was a limit of 1 per name/address, there were Four  DIFFERENT PO BOX ADDRESSES to send the rebate to(depending on which rebate forms you had), meaning you could send up to FOUR Times for this Rebate per name/address.  I only mentioned this rebate a few times, HERE I mentioned it briefly in conjunction with a Kmart Double Coupon Event Week haul.

11.  SC Johnson Rebates + Glade Deals + Free Holiday MP3s
SC Johnson offered a $5 MIRebate(WYB 3 SC Johnson products)this fall that I blogged about HERE.
Target and KMart along with other stores offered great sales deals on the Glade line of SC Johnson products so you could have ended up paying out LESS $ than you got back in the end.  Add in that you could do this MIR up to THREE TIMES per name/address and there were 36 FREE Holiday Music downloads available if you had the UPC from the products you had purchased I posted about HERE.

12.  Hickory Farms Clearance Deals
January brought us After Christmas Clearances.  You can see what I bought Here.  Looking back, I do think I overdid it a bit.  I did end up having to throw out a couple of items that didn't get eaten before it's expiration date.  Again, it's NOT a deal if you have to throw it out.lol

13.  FREE Reese's Whipps Candy Bars
Again, another new item in the market, so Hershey's releases good coupons for this item.  Pair those Qs with a lot of sales and you get a lot of free candy bars!  We were eating free Candy Bars until we just couldn't stand looking at one of THESE another moment.

14.  Deal Trifectas--Any Company that offered one
A Deal Trifecta is a product that is on sale, has a high value coupon available for it and also offers a rebate of some kind(either Catalina/Mail-In/Free Product Offer).  In the best of all possible worlds you not only get the item for free in the end, but you also MAKE MONEY for buying it.   This is often the case at Rite-Aid if you buy prudently.

15. Me + Meal Planning=Less Waste/Less Spending
Since I began a weekly menu/meal plan in 2009, I find I am better at not letting food go to waste but I am also making better purchasing choices and my family is eating a better diet.  It has led to my being more organized in the kitchen, which has led to being more organized in other areas of my life.
I HEART Meal Planning!
This is not to say that there is NOT a time and a place to be spontaneous in the Kitchen.  Both have their place in my life.

So what were Your favorite Couponing Related Deals & Happenings in 2009?
Leave a comment and let us know!

Sluggy