Looking Back at My Favorites of 2010

We've had quite the year in the Deal Hunting/Blogging/Couponing World in 2010!

While I was sitting here doing my End of December and End of 2010 Financial Numbers, I got to thinking about all the deals that made up my year. 
Here is a List of my Favorite Deals and Ideas of 2010.

7.  GROUP BUYING--2010 was the Year that the Purchasing Power of the Group blossomed!  From Groupon to EverSave to Living Social.....purchasing everything from food to landscaping services in a group to get a great discount for said item/service was hot!  Even the slow adopter of all things new and trendy ME got in on a couple of group buying deals...lol  I snagged some food-type Christmas presents and a much wanted magazine subscription(my one and only subscription)near the end of 2010.

Since many of the companies that offered great discounts via group buying in 2010 did so to lure new customers toward their brand and make them repeat customers, we'll see if this marketing ploy worked in 2011.
Or will group buying be a bright hot nova that burns out quickly?  Time will tell.

6.  FOCUS GROUPS & SURVEY SITES--I've been a member of Pinecone Research for a couple of years now.  They are a highly reputable company and I recommend them if you ever see that they are soliciting for new members.  You won't get rich taking their surveys(nor will you get rich doing ANYONE'S surveys!)but it's steady compensation for the time you spend completing their questionnaires. I figure if I'm online anyway, I have time to do a survey now and again for a few dollars.
I also joined in 2010 a Focus Group company.  I've had 2 opportunities in the last 6 months to take part in a focus group, each of which paid considerably for your time(and thoughts).  I was only able to take part in 1 of them as I didn't respond back quickly enough to the 2nd offer.  With focus group work, the sessions tend to fill up quickly so if you snooze, you loose!

5.  SOCIAL MEDIA--Another "hot" idea in 2010 was companies using Facebook to promote their products.  Many major companies made Facebook pages last year and if you "Liked" their page you could take part in giveaways for Prizes and/or Coupons, including many, Many FREE ITEM COUPONS!
Sluggy "heart"  free item coupons!!
Free cheese, tea, shampoo, goat cheese, neti pots, gum, bacon, mac and cheese, pain reliever, facial tissues, cereal, vitamin supplements, chips, etc.....these are all items I got for free from liking companies on Facebook.
And if the automated system for sending out the Free Item Coupons went haywire, that was even MORE fun.....like the Free OREOS I got for liking the Oreos brand, or rather the FIVE packages of Free OREOS.lolol

4.  BLOGGING PERKS--Ok, so I am not a bigtime blogger.  I have a teeny tiny blog with a fair amount of readers(thank you all!).  The big corporations don't drop me emails to give me freebies in exchange for promoting them to my readership or fly me to conferences on their dime.  I wish they did, but they don't at this point. ;-)
But there are still some deal perks for blogging at the level I do.  I do get some interest from companies who want me to review and/or promote their items.  I don't take many up on their offers because the product has to be something I feel my readers would appreciate hearing about and/or something that's appropriate for this blog.
And I do reach out on occasion to companies myself to see if they'd be interested in supplying me with product to try and to give away to my readers. 
I am an affiliate of MyBlogSpark. They are a company that acts as a "middleman" to hooks up bloggers with companies wanting to promote their products online.  They send me offers that I usually accept.  The best part is they almost always offer a giveaway component....I like giving stuff away to my readers!

Another of the perks of Blogging is ad revenue.  If you place ads on your blog and people who come to your blog click on these ads, you will earn a small cash pittance each month.  This will eventually mean you get a check.  You can also sign up to become an affiliate of another site and earn cash or credit toward items available on their website.  It's a great passive income stream(or trickle in my case).  Just don't go overdoing it so that there are inappropriate ads or so many ads that readers can't find your content.  I've seen some blogs with ads so garish and obnoxious that it took 10 minutes for my eyes to focus again after leaving their site!lol

3.  CATALINA COUPON PROMOTIONS--Since I didn't travel much out of my local area in 2010 to the larger grocery chains, I didn't have opportunity to take advantage of many Catalina Deals.  The Cat Deals here were few and far between in 2010.  And when Weis had them they seemed always to be on products that there were NO valid coupons available for, and/or the amount you needed to spend was far greater  than the value of the Catalina you received.  Catalina Deals are only worthwhile if, with the sale prices and coupons you can use on the items, you have low out of pocket on the initial purchase and the Cat Coupon is a decent amount to roll to do the Cat Deal again.
My best 2 Catalina Deals for 2010 were both at Price Chopper NE surprisingly! Glimpse them HERE and HERE I don't usually shop at PC as their baseline prices here are always higher than Weis Markets or the local independent ShurSave affiliate stores.  But their Catalinas usually beat both of my usual grocery store.  HERE is the end of the best week of Catalina Deals at Weis Markets in 2010.  That was mid February 2010....they are well overdo for another good week! ;-)

2.  INTERNET PRINTED COUPONS--2010 for me at least was the year of the IPQ.  Our Sunday insert Coupons just got worse and worse this past year.  Less of the good regional coupons and more and more 'filler' in the insert pages of offers for trinkets and cheaply made clothing.  I know we had a Red Plum insert this year that had a total of THREE COUPONS and none of them were for FOOD!  There were 10 pages of offers to purchase bras, mumus, arthritis gloves, wolf knives, m&m clocks, porcelain babies, collector plates, ceramic dragons, etc., etc., etc.
If I had to guess, I'd say that 9 out of every 10 coupons I used in 2010 was printed off the internet.  By September I had stopped buying multiple Sunday paperspretty much and had taken to using a clipping service or eBay to obtain the good Manufacturer's coupons. 
Internet printed coupons are great but they are very limiting if you want to stock up on an item.  Being limited to 2 prints per computer of any coupon means you need to find access to multiple computers to access more of that coupon.  This is not always feasible.

And my favorite Deal Hunting/Couponing/Blogging thing for 2010......

1.  RITE-AID--I was a Rite-Aid devotee in 2009.  Back then, with the Single Check Rebate system, Rite-Aid was all about "you have to spend money to make money".  You'd buy items(and use your coupons), then have to wait for your cash refund to be mailed to you in about a month.  Of course, since you used coupons to purchase, your cash refund check was more than what you spent out of pocket, which was awesome.  But until you built up a pool of cash to buy your following month's SCR items, you were having to spend money oop.
Well in 2010 Rite-Aid introduced the Wellness + system, where certain items would give you Wellness Rewards(later on they became +Up Rewards)which were similar to Walgreen's Register Rewards or CVS's Extra Care Bucks.  Rite-Aid also kept the SCR system so you can combine getting cash rebates with the instant +Up Rewards for even better deals and less money out of pocket.  And Rite-Aid released tons of $X off $XX purchase coupons in 2010 as well as very nice high value coupons and deals if you joined the Wellness+ program.
Early on in 2010 I tried to spend less oop than I'd receive back in SCR checks.  Then I concentrated on completing SCR deals for Rite-Aid gift cards to cover my out of pocket outlays.  By April, between the free gift cards and the Wellness/later +Up Rewards, I pretty much had NO out of pocket spending for the rest of the year at Rite-Aid.  Now you have to LOVE a store that PAYS YOU to take things home, right?!!?!!
By the end of March 2010 I believe I had used up all my Walgreen's RRs and CVS ECBs and from that moment onward the only drug store I shopped at was Rite-Aid.  There were more than enough deals at Rite-Aid to keep me happy and by concentrating on just one Drug Store I believe I made better scores and I kept more of my sanity.....though the sanity part is debatable. ;-)

So what were Your favorite Couponing/Blogging Related Deals & Happenings in 2010?
Leave a comment and let us know!

Sluggy