Moral of the story-SAVE YOUR RECEIPTS!!

Ok... Today makes the second time this has happened to me in less than a month, so I thought I might need to share this.. I started saving ALL of my grocery store receipts back in March when I started couponing. The reason was so I could track how much I was spending vs Saving and so I could see how much my grocery budget dropped. Well, I did really good at that for about a month, and then I quit tracking it cuz I found out REALLY quickly that I was saving a LOT of money and didn't feel the need to track it. I kept saving my receipts though. No real reason, just seemed like a good thing to do.

Back in July, I participated in the All You Grocery Challenge and I HAD to save all of my receipts. When I was going through them all to get them organized and ready to mail in if need be, I noticed that I had qualified for a Publix rebate, not once, but THREE times during that time period. I decided that a GUARANTEED $30 in cash was MUCH better than a small chance to win $1000, so I scrapped the contest and mailed in my receipts for my $30 rebate. Cool thing was that I didn't spend anywhere NEAR $30 on the items I bought for the rebate, so I actually  made about $15 profit through that rebate!!

Today, I checked my mail which I LOVE to do these days cuz there is ALWAYS something free in my box. I got a booklet of coupons from Nabisco with some great coupons in it. (Go to www.nabiscoworld.com/back-to-school/ if you want the booklet I'm talking about). While I was flipping through it, I saw another rebate that I had NO idea was going on. It was for $20 and I thought to myself, "Hmmm... I think I've bought some of that stuff".  I pulled out my receipts (and for this one, no UPC's were needed-YIPEE) and started looking. The rebate runs through the end of December and I'm only 3 boxes of Nabisco cookies/crackers, 2 Capri Suns, and 5 Easy Mac cups away from earning it! Considering how much that stuff goes on sale, I don't see ANY reason why I shouldn't be able to do it before then! Cool part is, up until this point, I've only spent 15.16 on the items needed to qualify for the rebate. I estimate that I will probably spend about 9.00 on the remaining (could be less) items and if that's the case, I will have gotten 10 Nabisco crackers/cookies, 5 Capri Sun 10 Paks, and 5 Easy Mac Cups for a whopping $4.16!!!!!!!!

Ok, do you see my point??? Save your receipts and LOOK OUT FOR MAIL-IN REBATES. Do remember to make copies of EVERYTHING!!! I keep mine in a folder so I can keep up with how much I'm getting back and so I can check into it if I don't get the money back. Right now, I am currently waiting for $87.99 in rebates!!! Now you see why I love going to the mailbox!!!