At least I’m honest!  Decided to pay upfront for my special order of 40 cans of Old El Paso refried beans (using rain check), plus 28 bags of Kibble & Bits (they’re BOGO at $5.99 with a $1.50/1 from the 7/24 RP – other regions got better coupons… oh well), some tortillas, cilantro and expensive milk.  Total pre-coupon was over $125, so that’s pretty much all I need for the last Miller beer rebate.  (You are only seeing a couple bags of the dog food and two cans of OEP beans). Used a $7/$70 store cat, 28 of the Kibble coupons and $13 in OEP.  After coupons I was at $54.53, which is incredibly high for me, but you have to remember I bought 112 pounds of Crack Cocaine (that’s dog speak for the Kibble), so I should be good on that end for at least a couple of days… and I’m getting back $25 from the Miller rebate.

Got your attention now?  This deal will be blown out of the water very soon, so jump on it now.  Jewel is running a Buy $100 worth of gift cards and receive a $10 catalina towards a Jewel Gift Card Purchase.  Pay a $5.95 activation fee for the gift card (not Jewel).

Here’s where it gets sweet:  Buy a VISA gift card for $500 (I ran the first one using my DIscover Card) with a $5.95 activation fee charged.  Five of the Jewel gift card cats spit out.  Take a Jewel card from the card mall and have the five cats added to the card.

Second and all subsequent transactions:  Buy a VISA card with the previously purchased card.  Pay the $5.95 activation charge with the cash put on your Jewel card.  Rinse and repeat.

WARNING:  You must use a cashier for this, not self-scan.  Do not use Customer Service Desk because they do not have a catalina printer.  Do not use American Express because they put a 4 hour hold on the card after activation.  Do not use MC because I don’t believe it’s working on this deal AND they don’t have a variable amount card going up to $400.  Other gift cards have different purchase policies, i.e., cash only for purchase, 24-hour hold after activation… Stick with the various VISA gift cards.

What’s nice is that you can then use the VISA gift card to pay other bills, so you’re really not putting out cash.  For example, pay your cell bill at a store with it.

If you’re running the Buy 10 get $5 off instantly promotion this week at Jewel, you’ll want to print out the Nature Valley granola bars coupons and Chex Mix ones and Pillsbury rolls and Yoplait …well, better just check them all.  They do reach print limits and once they’re gone…

Found more coupons on the BettyCrocker.com site.  You do have to register first (or log in), but then click the top tab at coupons.

Remember my post about the Old El Paso refried beans being part of the Buy 10 promo?  Then my post about them not being part of the promo?  This is the post where I tell you that yes they are marked on the shelf as being part of the promotion and they generate the bonus box tops for school cats, but they do not trigger the $5 instant value discount.  Customer service even checked the computer files to see if there was any mention of difficulties in getting the instant discount – nothing.  Surprisingly enough, though, they had been warned that there might be problems with the bonus box tops for schools.

Since it shows on the shelf tags, your options are to wait until the problem is fixed or buy it and have customer service either manually take off the $5 at the register or after you’ve paid.  Even without coupons, you’re looking at .50 cans for refried beans when the normal (hahaha) shelf price is $1.79.  This is definitely a stock-up price for us.   And frankly, I wouldn’t wait, ’cause corporate might just decide that it’s easier to remove the products altogether!  nah, they would never do that!