Ask I Heart Publix

It seems like our stacks of questions is getting a little low, and I KNOW you guys have more, so make sure you keep sending in those questions!
As always a big thanks to my buddy Christy over at Haphazardly Hobbying who gives me so much help to get the questions answered. Remember–there is a tab at the top of the site called “Q & A” where I organize the questions and answers from this feature so that it can serve as a quick reference!
Here are this week’s questions:

1. Can I buy a Publix Gift Card with my overage from coupons and deals?
2. What do you do if you have a brand loyalty for certain items but the item isn’t on sale and there’s no coupon available?
3. Why are some of the things in your Sneak Peek not labeled as on sale in my Publix?
4. Why did my Publix stop taking a particular competitor’s coupons?
5. How does the cost of printer ink and paper effect your savings, and where can I get ink and paper cheaply?
6. What are some good coupon websites for grocery stores in other states?
7. Can I freeze sandwich (deli) meat?
8. Is it ok to take a peelie off an item if you’re not buying it right then? How about if you plan to buy the item at another store?
9. Can I use 2 coupons for a free product with a BOGO sale, thus making the BOGO a money maker?
10. How long should I expect to wait for you to answer my “Ask I Heart Publix” question?

And here are the answers!

1. Julie wants to know: Can I buy a Publix Gift Card with my overage from coupons and deals?

Christy: This is going to depend on your store; if they allow overages in the first place you may be able to purchase a gift card. Like every other situation of this nature, I’d suggest asking at your customer service desk before you try to do the deal.
Michelle: If your store allows overage then you should be able to add in a gift card to “absorb” the overage. 

2. Jaclyn wants to know: Do you only purchase and use items that are on sale or do you have a brand loyalty for certain items? If so, what do you do when the item is not on sale and there is no coupon available?

Christy: For the most part, I’m not very brand loyal – I’ll use most brands of paper products, frozen pizzas pretty much all taste the same to me, and BOGOs have made it so I’ll never run out of cereal choices (I literally have 16 different unopened boxes of cereal in my pantry right now). However – and this is a big however – my husband used to be a professional chef (I know, poor me, right??) and he is very picky about certain types of things. For example, he literally won’t touch any kind of mustard but Grey Poupon, isn’t interested in deli meat if it’s not Boar’s Head, only likes Publix bakery bread, etc. This frustrates the deal-seeker in me, because do you KNOW how much that stuff COSTS?? (Of course you do!)
When stuff he loves does go on sale, I buy TONS – there are probably 16 Grey Poupons in my pantry right now, too – as much as we’ll use before it expires. But when a particular item that he wants isn’t on sale and there’s no coupon, I just suck it up and pay full price. Even though it goes against all my couponing principles, I gotta keep my cook happy :).
Michelle:  I don’t have a ton of things but there are a few.  That is why I think having matchups for the entire ad (and Advantage Buy flyers) is very useful.  Everyone has some things that they prefer and it is nice to know when they are on sale or when there are coupons available.  Most of you know that here at my house Ovaltine is a must.  I was so thrilled when the $2/1 printables came out and I was able to add about 15 canisters to my stockpile as I normally had to pay full price. 
For things that I need (or want) to buy where there is not a sale or coupon–I usually try to plan my trip so that I can use overage to absorb some of the cost.  I also make sure there is wiggle room in my budget and take these items into consideration when I make my weekly shopping list.  If I am getting other things for next to nothing–a high cost item is not that big of a budget buster if I plan accordingly!

3. Danielle wants to know: Sometimes I see things in the weekly ad or on your sneak peek that are not labeled in my store as being on sale. Do I go by what is labeled in the store as being on sale, or what is in the weekly ad? Can stores choose to only participate in some of the advertised weekly sales?

Christy: Always go by the ad in your store – it’s possible that a shelf tag didn’t get put up or got knocked off by another customer. Your store will always honor the price listed in their ad, and will give you a rain check for any items they’re out of.
Michelle:  The ad I list is the metro Atlanta version of the ad.  There may be variations in price or even ommissions or additions based on your area.  The list I provide is meant to help you make a plan but you will definitely want to check out your ad to confirm items and pricing.  If it is in your ad you should find the item at that price.  If you don’t then you might be able to take advantage of the Publix Promise.The Publix Promise guarantees that if during checkout, the scanned price of an item (excluding alcohol and tobacco products) exceeds the shelf price or advertised price, they will give the customer one of that item free. The remaining items will be charged at the lower price.

4. Chrissy wants to know: What makes a store stop taking a particular competitor’s coupons? My store used to accept Target coupons but won’t anymore!

Christy: This depends entirely upon the store and district manager – they are the ones that determine which competitor coupons they’ll accept. However, if you hear that your store won’t accept a particular kind of coupon anymore from a cashier or a customer service rep, I’d ask for the manager (or call later, if necessary) and verify the new store policy – you never know what gets lost in translation!

5. Dana wants to know: Have you ever figured out the cost of ink and paper to print coupons, to see how that effects your savings? Also, where do you find the best deals on ink and paper?

Christy: (We answered a question about ink deals a few weeks ago (HERE), so I’m just going to talk about paper deals today.) I’ve never actually figured out the cost of ink and paper to print coupons – I use my laser printer for other things, too, so I hadn’t really thought about it as a strictly-couponing expense, though of course my toner usage is way up because of all the coupons I print. I always watch the office supply stores (in my area, Office Depot and Office Max) for deals, and I’m also a member of their individual rewards programs so that I can get the best value for my money. For instance, as Michelle blogged HERE, this week at Office Depot you can get a 10-ream case of HP paper for $41.99 with a $22 Prepaid Visa mail-in offer AND get 10% back in Rewards to spend later. Plus, there’s a $10/$25 coupon HERE that you can use to make the final price after rebate and Rewards $6.80, or $.68 a ream. That’s a WHOLE lot of paper to print coupons :).
Michelle:  Honestly I pay very little for these items!! I am sitting on quite a stash of paper that I paid little to nothing for thanks to deals like Christy mentioned.  The back to school deals are starting to roll in and I snag as many as I can!  I already have quite an assortment of items that I have accumulated over the past few years through the office supply store deals as well as the drugstore freebies!  Like everything else I buy I rarely wait to buy until I need an item. I try to take advantage of deals so that I am not forced to pay full price when I need an item. 

6. Beverly wants to know: Do you know of good coupon websites for grocery stores in other states? I’m teaching my mom about coupons but I don’t know the good sites for Vermont!

Christy: I only know of a few out-of-state sites, and I don’t know of any that are as comprehensive or store-specific as I Heart Publix (I’m not at all biased 😀 ). However, Frugal Coupon Living is one that comes to mind right away – it has deals for a number of grocery chains as well as links to other sites, so it might be a good place to start!
Michelle: Try BeCentsAble–they have a very comprehensive list of bloggers that cover specific stores.

7. Michelle S wants to know: Can you freeze sandwich (deli) meat? What is the quality/texture/taste after it has been frozen?

Christy: I absolutely freeze deli meat, but I always try to use it within a month or two of it going in the freezer. Make sure you wrap the meat very tightly in plastic wrap so that it won’t get freezer burn – I even use a freezer ziploc bag in addition to the plastic wrap for extra protection. I think the taste is just the same after it defrosts, but it can sometimes seem a lot more watery than before it was frozen, so I will sometimes pat slices with a paper towel before I make my sandwich. This all depends on your tastes, though – I’d recommend freezing a small portion for a couple weeks and see how you like it.
Michelle: Lunch meat and smoked meats fall into that “iffy” category.  I tried to find a definitive answer online but it varied.  The USDA says that freezing is fine and recommends use within 1 -2 months.

8. Anita wants to know: Is it ok to take a peelie off of an item if you don’t intend to buy it on that shopping trip? I found some Similac $1 off peelies last night and wanted to take a few to save for a sale, but I wasn’t buying formula last night. Does it make a difference if you will likely buy the item at another store? (The peelies were on Similac at CVS, and I buy it at Publix more often.)

Christy: We’ve answered a version of this question before (HERE), but we get it so many times each week that I thought it might be good to address this issue again. Taking peelies off items you are not going to buy during that visit is a hot-button issue for a lot of people. Many feel that the coupon was placed on the product for a reason, and you should leave it there for the person who is actually going to purchase that item. Others think that all coupons are free and “finders keepers!” I fall somewhere in the middle – I don’t think it’s wrong to take a couple coupons you plan to use later but I also am not going to take every coupon I see – I want to make sure my fellow couponers can find what they need, too! If I find peelies in-store and I’m relatively sure I’ll use them before they expire, I’ll take two for my stash – four if there are a lot and I’m SURE I’ll use them.
Michelle: I stick with my original response…this is something you need to decide for yourself.  There is no rule book to go by and any answer is totally an opinion!! I still say go with your gut 🙂

9. Marie wants to know: Can I use 2 coupons for a free product with a BOGO sale, thus making the BOGO a money maker?

Christy: You should ask at your customer service desk about this one before you try to check out – I know my store will not let me use two free coupons with a BOGO deal, but that may vary depending on the store.
Michelle: I have never even thought about this as a possibility as here in my area items ring half price–so using two free product coupons just means you get both items free. 
You will definitely want to talk to your store about this one.  If it were me and I was in the land of true BOGO–I would happily take four items for free with the two coupons 😀

10. Shanna wants to know: How long should I expect to wait for you to answer my “Ask I Heart Publix” question?

This is actually a great question! Each week we try to pick out a good variety of questions and we do our best to answer older questions first. However, we get a lot of questions that we’ve answered before – I try to email people with duplicate questions to let them know where to find the answer, but I’m sure one or two has slipped through the cracks. If you’ve waited more than three weeks to get your questions answered, email it again – we WILL try to get to every question we can as quickly as we can.

I hope our answers to these questions were helpful! Make sure you ‘tune in’ next week for even more Q&A with I Heart Publix. Email me those questions at contactiheartpublix@gmail.com!!