If You Give a Kristen a $5 Coupon...
On Tuesdays and Thursdays, I post a picture and just a few words.
...she'll go straight to the clearance section and find something that's as close to $5 as possible. 😉
I'm positive that, at least in the family of FG readers, I'm not the only one who does this.
I'm also positive that the majority of people don't treat these $5 coupons the same way because otherwise Kohl's wouldn't send them out.
I do understand how this type of marketing can be effective...I love to hang onto my money, but even I was tempted to buy a little something extra while I was in the store.
I walked out with just my 6 pairs of socks, though. 😉
(Post title inspired by If You Give a Moose a Muffin
. )
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Oh yes, you are not the only one 🙂
Great deals on the socks!
I definitely do this too but I have a love/hate relationship with the darn promotional "gifts" because I tend to forget that 1) I need to buy MORE than $5 in order for them to accept it and 2) the discount gets applied AFTER the gift so my total always ends up being more than I was planning on spending (like when I had to grab one of the overpriced candy bars on display at the register because my purchase was less than $5 and there was a line behind me... and I didn't feel like running back in the store to look for something else on clearance). Last time I got socks on clearance too, though, and my daughter had requested socks so that was a plus. http://imperfectlyfrugally.blogspot.com/2015/03/my-other-great-buys-this-week.html
However, I have sworn to myself that I will only be using them, moving forward, if I actually NEED something. Otherwise, it's making me spend money that I didn't plan on spending (even if it's just a few cents) and wasting me a lot of time and frustration trying to find something for close to $5 in the store. Realistically, I rarely need anything from Kohl's as we have very full closets as it is and I get more other stuff for free from Amazon with Swagbucks gift cards.
Also, last time they send me 2 postcards with 2 different discount codes and 2 $5 promotional gifts for the same promotional period. Did anyone get that too? I only used the 1 gift coupon, though. It does say "1 per guest" and I didn't feel like going back to Kohl's a 2nd time that week when it's 20 minutes away from my house.
Yes, it's definitely not worth an extra trip! But we have a Kohls that's right on the way home from some places we go regularly, which makes it easy to stop in an use these sorts of things.
Also, my kids are all older too...when they were all small and in car seats, I'm not sure I'd have wanted to deal with all the buckling and unbuckling necessary to stop in for a quick purchase at Kohls!
I'm with ya. If you give me $5 for free, I want something for free!
Give me a $5 giftcard and I try my best not to go over at all. Then I pass the pennies to the next person in line.
I think people get more excited about getting $0.28 passed to them in line then I do about getting the $5 card in the mail!
Haha, that is so true Emily! Sometimes I'll notice that someone is buying something for which I have a coupon that is expiring and that I won't be using so I offer it to them and you'd think I've handed them a check for $1,000 🙂 I did that at Target the other day when I saw a mom pricing the raspberries and I had a Driscoll's Consumer Panel coupon that I wasn't going to use. She was so thrilled although I think at first she thought I was a stalker:)
Victoria's Secret sends me multiple coupons for free underwear every month or so. I haven't spent actual money there in many years. Their strategy seems to be the more free underwear they send me the more likely I am to buy a bra. They clearly aren't part of Frugalgirl nation!
You're not the only one - I frequently see these coupons being left out for the taking at work/
Ha, Frugalgirl nation! That's me!
Oh, yes, I do the exact same thing. And I always troll the clearance section of Kohl's and Target before I look anywhere else in the store.
I did the same thing yesterday. My daughter got most of her braces off and we'd gotten some free drink & ice cream Sheetz coupons in the mail, so we celebrated with a free 8 oz ice cream for her. There was no scale, so we eyeballed it and it wound up costing all of 10 cents. The clerk was going to just take pennies out of their leave-a-penny tray, but I decided I could swing the 10 cents. 😉
This is where I need to be careful with coupons... I gave my teenage daughter a coupon for $1.00 off frozen yogurt at Racetrac last week and told her to only get $1 worth since she wouldn't have spent the money on frozen yogurt had I not given her the coupon. They do have a scale so it would have been easy. But it made her want to eat more than $1 worth so she ended up spending money (hers) that she wouldn't have spent if I hadn't given her the coupon. So I totally felt like I actually failed her by giving her the coupon! I'm going to give her a reward code coupon for a free cookie at Subway later on this week, hoping that she won't come out with a foot-long sandwich too, lol.
I just got my Kohls coupon yesterday too! Can't wait to use it! A few years back I used it for some clearance Food Network green scrubby things. I use them instead of sponges and throw them in the dishwasher at least three times per week. They are still alive and kicking -- best free thing ever!
I used to get these in the mail quite frequently, but haven't for at least a year now. I always figured they tracked the coupons somehow and realized I only spent the $5 instead of making a bigger purchase 🙂
Hmm. I suppose that is possible. If that's the case, my supply may eventually slow down too!
You mean that isn't normal?
If it's a place I want to shop at, then $5 off is great. If it's not, then either find something for $5 (assuming it's worth the trip) or give it to someone who does shop there.
I've had the same experience as Nathalie with giving away a coupon or store credit. It's fun to make someone a bit happier like that.
Around these parts? TOTALLY normal. 😉
that is exactly what I do. Spend the minimum needed to use the coupon. Gloves, socks and clearance candles are typically at the top of the list.
Yes. Socks are my go-to! Because honestly, there's almost always someone in our house who could use some new socks.
A few years ago when Kohl's was remodeling my regular store they sent me several $10 "pardon our dust" coupons. Since I didn't particularly need anything I used them to purchase stocking stuffers for Christmas. Socks, Godiva chocolate bars and picture frames all made the cut.
Interesting - I receive $10. gift cards, so there must be something about our shopper profiles that indicate what we receive. I'm not a fan of Kohl's and I make very few purchases there, although occasionally we've found good clothing options for DH. I usually try to spend as close to $10 when I use one of these, but I don't always find it to be worth the time and energy to play the game, especially if we don't really need anything.
They've pegged me as frugal, I guess! 😉
Great score on the socks Kristen. The last $5 gift I received from Kohl's I gave away, as it just wasn't worth the trip to spend it.
JC Penney use to send me $10 coupons and I almost always used them to get (usually Gold Toe) socks for next to nothing.
I have received extra rewards from Staples twice in the past two weeks. The first one had a $5.00 value and had to be used on Staples items that were regular price, with several exclusions. That was a tough one to use, everything full price seemed over priced, but I finally settled on correction tape that was $5.49 full price. The second extra reward had a mystery value, starting at $5.00. I assumed it was worth $5.00 and bought paper that would be almost free after rebate. It was a surprise to both the checker and me when the register receipt also included a coupon for the balance of the reward. I had received a $50.00 reward and I have a month to use the remaining balance (in one transaction). I generally have terrible luck winning anything so it was a pleasant surprise.
Whoa, $50 is awesome!!
Of course the smart retailers are going to give you a coupon for enough to get you in the door, but not enough that you can actually get something for free. I've been working my way through a bunch of gift cards I won in a silent auction basket, and went to a boutique with what I thought was a reasonably-sized gift card. It was good for about half a shoe 🙂
I hate it when that happens! It makes the gift card seem more like a not-so-great coupon.
I love those Kohls coupons for dollars off! I always go and get 'free' toys for my kids and then store them away until Christmas! I haven't bought stocking stuffers for years!